I just want to take a minute to talk to
you all about something very serious
once every hour someone is involved in
an internet scam that man is Mike Scott
it’s a big scary world out there with a
lot of unscrupulous folks who are out to
make a quick buck at someone else’s
expense
welcome to watchmojo.com it we’re
counting down our picks for the five
most interesting tidbits of information
about the art of the put on it’s not a
pyramid scheme it is a it’s not even a
scheme per se it’s for this list we’ll
be looking into the shady world of the
con ranging from old school pyramid
schemes to cases of hidden identity as
well as the darkest recesses of
cybercrime
number five Western Union is a popular
choice for con artists Western Union is
pretty much synonymous with sending
money to anyone anywhere in the world
but whether they’re perpetrating a
lottery scam a fake emergency or a good
old-fashioned long con with catfish
twist scammers love wire transfers
because they are fast and relatively
untraceable who the hell are you Western
Union not only will grifters use these
services as a means to an end they’ll
sometimes even dupe the Western Union
offices themselves look just uh just
wire it to Western Union and no Oklahoma
City okay one particularly popular scam
is for a con artist to call a place of
business with a Western Union license
and pretend to be from the businesses
home office or helpdesk but why do all
that trouble just for 500 bucks I don’t
know why you would but you could the
caller then convinces the employee of
that business to process a fraudulent
transaction to a waiting accomplice
getting away with thousands of dollars
in the process so now I get to call my
pregnant wife and never drive all the
way back to Western Union start this
whole process all over again send it to
the correct name and we’ll be good
absolutely great number for several
televangelists are convicted con artists
you can’t say I don’t make this stuff up
just five seconds off you said the words
manda casa ba Santa now we can’t see all
televangelists or charlatans but the
movie leap of faith where Steve Martin
plays a grifting miracle
was inspired by the well-documented
trickery that some televangelists
employed look I run a show here it’s a
lot of smoke and noise and it’s strictly
for the suckers I’ve been pulling one
kind of scammer another since I was your
age several of them rose to prominence
in the 1980s and foremost among them
were the husband-and-wife team of Jim
and Tammy Faye Bakker the couple were
accused of using donations to their
ministry to finance a lavish personal
lifestyle I think that there was many in
the media who wanted to get a minister
well known minister I think it’s been
like a circuit Jim Bakker was eventually
imprisoned for fraud but not before rape
allegations from church secretary
Jessica Hahn ruined his reputation the
Baker’s had given us complete access to
their home and the only condition was
that we not bring up the subject of
Jessica Hahn other televangelists have
suffered similar fates including
texas-based preacher WV grant who was
sentenced to 16 months in prison for tax
evasion as Slate Magazine pointed out a
little while ago grant and Baker both
revived their television ministries
after they were released from prison
Fred this is pastor evangelist WV grant
I passed your Eagles Nest Cathedral in
Dallas Texas I’m there every Sunday
morning the address is on the screen I
hope you can come and be with us real
soon number three Adam West unwittingly
played a role in a prolific scam what
does it mean though right commissioner
there’s a problem
oh no not TVs Batman and mayor of Quahog
Rhode Island man could have fooled me
are you afraid of the dark I thought we
had an understanding that the dark was
off-limits this press conference is over
I totally would have invested in an easy
link public internet kiosk that offers
cashless ATMs and at telegrams the
fascinating story behind the scam was
brought to light in a 2012 post on the
official AARP website by a former con
artist and easy link associate who was
imprisoned for conspiracy to commit mail
fraud in 2006 he detailed how having a
public persona was crucial to give the
air of legitimacy and so they hired Adam
West who presumably had no idea that the
business was a scam that built thousands
from hopeful investors every day
contrives his plots like artichokes you
have to strip off spiny leaves to reach
the heart the scheme was so successful
it reportedly brought in 17 million
dollars from 700 different victims in an
8 month span number 2 Charles Ponzi
almost invented the yellow pages
the term Ponzi scheme is likely to ring
a bell it’s the sort of scam where money
from investors is used to pay off the
debts owed to earlier investors which is
also known as robbing Peter to pay Paul
in 1918 Italian immigrant Charles Ponzi
