Pig Butchering Scams: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

[@betterchapter]

I didn’t know this scam was called pig butchering but I was fully prepared to watch a segment on the pork industry since that’s exactly something John Oliver would do

[@vicente8705]

It’s actually just called a romance scam. I think officials are just trying to rebrand the name of the crime to emphasize it’s devastating effects.

[@Oroku_Sensei]

I said, "huh... what's going in in the meat packing industry?" And here we are.

[@roadlesstraveled34]

Yeah that's EXACTLY why I clicked on this, no joke😂 I was fully prepared to be entertained by scams in the pork industry.

[@MarcelaBovio]

Same! 😅

[@cadenvanvalkenburg6718]

Yeah I saw this and just went "People are scamming our pork? I guess I need to know this"

[@versebuchanan512]

Can't give a scammer your money if you don't have any money. Stay one step ahead, stay broke.

[@bunk95]

Scammers are fictional. Money as in USD? USD is [marketed] to/by slaves as if its money, not money. A visual aid for a [citizen].

[@gisela1122]

Haha Same here 😂

[@eshbena]

@@bunk95 Dude. Missing the point of the episode and also being repetitive. Get a hobby.

[@spa-peggymeatballs4861]

Haha we really are out here outsmarting them all, aren’t we. Take THAT scammers. We’re too poor for you to bother. 🙃

[@TheLittlestViking]

This works for everyone who wants to take money from you except for the criminal justice system and the IRS.

[@luriirodyk4596]

As an Italian, I honestly feel so ashamed on behalf of these jobless scammers, cheating people for their hard earned money. And when they're targeted, look how easily they gaslight the victim and start abusing. I hope all your page reach as many people as it can and teach them not to pick up calls from unknown scam phone numbers in the first place, so that they're safe and don't get scammed. You do a great service to everyone here in the Italy taking out these lowlifes. Keep up the amazing work *Strong widget* on the internet, .you are one of a kind

[@ivalee1958]

I say if someone who might have a little bit of money and they fall for the messages and start sending money to anyone they don't know ''(face to face)'' then they deserve to lose their money. I have a sister who received $150. thousand dollars upon her husband's death and then gave it all to "" Alan Jackson"" because he couldn't get to his money I told her that this man was worth millions of dollars, so why would he need her money. I told her if she wanted to help someone who needed money then she should send the money to me because, I get $1100.00 a month and I really do need the money she just threw her money away to this scammer,... and no matter how much I pleaded for her to stop sending him the money, she would not listen. Her own children stole thousands from her. also it took ''Alan Jackson'' and her kids 2 yrs to take all her money, her land, and 2 houses, and now at 75, andwont even give her a place to live. Her married last name was Bentley........ her kids said she wasn't a blood Bentley so she wasn't really a Bentley.....have you heard of anyone saying something like that to their mother...this makes so upset that I make myself not think about it

[@rosemary32]

This was legitimately so wholesome. You can tell at the ending of getting your money back that it wasn't scripted at all when *Strongwidget* proposed.… This warmed my heart today! Congratulations guys! So happy for y'all!

[@Fragdaar]

The one thing I wish John would have mentioned are the "recovery scams", These are also scammers, who pretend to work for a company that is against the initial scammers and wants to help recover your money. THOSE ARE SCAMMERS TOO, don't fall for it! 99% of the time the money can't be recovered and you have to cut the losses. They are also VERY convincing, and because people are already desperate to get their money back, they fall for it, and just get scammed for even more.

[@fredrikfjeld1575]

A Norwegian podcast mentioned that. Those scams were mostly done by eastern Europeans instead of Asians, but pretty much the exact same tactics. Except for there being actual video calls and such I believe, so the pretty women were actual pretty women

[@superga5]

post modern criminals

[@ttdestroy]

sometimes the recovery company is the same group double dipping. it's insane

[@bingcrosbymusic]

How do you know about recovery rooms

[@CollinMcLean]

Just like Timeshares....

[@brookeanderson5038]

I appreciate how he showed respect towards the victims, not portraying them as stupid. Showing that regular, often educated, people can get scammed is an important part in making people comfortable in coming forward with their stories.

[@scharlesworth93]

Often people are so ashamed they just fall in deeper holes, it’s important to show some empathy

[@kelsiparker7990]

This sort of thing will help people think "This could happen to me". A story that makes you go "lol what an idiot" is more likely to result in thinking you would never fall for such a thing and, thus, inevitably fall for such a thing.

[@firstlast8258]

​@scharlesworth93 too much empathy and your brain falls out

[@stylis666]

Yes, getting successfully scammed is a matter of timing. If you are in a situation where a scam sounds credible, it's easy to fall for it. Being awkward and weird does have its advantages :p "Is this dr. John? How is my horse?" Nope. Your horse was okay, I've had better. Send a cow next time. **blocks number**

[@ctdieselnut]

Firstly, this scam, like so many others, ultimately uses your own greed against you. Second, just because you cant identify how something is a scam, doesn't mean it isn't. Often in retrospect, scams seem obvious, but in the moment, you don't/can't see the red flags. This scam differs from many because there is an element of using the victim's compassion against them (and flattery), at least at the beginning. Those are powerful hooks. I know its easy to dismiss these people as stupid or gullible, but that's really a dangerous way to view it. These people were taken advantage of, some highly educated, some you'd think would've known better (banker guy). That's more of a comment on how effective the scam is, not the gullibility of the victim. It reminds me of the retired NBA players who (iirc 75% within 5 yrs) go broke. Sure, the majority is from living beyond their means, but it's also from scams/bad investments, often by family/friends/'financial advisors'. People love to dog on those guys, but a lot of reg people would fall in the exact same traps they do, no doubt. A lot of people say they lost more on schemes purporting to be legitimate, than gambling or luxury items etc. People who think they can never get scammed are prime targets. Scammers/con men wouldn't be around if they weren't convincing. Be careful out there, esp when $ is involved.

[@bigred2989]

I work a job that involves Western Union money transfers, and one day this old Hispanic woman came in trying to wire $100 to someone in California. She gave me her phone so I could take down the name of the receiver and I see its in a Facebook Messenger chat titled "Dwayne The Rock Johnson" and some random numbers. The way the rest of the text was written came off as odd as well, so I asked if she had ever met this person. She said no, it was someone she met online they'd been talking to for a few months who recently said they lost their job and needed money. They had initially asked her to send $1000 but she said she'd send what she could instead. I got management involved right away and we managed to talk her out of sending any money, at least with us.

[@bellsof12]

Excellent job! Follow up questions are how these scams get caught! Education is the best way to combat any scams.

[@kathygann7632]

Thank you for being aware and protecting this woman.

[@TheSaltydog07]

You are a saint. 😇

[@dr.braxygilkeycruises1460]

God bless and keep you, Big Red!!! Thank you for protecting that woman and asking follow up questions. Most fraud can be stopped instantly by simply stopping to question the victim and giving them a chance to step out of their emotions and instead, think logically. *Thank You!!!*

[@barrywoodfilms]

Not all heroes wear capes. Thank you for being a kind person!

[@brooklynchristopher7261]

You are the exemplification of "with great power comes great responsibility." You have this power and unlike these scumbags, you use it for good *STRONGWIDGET* I just found your page and have been completely enthralled! I love that you're exposing these thieves. I was wondering if these crooks ever go to jail or get fined. Do they? They should!!! Thank you for helping victims of these thieves. Dont stop!!

[@blokschaaf8941]

☝️And there come the scammers, like rats they pop up everywhere

[@utahnash]

That story with the girl and her dad was so sad, and it only made me sadder hearing how incredibly supportive her dad was, despite how much money they lost. Just the most incredibly wholesome people getting their lives ruined is so much harder to hear than just a video talking about a scam.

[@Bongwater33]

Sorry Dad, your retirement is screwed!

[@adammuzzy2578]

the adopted girl from China was in on it the whole time, since birth.

[@TNM001]

but they tried to be greedy, yes? they werent happy with what traditionall investement gave them...they wanted to play the system...going ALL IN on crypto... think about that when you feel sympathetic.

[@LivyRivy]

​@@TNM001In what way were they "gaming the system"? They thought the investments were legitimate, that's the whole point.

[@christopherpardell4418]

@@LivyRivy’speculative Investments’ are never ‘legitimate’. ALL speculation is a pyramid scam. And they do NOT create any new wealth. They make some people richer by taking money away from other people. The entire idea is you buy in at one price, and then convince other people to buy in at a higher price. You then sell and crash the price, but you got to take the difference between what you paid and what they paid. Our culture has become so obsessed with the worship of wealth, that everyone is looking to game whoever they can. But the fact is, the people controlling the trades are the ones who always get the most money out of everyone else playing. The CEO of a large corporation can literally sell his stock in some other company because he golfs with the CEO of that company and knows their next quarter report will suck. Then when the report comes out and the stock tanks, he can buy all that stock back at the new lower price and pocket a whopping lot of other’s folks money because he knew something the majority of investors did not. This is why folks become rich in congress, because congress passed an EXEMPTION for themselves to the insider trading regulations. They don’t even have to HIDE that they are manipulating stocks. Musk literally bought twitter because they were gonna forbid him from manipulating Tesla stock and Dogecoin crypto with his inane posting that violated SEC laws. Or just look at the GameStop scandal to get an idea of how players manipulated stock prices to transfer wealth from YOUR pocket to THEIRS. ALL get rich quick schemes are unscrupulous because every dollar you get comes from SOMEONE ELSE. People need to understand that ALL speculation is theft. At the very least they should understand when they are engaging in something unscrupulous that’s that is what they are.

[@shrimpinpat]

The girls dad sounds like such a good man. Just gave his daughter a hug and said it’s okay even though he died inside

[@butHomeisNowhere___]

Honestly made me tear up quite a bit. It takes a strong person to lose that much in one go and STILL be able to comfort her even if you're dying inside.

[@QueenD75172]

Broke my heart for him AND her because I know how deeply guilty she must feel. I really hope they can somehow financially recover at least a little. They seem to be just great people.

[@redlion145]

Yeah, that response was hard to hear, but good to see. Yesterday I watched a retrospective documentary about The Group (the Crossroads drug rehab organization) and the parents of the kids who had been in rehab would say some truly heinous shit, a real 180 from the attitude seen here. In both instances the parents had been bilked for money, but at least in this instance the Dad recognized what's really valuable.

[@zxggwrt]

That made me really sad 😞

[@tonytooshort]

Truly! What a remarkable man. With all the money they lost, his daughter still kept hold of her greatest gift. Her father. 🫶🏽

[@iambiggus]

I saved my 80yo mother from a pig scammer about two months ago. Thankfully, she had me going through her phone to help her out with some settings, and just happened to see all these text messages that were just like this. It really was scary, they get very personal. And my lonely ma was the perfect target.

[@jacquelinesternberg8461]

YIKES! In addition to monitoring our kids' phone use, we have to monitor our elderly parents' use, too. Glad you caught this for her.

[@seededsoul]

Call your ma often and get her a pet.

[@Allie-w1l]

I've been sent files several times a day, from random numbers, with no message attached at all. I never click on them, and have decided to change my cell phone service to NO TEXT MESSAGES at all. Never needed them before cell phones, and do not need them now.

[@xmlthegreat]

​@@Allie-w1lwhat do you do for 2FA messages from bank etc?

[@Aaron565]

stupid old people always the same

[@Oxaca73]

I got one of the messages. I replied "Wrong number" and then replied once more when they apologized for disturbing me. When they replied to that and tried to keep the conversation going I blocked them. I didn't realize it was a scam but I saw no reason why someone would want to continue conversing with a "wrong number" person.

[@bibbobella]

Same. “ohh, sorry for disturbing you!” “Np. Bye” “What is your name?” “BYE” end of that “convensation” I guess my rude ending was enough to make them realize I had absolutely no interests in talking to them.

[@davidkavanagh189]

It's explained very well in the video why some people reply. Also, a huge amount, if not most of these scams are started on dating sites where people clearly want to talk to their matches.

[@nedhunter4444]

I figured out it was a scam and tried trolling them. They gave up after I tried to convince them I was theta prime years old (theta prime being the fictitious number from the SCP Foundation that breaks the laws of math and physics).

[@PrettyPinkPeacock]

I had a mysterious missed call then wrong number text and even after googling it, couldn't work out the scam, but I blocked them because I knew I didn't need to talk to them.

[@SaffronHorizon]

I had the same experience. After I blocked him, he actually tried to continue the conversation with a different number.

[@乂]

That dad hugging his daughter even after losing everything is the definition of love ❤

[@jda974]

I wanted so bad to hear that they got the money back... but unfortunately that's just on movies 😥

[@jeffdroog]

I'm honestly glad to hear it lol If you're that dumb,and you have THAT much money you can just hand to some random person,or app,you deserve this lol My answer to anyone ever asking me to invest in something is,I'm too poor to invest in anything but myself.

[@dant.3505]

​@@jeffdrooghi, I was born in the same city as you so do you have any money to give me and I will "invest" it for you. I will post the account number for you to transfer the funds to.🙂 That emoji gotta be worth ten grand or more, dontcha think?

[@icygubler]

remember: unless you're looking in a mirror, you don't have an accurate description of who can get scammed. get down off your high horse.@@jeffdroog

[@mushnoodle]

You sound a lot like a scammer jeff.

[@carolinesroadhouse]

My sister committed suicide over this scam. She was a brilliant nurse, so funny and loving and I miss her every day. Thank you, Jon for bringing awareness to this criminal enterprise, so that other vulnerable people don't lose all.

[@savannahblanch1991]

i’m so sorry, that is horrible

[@shan1959]

I’m so sry ❤

[@AsilayMithsay]

😢

[@Sabrina-mr7md]

​@@TheDirtymikenationsounds to me like you're the idiot, emotional intelligence is something not everyone is blessed with I guess

[@Dnejejicbckosn]

@@TheDirtymikenation In all seriousness, you’re a terrible person.

[@googiegress]

JO: "For this episode I'm spending money on a tiny disappointing rainbow tree" HBO: *enormous sigh of relief*

[@goplayer7]

The question becomes, what is John saving the budget for?

[@raptorex83]

Hopefully the motorcoach and million-dollar annual salary to Clarence Thomas for leaving the Supreme Court@@goplayer7

[@spookeymo]

@SanityTV_Last_Sane_Man_Alive right but the entire point is women's standards are quite literally in hell (through no fault of theirs obviously)

[@TheAlmightyfoon]

@@goplayer7 The motor Coach for Thomas Clarence and his million dollar a year fuck off contract from last week.

[@mikec7812]

HBO lawyers were all on vacation that week, so JO took it easy

[@hera5685]

As an American I must say, you guys are doing God's work. If only our government paid some fking attention to these problems. *Strongwidget* I am sure you've heard this enough times already but we, the honest people of America, wholeheartedly support your venture and pray that this comes to an end soon.