started a scam involving international
reply coupons and their exchange rate
across the world postal market
eventually raking in over two hundred
and fifty thousand dollars a day in
returns the cash flow didn’t last
forever of course and Ponzi scheme would
eventually be discovered by both
authorities and angry investors with the
unscrupulous yet convincing Italian
serving prison time in 1924 his efforts
one of the strangest aspects of Ponzi
story however is that only two years
earlier a newly married and struggling
Ponzi attempted to convince businesses
to invest in an advertised listing to be
sent to other businesses who were in
search of service outside all you need
is the yellow pages hell I wouldn’t even
know where to begin basically what the
yellow pages did for many decades with a
lot of success this early version of the
yellow pages didn’t catch on however and
Ponzi’s legitimate business dreams were
crushed
number one Nigerian print scams date
back to the 16th century can you loose a
lot of money on that other investment
one from the email you know what Toby
when the son of the deposed King of
Nigeria emails you directly asking for
help you help their one of the earliest
examples of cybercrime on the Internet
they’re often referred to as 419 scams a
reference to the criminal code for fraud
in Nigeria which is where many of these
con artists commonly and often falsely
claim residents
he’s supporting about 20 Nigerian
princesses hey you know what forgive me
for caring the actual history behind
these 419 scams dates back to the 16th
century however in what was known as the
Spanish prisoner scam in these
person-to-person scams the con artists
usually poses as a distant wealthy
relative of the victim and claims that
he’s se being held prisoner and needs a
sum of money to say bribe a guard at
which point he will pay back the
money tenfold there 20 folder 100 fold
most of us probably think of these scams
is being email based but this advance
fee scam was going strong for hundreds
of years before anyone ever dreamed of
the electronic telegram I never carried
half that stuff in my old belt so what
did you learn about the art of the con
courtesy it was familiar have you ever
been fooled by a Nigerian prince for
more 17 million dollar top tens and
cashless ATM top fives be sure to
subscribe to watchmojo.com
this smells like a get-rich-quick scheme
yes thank you you will get rich quick we
all will
[Music]
you all about something very serious
once every hour someone is involved in
an internet scam that man is Mike Scott
it’s a big scary world out there with a
lot of unscrupulous folks who are out to
make a quick buck at someone else’s
expense
welcome to watchmojo.com it we’re
counting down our picks for the five
most interesting tidbits of information
about the art of the put on it’s not a
pyramid scheme it is a it’s not even a
scheme per se it’s for this list we’ll
be looking into the shady world of the
con ranging from old school pyramid
schemes to cases of hidden identity as
well as the darkest recesses of
cybercrime
number five Western Union is a popular
choice for con artists Western Union is
pretty much synonymous with sending
money to anyone anywhere in the world
but whether they’re perpetrating a
lottery scam a fake emergency or a good
old-fashioned long con with catfish
twist scammers love wire transfers
because they are fast and relatively
untraceable who the hell are you Western
Union not only will grifters use these
services as a means to an end they’ll
sometimes even dupe the Western Union
offices themselves look just uh just
wire it to Western Union and no Oklahoma
City okay one particularly popular scam
is for a con artist to call a place of
business with a Western Union license
and pretend to be from the businesses
home office or helpdesk but why do all
that trouble just for 500 bucks I don’t
know why you would but you could the
caller then convinces the employee of
that business to process a fraudulent
transaction to a waiting accomplice
getting away with thousands of dollars
in the process so now I get to call my
pregnant wife and never drive all the
way back to Western Union start this
whole process all over again send it to
the correct name and we’ll be good
absolutely great number for several
televangelists are convicted con artists
you can’t say I don’t make this stuff up
just five seconds off you said the words
manda casa ba Santa now we can’t see all
televangelists or charlatans but the
movie leap of faith where Steve Martin
plays a grifting miracle
was inspired by the well-documented
trickery that some televangelists
employed look I run a show here it’s a
lot of smoke and noise and it’s strictly
for the suckers I’ve been pulling one
kind of scammer another since I was your
age several of them rose to prominence
in the 1980s and foremost among them
were the husband-and-wife team of Jim