[@Arch3r666]

It needs to be both Governments and Technology Services Providers that need to work together to deal with the issue. Government needs to have the backbone to slam hard against companies that enables these things to happen (ISP, telecom, social media, etc). Government Agencies such as FBI, CIA, NSA, SS, etc, already have their hands full dealing with so many things, it will drain resources from things which may require Priority 1 focus (impending terrorism, drug trafficking, etc). What makes things hard for Government to keep people safe, is for people to give away some freedoms so that it keeps everyone safe, ie. a gated community; making it extremely hard for someone to get in a cause trouble without quickly getting caught. Providers have a very low bar to meet to supply a service, usually, if something is making them money, they will just take and no ask questions. Same principle as the gated community, make it a little tough for people to get in and it becomes easy for the trouble makers to get caught and expelled. But for that to happen, people will have to give up the idea of total anonymity, which will cause backlash Scams are both a whack-a-mole+Hydra problem. Eliminate 1, 10 can take its place. Some people stumble upon it, but where is the problem exactly hiding? You can see the weed on top, but to remove it, you want the entire lot out, roots and all, otherwise, they will quickly back. Now imagine trying to track down weeds in a 100ha forest, that's what the Governments and Services are up against If we can take Spoofing services offline and/or demand strict licensing agreements, that's 60% of the battle down, and makes some of us scam hunters jobs easier in reporting them to the right people/services

[@Piketom1]

I’ve lost count of how many times I have tried to report scammers but am told “they were not removed because they did not violate community guidelines.” Social media needs to dramatically strengthen their community guidelines to make sure more reports result in fake accounts being removed.

[@charlespike8574]

I've stopped trying. I can't stop wondering if these social media companies are somehow involved with these scams.

[@rtyria]

@@charlespike8574 It's worse then that. They genuinely don't care.

[@TheLoud]

I’ve reported Facebook ads that are obviously scams, and Facebook replies that scams like these don’t violate their policies. They’re happy to take money from scammy advertisers.

[@waveril5167]

Its not gonna change with people like leon musk

[@carolynschweitzer7792]

I’ve gotten them via text in the past. The last one I got I reported to my cell carrier and haven’t gotten one since. It’s kind of weird to think that John’s former business daddy AT&T sort of cares about stuff…

[@lexaj6886]

So the best defense is not responding to texts, making it hard to build an emotional connection with and being generally opposed to any kind of finance activity? I have been preparing for this all my life!

[@lilbig2462]

Yeah, it doesn't seem that difficult. Lol

[@danielmorris8136]

Ditto 😂 Its go time!

[@NothingXemnas]

It is basic skepticism. It is questionable how people fall for this kind of situation (specially how commonly people fall for ads? like, a friend of mine literally plays every game they find on ads). The heck... Like, I would understand in the 2000's when internet and media literacy was just becoming a thing, but decades later and it didn't get better AT ALL.

[@jessn.3851]

The problem is these scammers are also on dating apps with fake profiles. So even if people don't answer texts, they can still fall for it.

[@SnakenBacon87]

Agreed

[@nullnull7495]

gosh that father and daughter made me cry. they obviously love each other so much . Hope they make more money

[@Michelle-1]

they had a 300k RV behind them while they were crying though... I think they're fine.

[@idontpointby]

@@Michelle-1 What a yikes take.

[@jabrondestoroyah]

Average republican reply on that first one. These mfs are deranged.

[@statusfx1]

I agree. that's rough. Did you see the photo of the app that was being shown? it said that the total value of the account was like 1.2 mil. and the profits were around 323k dollars. That would mean that they gave about 880k dollars to these scammers. something tells me that this was probably everything that they had in savings. maybe even money that was meant to be a retirement for the old guy. I think hoping that he somehow makes money is wishful thinking. It's a sad situation indeed.

[@that_one_l0ne_ghost]

​@@Michelle-1how dare someone be able to afford something nice on one occasion i guess ?????

[@degreeskelvin3025]

Ive been watching John Oliver since highschool in like 2014 and this is one of the scariest episodes ive ever seen. The perfectionism of the scams and the fact that its powered by cyber slavery is really terrifying

[@Don.M.]

And it will only get more perfected through AI technology…

[@ljavalera818]

No I’m the same, I feel like theres so many cases that feel terrifying but ppl being scammed is always awful esp how big it is now online

[@phyzzx]

God help you if they figure out where you bank and spoof their phone number. They followed the script for what my bank does all the way just about when (the guy pretending to be part of the fraud dept) finally asked for my password to cancel the hacked account I simultaneously realized who he was and that I couldn't string him along like I usually do to waste their time. So I spelled out slowly in leet speek 'nice shot!!!1!' and then he paused, chuckled a lil, then I chuckled, and he attempted to explain who he was again and I cut him off with "no, nuh uh. You had your shot and ya blew it." Then I called and warned my bank.

[@steven.h0629]

❤❤ Wake up folks.. in a few very short years this entire operation will be AI with even more hoops and realism 👍😎✊

[@MrCmsch]

Same omfg

[@MadisonChambers-qb5sq]

I was baited for this scam. I responded "sorry wrong number", then block them when they tried to carry the conversation on. I proceeded to get random spam texts for the next couple months. They failed so they sold my number to spammers. Its best to just block and not respond at all.

[@jacobisbell9388]

I'm always suspicious of wrong number calls/texts because why the fuck would you want to talk to a random person like that. If I contact the wrong number I apologize and never speak to them again because they're not who I wanted to talk to.

[@fivetriplezero8985]

Yeah in the text chain on screen for the cancer patient it seemed like the scammer ended the conversation by saying sorry to bother you. I wouldn't have responded to that one if I had even told them it was a wrong number. But I also thought, this is better than other scams, but still very obvious. This person you've never met wants you to invest 100s of thousands of dollars into the specific app that they are suggesting? This person who wrong numbered you? Or that you met on a dating site. The guy who said he thought he was protected from scams told a story about a serious red flag and didn't even notice it. "Oh you start your own account" Insisted a stranger who you have known for a few weeks through text who is now constantly telling you about and urging you to put money into a specific thing... I wouldn't fall for it. The Bank CEO was also just crooked. A scammer can't make you lose your morals. He knew that wasn't his money, or information to give out. (the story isn't clear about how exactly he gave them millions of dollars) @@jacobisbell9388

[@McDonaldsCalifornia]

Yeah never engage with them. Then they know your number is active so they sell it on

[@cwg73160]

Why do people respond to numbers they don’t recognize? I don’t mind victim blaming in these situations.

[@Beanbandit-np3ms]

also turn off read receipts, they'll see you've opened the message which can also tip them off the number is actively being used.

[@lsjameschannel]

The new release day scares me every time. Makes me think it’s Monday all over again.

[@Mondfischli]

... don't tell your boss 😂

[@DreynHarry]

it is not a "new" release date - the videos are also released on Mondays, BUT they are blocked for Europe, for what reason whatsoever.... I used a VPN with setting outside Europe (Japan in this case) and I was able to watch it and I had it in my subscription area. VPN off - video was blocked and not visible at the subscriptions

[@krisfrederick5001]

Garfield Syndrome

[@MrJBA79]

You can just pirate the whole episode in 1080p 60fps on Monday, if you don't know how it's easy just ask.

[@huron994]

Monday Tuesday and Wednesday I bite my fingers waiting for the real Monday to start

[@williamJ0shh]

You guys are genius! Thank you for saving tons of potential victims. Spread the awareness You just earned another subscriber. Thank you for providing this service. These scammers are shameful and need to be shut down ASAP. You're doing the world a huge favor WITH this *CLAIM BACK JUSTICE*

[@faszikilawang8445]

They didn't help anyone. There's a sucker born every minute.

[@nomore6167]

"Thank you for saving tons of potential victims" - They didn't save anyone. If you're the type of person who will fall for a scam like this, then you will fall for it even after you have been warned.

[@strnglhld]

This is a spambot, reported

[@suzyb7718]

The most effective way to stop them is for as many people to play along with them as possible. The entire business model relies the fact that the majority of people who can see it's a scam either ignore them or respond in a way that makes it obvious they're not falling for it, meaning the scammers can quickly move on until they find a more gullible mark. If everyone messes with them, even if only for 5 minutes, then their whole process becomes unworkably inefficient.

[@RolfStones]

The true strength of John is that he doesn't only explain a problem in a nuanced way, he offers possible ways to fight it as well.

[@blane2472]

Something I wish more 'informative' programs copied from this show!

[@yurmomsaccount]

He also says "fuck" a lot while doing it. That helps. 😂

[@strangebrew1231]

By possible you mean he pushes the narrative he’s told to

[@jamesbmcauley]

I thought John's true strength was how comfortable the horses are with him before he turns them into his girlfriends.

[@strangelet4588]

@@strangebrew1231yeah. He has a team that problem solves with him. You new?

[@krizsanzarathud7133]

I live in China. This scam is so common here that we have ads in the subway to tell us to be careful, with diagrams explaining how this scam works. Last week, the police come knocking on my door; I asked them what it was about, and they told me a neighbor got scammed, so they went to every apartment in the building to ask us if we received messages or had phone calls from out of town. When I told them I didn’t answer phone calls or respond to messages from numbers I don’t know, they spend ten minutes to tell me that if I was getting scammed, I HAD TO tell them, so they can catch the guy. I smiled and told them if I was getting scammed, I would absolutely tell them; I would be a victim, not a criminal. I never thought about people being too embarrassed to tell the police…

[@SockMonkeyPal7]

Not to mention you don’t have to help the police just because they tell you too.

[@ImahSillyGirl]

@@SockMonkeyPal7that may be different in China. That's my perception anyway.

[@gregoryturk1275]

Police is government

[@landspeed2015]

Seriously... You DO know there's an entire world that isn't America, outside of your bedroom, don't you? 🤦🏼‍♂️​@@SockMonkeyPal7

[@jaystewart8757]

Are you sure the police weren't "Property Management" instead?

[@Renfield5130]

I started to tear up at the part with the father and daughter. I could physically feel the shame and pain the daughter must have been feeling and hearing the father being so understanding and loving was emotional.

[@d3vilman69]

If it happens to another family the father could have disowned the daughter. It is important to know even the money is gone, the daughter is still alive and well. In other criminal homicide cases where the daughter died, the father would have given up every penny just to have the daughter live again.

[@toolbaggers]

They must be living the RV now.

[@FanDee-w5r]

IC3RECOVERY❤🙏🎉

[@mb7196]

He's a great dad. At least for this aspect. Hopefully she's not letting the guilt overwhelm her.

[@RachaelNuwell]

The efficiency of this is next level. To juggle walk throughs of various angles on the topic delivered to-camera, differnet content per topic from various folk underneath the umbrella of the track list of the larger big band concert itself is engaging and refined. To make a dense taccess like this SO digestible is really something. Awesome works *STRONGWIDGET!*

[@Code_Dee]

"70% - 80% fall for fake love" Worth noting how isolated and lonely people in our society feel.

[@Jumbleman5]

It's also from profiles with good looking people in them. It's a lot easier to fall for it when you think they're hot.

[@IMeMineWho]

So just make the effort and meet and vet people the old fashioned way..through friends and irl!

[@oughtssought1198]

important point

[@Xvladin]

No one cares about how lonely people are. People hate incels

[@DuranmanX]

Explains the divorce rate

[@mlester72]

This is in my top 5 of most important Last Week Tonight episodes. It touches on so many things - cybersecurity, economics, class, health care, trafficking, authoritarianism and human rights in general. This episode is deserving of some kind of award for the awareness it brings. Even if only having the "John Oliver Effect" of realizing that that sweet cyber romance you have happening may actually be Rakesh. 😅

[@Shajirr_]

Also paints a very bleak picture of the world, as you realise that some countries just turned into safe havens for such scammers, with local government institutions either totally dysfunctional or so corrupt as to becoming useless and allying with the scammers, against the regular people

[@pushista9322]

He didn't mention one thing though. How those third-world countries became so corrupt and poor because of centuries of Western aggression

[@leilanidru7506]

@pushista9322 imo, that seems like a a bit of an oversimplification. Like the example of rakesh and the Chinese mob boss that threatened his life so he could continue this scam. It’s not like China hasn’t had its tangles with the west but it’s a pretty solid middle-income country that’s often in direct competition with the west because it’s grown so much. So that example shown in the video at least has nothing to do with the west. Where history’s influences and the country’s own management start and end aren’t clean lines, so at a minimum I find it to be a cop out or oversimplifying to explain away any horrible practices a country may as *primarily because of their relationship with the west. It’s likely one of several factors, if it’s even a factor at all. Sometimes there’s a more obvious through line between an action the west took (sanctions, coups, etc) and its impact on destabilizing the country. Other times, the country’s own mismanagement and corruption is primarily responsible or made a bad situation infinitely worse. It depends on the country, the problem we’re talking about, and how long ago the west’s “aggression” was.

[@leilanidru7506]

@pushista9322 wrote this comment already but I think it got deleted. But yea there’s no excuse that has to do with the west on why the Chinese embassy didn’t help Lou but were instead in on the scam. Or why dozens of Chinese citizens were asking Lou help them escape. Rakesh was Indian and despite India’s tangle with the British it’s also like the 5th largest economy in the world. At some point it’s not the west, you’re just not doing the bare minimum to protect your citizens. Can’t speak to the west’s relationship to Cambodia and Thailand tho. But I doubt it’s as oversimplified as the influence the west has had on the country. It’s likely a mix of both outside and inside influences. Much of the examples in the video of the source of the exploitation were Chinese. And china’s not a small country getting pushed around by the west anymore. A country is the way it is for many reasons. Some out of their control and others not so much.

[@pushista9322]

@@leilanidru7506 I suppose the threat the US poses for China causes a lot of economic stress for the Chinese, which in turn doesn't allow it to address many internal issues. The US basically keeps Taiwan hostage and the aggressive narrative against China has long become a part of American culture. At the same time, it's widely known many major US private companies buy supplies and products from China made with forced labor. Ordinary Chinese people suffer from sweatshop employment as well as ruined ecology, and the Chinese government is limited in its policies because their climate makes feeding this huge population challenging. In addition, most internal logistics in China involve sea cargo but the US controls all the sea routes and basically can block internal logistics in China in case of escalation, which China can't prevent or do the same to the US. I wonder if Jon Oliver will ever make a segment about it.