and Tammy Faye Bakker the couple were
accused of using donations to their
ministry to finance a lavish personal
lifestyle I think that there was many in
the media who wanted to get a minister
well known minister I think it’s been
like a circuit Jim Bakker was eventually
imprisoned for fraud but not before rape
allegations from church secretary
Jessica Hahn ruined his reputation the
Baker’s had given us complete access to
their home and the only condition was
that we not bring up the subject of
Jessica Hahn other televangelists have
suffered similar fates including
texas-based preacher WV grant who was
sentenced to 16 months in prison for tax
evasion as Slate Magazine pointed out a
little while ago grant and Baker both
revived their television ministries
after they were released from prison
Fred this is pastor evangelist WV grant
I passed your Eagles Nest Cathedral in
Dallas Texas I’m there every Sunday
morning the address is on the screen I
hope you can come and be with us real
soon number three Adam West unwittingly
played a role in a prolific scam what
does it mean though right commissioner
there’s a problem
oh no not TVs Batman and mayor of Quahog
Rhode Island man could have fooled me
are you afraid of the dark I thought we
had an understanding that the dark was
off-limits this press conference is over
I totally would have invested in an easy
link public internet kiosk that offers
cashless ATMs and at telegrams the
fascinating story behind the scam was
brought to light in a 2012 post on the
official AARP website by a former con
artist and easy link associate who was
imprisoned for conspiracy to commit mail
fraud in 2006 he detailed how having a
public persona was crucial to give the
air of legitimacy and so they hired Adam
West who presumably had no idea that the
business was a scam that built thousands
from hopeful investors every day
contrives his plots like artichokes you
have to strip off spiny leaves to reach
the heart the scheme was so successful
it reportedly brought in 17 million
dollars from 700 different victims in an
8 month span number 2 Charles Ponzi
almost invented the yellow pages
the term Ponzi scheme is likely to ring
a bell it’s the sort of scam where money
from investors is used to pay off the
debts owed to earlier investors which is
also known as robbing Peter to pay Paul
in 1918 Italian immigrant Charles Ponzi
started a scam involving international
reply coupons and their exchange rate
across the world postal market
eventually raking in over two hundred
and fifty thousand dollars a day in
returns the cash flow didn’t last
forever of course and Ponzi scheme would
eventually be discovered by both
authorities and angry investors with the
unscrupulous yet convincing Italian
serving prison time in 1924 his efforts
one of the strangest aspects of Ponzi
story however is that only two years
earlier a newly married and struggling
Ponzi attempted to convince businesses
to invest in an advertised listing to be
sent to other businesses who were in
search of service outside all you need
is the yellow pages hell I wouldn’t even
know where to begin basically what the
yellow pages did for many decades with a
lot of success this early version of the
yellow pages didn’t catch on however and
Ponzi’s legitimate business dreams were
crushed
number one Nigerian print scams date
back to the 16th century can you loose a
lot of money on that other investment
one from the email you know what Toby
when the son of the deposed King of
Nigeria emails you directly asking for
help you help their one of the earliest
examples of cybercrime on the Internet
they’re often referred to as 419 scams a
reference to the criminal code for fraud
in Nigeria which is where many of these
con artists commonly and often falsely
claim residents
he’s supporting about 20 Nigerian
princesses hey you know what forgive me
for caring the actual history behind
these 419 scams dates back to the 16th
century however in what was known as the
Spanish prisoner scam in these
person-to-person scams the con artists
usually poses as a distant wealthy
relative of the victim and claims that
he’s se being held prisoner and needs a
sum of money to say bribe a guard at
which point he will pay back the
money tenfold there 20 folder 100 fold
most of us probably think of these scams
is being email based but this advance
fee scam was going strong for hundreds
of years before anyone ever dreamed of
the electronic telegram I never carried
half that stuff in my old belt so what
did you learn about the art of the con
courtesy it was familiar have you ever
been fooled by a Nigerian prince for
more 17 million dollar top tens and
cashless ATM top fives be sure to
subscribe to watchmojo.com
this smells like a get-rich-quick scheme
yes thank you you will get rich quick we
all will
[Music]
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