[@AndrewQuinn42]

A scammer called me about two years ago and I told her to do better with her life, she was hurting people and to be a decent person. She lost it, started crying uncontrollably and asked me to help her, help her get out of her situation she was inconsolable to the point other people started coming to her desk and talking a million miles an hour (I couldn’t make any of it out) and then we were disconnected. The whole situation really rocked me, I’ve never spoken to someone in so much pain and confusion before…. I’m not doing the conversation justice in text but I’m convinced that woman was genuinely suffering.

[@paulas_lens]

heartbreaking

[@mommalion7028]

Poor girl.

[@bunk95]

Scammers are fictional. Youre made to think someone might have called you?

[@Surya-uj7re]

If she hasn't contacted you again, then I guess the reaction was real. Because I can see these bastards using something like that as a fallback position to convince someone to play 'white knight' and scam then that way.

[@bru9]

Glad she felt bad

[@bahochman]

John Oliver, thank you so much for raising awareness about this scam. A few days after learning about this from your show, I was targeted by a wrong number text message from someone who wanted more information and pretended to be friendly. I was cautious and deleted the text after the initial interaction with this stranger turned suspicious.

[@ilovelimpfries]

Thursday is the new monday.

[@darthmax-fk8qe]

Since HBO made the change, I started pirating it on Monday morning

[@BlobZombie]

For my place of employment, Thursdays are my Fridays, so I'm happy with Mondays being the new Thursdays.

[@awesomefish_69]

By Thursday, I’ve already moved on to other things :(

[@TheRealAmericanIdiot]

Garfield: Hold my beer

[@pauulkubasek1815]

Tuesday is the new Sunday

[@meowleriebee2996]

This happened to one of my friends. Ended up asking me for money to pay the “tax” and then he’d split some of his “profits” with me. I almost gave him a few grand until I thought about further and didn’t. Then my coworker had this happen to him just last week and had already put in a thousand dollars, then asked me if I thought this was legit. I told him to stop immediately and that he only lost a little bit to learn a valuable lesson. He ended up thanking me a ton, and I’m so glad he asked me before falling deeper into financial ruin.

[@butHomeisNowhere___]

Whats crazy is that, just by being a little knowledgeable and vigilant, you altered the course of those peoples lives for the better. They could have lost absolutely everything. Good on you

[@anokata-kd8oc]

It's not the same scam, but a few weeks ago a friend of mine told me about an elderly lady from a city about 250 kilometers away from here who said she were called by his number and that she wanted to call back because apparently the call would be related to her husband in some way(I don't know if they sent her a message too or something). She insisted that it was exactly the same number. I asked him for her number because I immediately suspected that some scammer spoofed a random cell phone number to trick her into something bad. I called her and explained to her that calls like this are most likely scams and if someone is telling her that her husband would've been involved in an accident or would've been arrested to hang up and calling the police/the alleged hospital on their real number. Luckily she understood immediately what this could've been about and thanked me for my warning. It's a shame that scammers voluntarily and explicitly are targeting elderly people because much of them aren't aware of these scams. My mother got already multiple messages from "me" telling her I broke my phone and got a new number. I got some of these messages myself, calling me "Mum" while I'm a male in my thirties. Awful people. I hope I get one of these messages again to set up a trap with the police.

[@cbpd89]

Maybe we all really need an objective opinion from a friend whenever we're about to make an investment. Someone without a financial stake to say if they think it's risky or sounds a little too good to be true. I'm glad you could be that to your friend. You're a good egg!

[@icedcoffee8561]

​@@cbpd89lol I tried getting objective opinions from everyone I knew when first getting into cryptocurrency... realized most Americans lack basic math and logic, went into a two month long panic attack. I keep my investment ideas to myself now, so I don't have to deal with others stupidity.

[@omargaber3122]

Free Palestine, We Will Not Forget You, Aaron Bushnell

[@fabmissb]

I was genuinely confused about how pig-butchering could be used as a scam. And then my mind went wild with the implications of such a scam. And then it’s just a regular, horrible scam.

[@animeartist888]

I know, right? I'm honestly kinda disappointed that it's such a normal scam. I was expecting something new and different and especially diabolical. Although the human trafficking part caught me off guard still.

[@tylerbrown4483]

I came from a small town and when I was little there was a guy who basically got run out of town because he was running a pig farming co-op where everyone pay him for their share of pig feed and then at the end of the summer during butchering season you pay for as much pork as you want at a ridiculously low rate. This is a relatively normal situation. You see it for milking cows, beef, vegetables… basically you pay a recurring fee to the farmer and then get the product at steep discount so your total cost works out to just the overhead of production plus a small surcharge to pay the farmer. The farmer usually makes more than he would selling to a wholesaler and the customers usually pay less than they would at market after all costs are accounted for. Except this guy just had one problem. There were no pigs. This is what I was expecting when I clicked. Or something similar.

[@ZakTheRipper18]

You could say your mind went... hog wild.

[@kevinmunger1842]

Technology exists, not for better. The analog realm is so much more secure and dependable and defensible AI can't see analog.

[@pyrotechnick420]

I think you guys should be more afraid that such a mundane scam has become so pervasive that it's the main story on LWT. Also, what did you guys have in mind exactly for an interesting scam? All the latest scams are just going to involve using chatGPT to write a script and AI speech synthesis to speak with multiple victims simultaneously, allowing one scammer to do the work of an entire call center. Still pretty boring if you ask me. I dunno with the new Sora video generator maybe someone can figure out how to use it in real time to fake video calls with a person using a generated AI person.

[@hellionshark3197]

I usually fuck around with scammers, but after an episode of Taxi Driver, about a similar scheme, I felt bad and asked one obvious such scammer if they are in danger. They didn't answer, obviously. They stopped answering altogether. It doesn't surprise me people are forced into it. I hope they made it out

[@andybauer1786]

"our liked ones" underrated new slang of the year

[@all-eq1nd]

That joke was truly so underrated

[@rayflyers]

Let's be honest. John has "tolerated ones" at best.

[@shelleydwyer-murphy2281]

It is not easy being informative and funny about difficult subjects, but John Oliver does it every week. Thank you John for all you do.

[@bluemoon9530]

Yeah I missed him too 😊

[@MossyMozart]

@shelleydwyer-murphy2281 - Britain's loss is our gain!

[@allisons6910]

Writers be like, "We went on strike all over the news for how many months? Well, at least they arent saying it's all Ai yet."

[@RP-ue9wy]

This isn't a difficult subject. It's called being idiots.

[@ulalaFrugilega]

Only way I can stomach stuff like ... all the stuff he presents, actually.

[@MatteBlackEverything]

I work for a fortune 500 company and regularly get calls from clients stating they got an email from someone posing as us, informing them about a subscription they recently purchased. Even though it is not in my job description to educate them on how to spot a scam, it is in my human job description. John, absolute banger of an episode. Haven't laughed like that in a while. 😂😂😂

[@thatjillgirl]

I occasionally get customers reporting scams posing as my company, and they *know* that it's a scam, they just thought we should know, presumably so....we can...do something about it? I am genuinely not sure what it is they think we can do. The people perpetrating the scam are probably random people in another country who will just find new phone numbers to clone and new burner email accounts to use even if they did get shut down. The only thing you can realistically do is practice vigilance.

[@rjrobbins2]

I ran customer service departments for years and this has been happening since the late 90s when email started to become more common, sadly. I did long distance biling for AT&T and one of our most common calls is being being scammed on dial-up into running up huge bills when they go to a website and it sends their dial-up to a 900 number (if you remember those). People would be viewing porn online throgh their dial-up over a 900 number which was charging like $5 a minute.

[@elseby]

Now you have a nifty video to send them so you don't have to explain it over and over again.

[@mreshadow]

I hate when customers show me those Geek Squad emails too. ;-)

[@Bananamations]

“It’s in my human job description” damn im stealing that

[@dwinsemius]

I played along with one Asian woman who said she wanted to be a friend, and the "knife" for the butchering operation was gold futures to be chosen by her uncle and arranged through a British agent. It was exactly as described at the FBI website. I pointed out that arranging deals through offshore unregistered financial entities was a good way to get fleeced. She said "but aren't we friends?"

[@Julia-lk8jn]

Now I have this image of you sitting there with the FBI website open, reading along _her_ part of the conversation while you exchange messages. It would be a more rewarding image if I wouldn't have to be afraid that "she" was kept in some horrible place when she thought she'd be getting a good, honest job.

[@dwinsemius]

@@Julia-lk8jn You're feeling sorry for her? She kept sending me images of her enjoying life in Southern California at private parties at golf clubs. I really didn't think she was in a sweat shop. But who knows, right?

[@scottletourneau4571]

@@dwinsemiusThat’s…the entire last half of the video.

[@antzman710]

I think my favorite part about this kind of coverage isn't just "this is happening, what a shame, how horrible, now lets move on" but the ending of, "this is happening, what a shame, how horrible, this is what WE think we should do about it." Fuck scammers, another great piece.

[@monsieurdorgat6864]

Honestly, yeah fuck scammers but also fuck the US government who refuses to help any of these people who got scammed. The US government can literally print money, and it wouldn't be hard to confirm that these people got scammed. Yet, we do nothing for these victims. That says a lot, too.

[@superiorjrn1604]

That’s what makes me like this show. I don’t agree with his viewpoints a lot, but he’s not just complaining. He’s offering solutions, again some I don’t agree with but it’s opened my mind to different ways of thinking about problems.

[@monsieurdorgat6864]

@@superiorjrn1604 He's a little careful about what solutions he offers, though. For instance, it's noteworthy that the US government could be doing much more to help and support the victims of these crimes. But it doesn't. Our entire criminal justice system and the actions of our government only penalize crime, but never fix the damage that those crimes do. Who gives a fuck if the criminal rots, if the victim is still poor?

[@flyrobin2544]

@@monsieurdorgat6864 I agree with you, the government should be doing more. The problem with that is, they have more pull with the government than we do. I hope people have learned from this, never ever give out your personal info and beware who you friend even on Facebook.

[@erinspitfire]

My demented step-grandma fell for this scam and transferred all of her life savings using a scammers-operated ATM. A good lesson for every family with a dementia ridden relative -- get POA as soon as you can. We ended up getting 80% of that money back, but it still sucked, and I'm sure not everyone would be that lucky in this situation.

[@CRneu]

Get POA and don't hesitate to make the decision to intervene. A friend of mine waited almost a year before taking over her father's life when he was deteriorating due to dementia. That year of waiting caused a ton of headaches that allowed other people to get into the situation and make things far more difficult.

[@bloodred255]

yeah, unrelated but my father was drinking heavily for a time and apparently fell victim to an obvious scam. people call up and sometimes they hit.

[@rochester212]

This would mean 50% of all americans have dementia, roughly the percentage of citizens who vote for Trump and do other idiotic things. Just call it stupidity, where the USA is world champion. My question has always been, if the average american is so dumb, how the hell do you manage to get so much money, like the woman who had cancer, a divorce and still managed to send 2.5 million dollars to a scammer? Ultimately, stupid people shouldn't have any money at all, that's why these scams are so successful.

[@13699111]

Sadly sometimes it's the wrong family member that takes advantage . Gives me hope reading your comment.

[@Z_MIB]

How does a scammer have their own ATM?

[@Blasted2Oblivion]

The first red flag would be a person getting me as a wrong number and then wanting to continue the conversation beyond that.

[@dollyinthehouse]

That’s exactly what they try to do. I think they prey on empathy

[@jamalhartley5863]

Right?! I'm like you have the wrong number this conversation is over now sir/ma'am. But I also get it. Who doesn't want a text from someone thinking about them. Folks are really lonely these days 😢.

[@iambicpentakill971]

The point is that if you were in a different situation or mental state it might work

[@Hotobu]

Seriously, that's why I have zero sympathy for these people.

[@BravosReviews]

Has happened to me twice. I get a text out of nowhere the person seems to be trying to contact someone else. As soon as it’s clear that I’m not the person they’re looking for the conversation should end but if they try to continue it I block the number.

[@momotaroreincarnatednthtim6303]

00:31 I feel the anger, sadness, annoyance, helplessness and excitement all at once.

[@ahipdude]

I was in the middle of one of these when I watched this episode. I'm not joking. Thanks John Oliver and crew.

[@kitube14]

could you share your experience? How were you approached and what made you bond of continue the communication?

[@stevemyopinion423]

the sign up for a app make it seeem far more dangerous

[@gregmoessner3104]

I think I’m going through one right now.

[@ahipdude]

@@kitube14 it started off as a text from a woman visiting the area and asked if she could join me (supposedly my number was similar to her real estate agent that was helping her buy a rental property. I said "wrong number" and she apologized and asked me something and I was stupid enough to reply. A conversation started and over the next couple weeks became her "uncle" has been studying the stock market and tells her when to jump into stuff. More stuff slowly started to lure me into her little world of wealth and I thought maybe I could learn stuff. She never once asked for money. As soon as I saw this, I realized it was coming, just like John Oliver indicated with crypto references she kept making. I told her she should be ashamed of herself, gave her a link to this episode, then blocked her.

[@davidhornak155]

Yes John, I am a victim of this scam. I don't know what to do...

[@coughfully]

This scam needs to become the new “Nigerian prince” jokes we make about scams. It’ll spread more awareness once we all start making jokes about receiving a text that says, “this is Emily. Is my dragon okay?” Or some shit like that.

[@Afroninja2025]

Hei this Emily is my dragon okay? Sorry to bothering you.

[@e-ben616]

As a Nigerian, I agree with this 😅. I'm genuinely tired of the Nigerian Prince jokes.

[@disabilityadvoc8]

I got a scam call once where aguy claimed to be from the IRS saying i owed back taxes and if i didn't pay now he would initiate a warrant for my arrest. I said, "Oh Thank God! I've been trying to ditch these kids all day. Tell the police I can meet them at the curb in 5." The guy hung up. Weird.

[@SEAZNDragon]

I don't get a lot of the text version of this scam but I been getting them a lot on mobile games in their chat functions. Pretty easy to spot, a level 1 player with a brand new account trying to chat me a high level player. I usually tell them I'm a ice dragon hunter in the North Pole. Had one one accuse me of being a scammer, which I have to give them a hat tip.

[@bensandquist6185]

One thing John didn't mention is a lot of these ARE the Nigerian Prince scammers. The gangs and cults that performed those scams are now doing pig butchering. There is podcast called the Darknet Diaries that has an episode about it.

[@bruh_rick]

I’m from Taiwan, and it’s almost weekly news that people are “tricked” into traveling to Cambodia. It’s a meme now.

[@Bacteriophagebs]

Making it a meme is the best way to prevent it. The Nigerian prince scams virtually vanished once it became a joke that people would reference in movies or talk shows because everyone knew about them and so no one fell for them.

[@weatherseed8994]

It's a holiday in Cambodia.

[@IFZEX09]

As a Singaporean I constantly get scam calls claiming to be from gov agency, where they only speak in Taiwanese accented mandarin kzbin.info/www/bejne/q4uuiaJ9obCJick kzbin.info/www/bejne/qpmVXmmqYplrbtk

[@slackerman9758]

@@RedFatGingerInAsiaThat the Cambodian government is disgusted about this doesn’t mean it isn’t happening though.

[@Bacteriophagebs]

@@RedFatGingerInAsia Nice try, Cambodian criminal, but we know the truth! Seriously, it's a known problem. The U.S. Treasury has Cambodia listed as Tier 3 (the highest) level for human trafficking. The government and "locals" who are upset probably just don't want the word getting around because it'll stop the gravy train.

[@RingerThaoNgan]

This is exactly the kind of support people need in situations like these! *Quick Rico Tech, your skill and compassion in recovering lost funds make a huge difference. Keep fighting the good fight; the world needs more people like you!

[@KazuhoOonishi]

Will you charge upfront fee for recovering

[@岩坪遥]

he is on the internet ...google their webpage

[@多比良香]

Please this is exactly my case. how can i get the service

[@喜屋康平]

or search his name on the internet and lg

[@須釜大翔]

i think emailing is faster to see recovery assistance

[@estherperry]

I love that he makes sure to be compassionate to those who've been scammed. It's easy to judge them but many people are taken advantage of who are already struggling or lonely.

[@PrimaMapleSyrup]

Yeah these "poor victims" that have no financial literacy but got tens of thousands of dollars to invest in one chunk in something they picked out themselves. Born in third and they think they can hit because...they're on third.

[@jackster9775]

This. Also a lot of the victims are people who get what it’s like to be poor. I help run a mutual aid group and our scam finder quit.

[@b_dawg_17]

I'm sharing this with everyone I know. I'm a software engineer, and this is the scariest video I've seen in a long time. Thank you for doing a story on this!

[@mmmmmmichael]

This had better not be giving you ideas for new apps b dawg 😊

[@javaman7199]

Anybody us play this video expecting something completely different?

[@caseyjc5]

@DBRisingAre you a scammer?

[@Echo81Rumple83]

i shared it with my mom and sister. my mom was almost scammed into letting some stranger hack into her computer before she ended the call, shut down her computer, and took it into our nearby PC repair shop. she was embarrassed she got fooled like that...

[@ChemistTea]

Getting app ideas 😁

[@rainbowtropolis]

My dad passed away last February, and going through his paperwork this past year, he fell for something like this. As far as I can tell, he sold everything he owned, gave away everything in his checking and savings, along with opening new credit cards and buying gift cards to give them money. There were so many people involved it makes me sick to know his last days were sitting alone in his cabin in his chair under a blanket. No heat, water or electricity since he wasn't paying his utility bills, hoping he would finally get his money and someone to love. 💔

[@kendalbrenneman]

That's so sad, I'm so sorry. I just cannot comprehend the fact that there are people out there who are OK doing this to people...

[@stephjovis3469]

So sorry. Sounds like classic cat fishing. A friends mum fell for 3 of those and she's so lonely she's still hoping the next guy writing her will be the real deal. She doesn't even have money but those scammers teach people to take out loans and buy and send gift cards

[@PutinsMommyNeverHuggedHim]

@@stephjovis3469 i think she’s a bit slow

[@hopesnopes]

I'm so sorry for your dad's going through that and being so disappointed. And you sound like his kind and loving daughter or son. Take care, that was hard.

[@Aurabora54321]

That woman's hilarious laugh is even more delightful than that awful, psychedelic holiday tree!😅😂

[@worldwidepete]

I was told to search for this video tonight. I had a Chinese girl send me one of these "wrong numbers" and I was forgiving and nice. So suddenly she really wanted to have a conversation all day. Even though she was a CEO of a company. ;) Yeah. There were even more red flags. Halfway through this video I block and reported all contact I had. Thanks Team.

[@baoboumusic]

Good for you, glad you managed to escape!!

[@studleyjb3172]

Don't answer, just delete.

[@zen1647]

Great outcome. Now send this video to two other people. 👍

[@Sonichero151]

You could have blocked someone that was being enslaved by a Chinese Gang........

[@ksan1648]

Any interesting ways to "counter" these-I identified warning flags early on, but I'm "playing along* while I think of something concrete...what gets me is that they're using a US number, so is police involvement an option?,,

[@AliceBowie]

People who were kids online in like 1993 to 1997 are kind of lucky, because they grew up in an extremely paranoid time when you didn't give out any personal details and assumed everyone you talked to was a kidnapper who wanted to murder you.

[@Pi_Cue]

And we paid by the minute for the long distance call and to access AOL. Kids these days don't even know you paid per minute to be online. And the busy signals 😂. No time wasted back then, we couldn't afford to get lost in a scam, we had to check our email for chain letters

[@cyzcyt]

My first scam was befriending a guy in runescape. He was my mentor and showed me the game. I followed him into the wilderness and then lost my rune set. Ever since then, I lost faith in humanity

[@PaulMarceau]

You said what I was still thinking of how to say. and you very likely did better than I would have ended up doing.

[@senorsnout4417]

Honestly we should go back to that. People online are WAY too comfortable sharing all of their personal info with random strangers online these days.

[@BrysonSirbaugh]

Exactly that. I learned about scammers on MMOs in the early 2000s and through the constant reinforcement in school that anyone who tried to reach out to you was a pedophile or a scam artist. We rolled our eyes at the time, but I've always carried a healthy skepticism for anyone online and never give out my personal details (at least to other users, we all give info up to daddy zuck) If you told kids today to be wary of strangers they'd laugh in your face and ask how you expected them to do anything.

[@todd-617]

Last week I was on a cruise and the first port we stopped in was in Mexico. As soon as I turned on my phone there I started getting those random text messages. I got one that was from Jeff saying “hey, I’ll be late getting to the golf course. Meet you in the bar.” I responded with, “can’t golf today. Still cleaning up all the blood. Might need help getting rid of the body.” I haven’t heard back from Jeff yet.

[@ttthecat]

Noice!

[@Zelbatti]

Genius

[@JamesSmith-ig7gw]

Years ago, I had an ancient communication system know as a "Landline." I started getting telemarketing calls every night. After 3 or 4, I started answering the phone sniffling and drawing quick, short breaths. The person on the other end would ask for me, I'd start crying and tell them that "I" just passed away. Most of them would actually be empathetic, but a couple just slammed up, then hung up after a couple seconds. After a week of answering calls this way, they all stopped. Never got another telemarketing call at that number. 🤘🏼🖖🏼✌🏼

[@mikemondano3624]

"Mexico" is not a port. It sounds like your whole trip was a scam. You were probably in San Diego.

[@ThonneThisseDeadeLif]

Dude I get that it is funny, but never say or write anything like that while it's tied to your real phone number and identity. last thing you want in your day is spending the night in jail because you got reported by some cambodian cyber slave.

[@jabadoodle]

I'm so moved by this segment in so many ways. 1: I did a stupid thing but not at bad as that so I feel slight better about myself. 2: I feel like an ass for feeling better because I'm not "better" and because those poor people. 3: I'm horrified that people are trapped in buildings being forced to do this shit. 4: I feel so lucky to be in a place where that doesn't happen. 5: I feel so very sad for the people who have lost life savings or harmed themselves for falling for this. 6: I want tell everyone to NEVER send money to anyone they haven't met in person. What a fucked up world we live in.

[@JeanHampleman]

True.

[@marvinjames6398]

I fell for one of these scams. It still hard to talk about. I feel sorry for all the victims mentioned this needs to stop happening.

[@graciehart777]

it feels like everyone is terrible and no one can be trusted again! i fell for one at work, so i thank god for insurance

[@bubblegumplastic]

I'm sorry that happened to you 🫂

[@shelbynamels7948]

did you report it to the authorities??

[@chromicapop4595]

I keep getting scams for fake therapy office “offers” That don’t exist even Apple can’t prevent them 😂

[@BeccaB789]

I went through this almost 2 years ago. I didnt lose alot of money, so little compared to what these people went through. I have PTSD because of it, and I've tried to reach out to the right recipient and the representatives to warn them, and to see about raising awareness with their help. So far, I reported these accounts to the Federal Trade commission, but nothing from the representatives. Only one agency expressed gratitude for warning them, and were sympathetic.

[@Delilah_Darkpelt]

I'm such a farmer, I heard "Pig Butchering Scam" and thought they were like, pretending to be a meat locker and stealing the pigs 💀

[@coffeebux]

Like a reverse Charlottes web

[@HellsDarlingDaughter]

Same here lol. Was excited to inform my roomie that grew up on a hog farm that there was fresh industry tea. 🤣

[@Lil_Warrior_Princess]

Me too lol

[@veiledopinions]

😭😭😭😭I thought they were selling fake pork

[@evangonzalez2245]

Figured it was grouping up enough people to buy a whole pig, then sending packs of Oscar Mayer, lol

[@ssdajoker]

😂 "CEO gets tricked, whoooops the bank's empty."😂

[@twisted55555]

seems unbelievable - how does this guy run a bank? Societies could use more whitehat phishing programs to educate the targets (everybody). My company runs such compaigns on our email users - when you screw up, then you get additional training. I thought the program was lame, but my colleagues kept getting bit, so I guess the concepts are not universally understood. This regular practice could be train the public to lose less money (and de-motivate the scammers), or just help them self-identify as needing additional precautions.

[@brewski118sempire]

​@@twisted55555 It's not uncommon for small town banks in Kansas to be run somewhat like a dictatorship. If there is only 5-7 employees so the eco holds all the control.

[@toolbaggers]

@@twisted55555 Yeah, it's usually the CEO that tricks the customers, whoops the bank's empty.

[@redjed100]

And people wonder why people got mad at the banking industry bailout and the subsequent collapse of Obama’s attempts to enact strong regulations for the banking industry.

[@PrimaMapleSyrup]

Except he also stole and got caught and that has Nothing to do With any scam he's just a thief/ceo. But Jon glosses over that because you're a peasant

[@Jam-p1g]

Admirable job, *VortexTrace* I’m glad to see you actively combating these individuals who lack integrity. We must prioritize the protection of the elderly and the wider public from these reprehensible scammers! Well done, my friend!! You deserve the Nobel Peace Prize for your commitment to keeping us safe.😊😊

[@hanzflackshnack1158]

When you've lived in the projects for years you don't need news writers to tell you anyone suddenly trying to be your friend for no reason is going to ask for money 😅

[@Don.M.]

Facts 😂

[@omargaber3122]

Free Palestine, We Will Not Forget You, Aaron Bushnell

[@xmateinc]

You ain’t lying. I would never give someone I never met money just from text messages. When I was younger I went to jail a few times and you learn that people that are being overly nice and helpful are doing it for a reason. They want something from you being it commissary or worse.

[@eleonarcrimson858]

But if you are on dating apps, it is much more tough to parse through the lies.

[@tylerbrown4483]

@@eleonarcrimson858no it’s not. If someone won’t ever meet up or get on a video call why would you keep “dating” them? I wouldn’t be on a dating app looking for an intimate pen pal.

[@sambeawesome]

It's disgusting enough that so many people have lost their savings and just so much to these scams, but good lord the scammers themselves are ALSO trafficked??? I have no words. I can't even think straight. That's horrific. But thank you for sharing this information, it's so important.

[@gunkulator1]

Big drug crime syndicates work this way too. The outward faces of the organization, i.e. the people who take all the risks smuggling or selling on the street, are either trafficked, addicts or both.

[@kathleenswarm8564]

​@@gunkulator1Hmm seems like these scammers sound like MAGA!! I would not put it past the 🍊🤡 and his minions.

[@omargaber3122]

Free Palestine, We Will Not Forget You, Aaron Bushnell

[@ellen3000gaming]

Saw the title of this video and fully believed I was about to learn a bunch of horrifying new things about financial crimes in pig farming.

[@MadAboutBrows]

I live down the road from a pig farm and thought I was about to learn some really gross stuff

[@Megabot_6000]

That's why I delayed watching this

[@cannibalbananas]

@@Megabot_6000 omg! same!

[@cocoace7587]

Same . They could've chosen a more suitable name . To me , they are implying humans are pigs . 🐖 😢 Of course, I know they didn't mean it literally 🙄. Yet & still , it could've been more appropriate & less demeaning.

[@bland9876]

@@Megabot_6000that's why I didn't delay in watching this.

[@chrisdrizzy9721]

This is too freaky. I matched with someone on Tinder 2 weeks ago and we’ve been texting ever since. Even had a video call w her but she kept refusing to go on a date in person. Yesterday she finally brought up cryptocurrency and kept pushing me saying she will teach me. Even offered to set me up with a practice account. Thought it was weird and blocked her and boom today I see this episode of John Oliver. Damn I’m 98% sure I was the pig in that situation

[@fios4528]

Similar experience a few months ago but on bumble

[@mscoyote50]

Good for you for realizing that it was a scam! Close call.

[@dismurrart6648]

Yeah I had a few of these a few years ago. Heads up that you'll probably start getting more scams coming your way. Methinks one of the tactics is if you answer once, keep coming after you in the hopes you accidentally fall for a scam

[@UnicornAguacate]

No. Please no. God no. You were about to be scammed out of everything you have.

[@Gnefitisis]

Bro you missed out on pussy and money. Go back and get in the van.

[@sarah.2608]

A big shout out John and his entire team for spotlighting this subject. It’s so important because they’re so many vulnerable people who are getting scammed left and right 😭😔 Thank you for making this video, I’ll be sharing it with everyone.

[@rougnashi]

I know a family dealing with a loved one in the middle of of being pig butchered right now so thank you for the video. Hopefully this will help them wake their loved one up to what's being done.

[@allisons6910]

Make sure she/he actually watches the video. Like, be _on the phone listening_ or _watching WITH them via video call_ if you seriously care. Even if after the video, he/she still doesnt believe, the doubt will be planted. The next step is to ask them to request for the "friend" to talk with them on the phone. If the "friend" can message them, they can get on a phone call. There are so many free apps, proxies, internet cafes, that there is NO excuse to not be able to if they can keep messaging. If the "friend" doesn't realize the jig is up and disappear right away. They probably think your family member is a big fish, or really close to last stage. So, they will come up with a million different excuses. And due to what I stated before about having the ability to, well, that will hurt the victim's trust, sew even more doubt, and eventually cause a conflict. Every time they get a message, they'll be reminded it's not a phone call. Anyways, there's more steps that are even more aggressive, but this is a KZbin comment. Hope you read it and help your family member. Lmk what happens.

[@rougnashi]

@@allisons6910Thank you for the advice; I'll pass it on. They're actually not a family member of mine but our neighbor's. They've been telling us about what's happening and what they've tried to do to alert their family member they're being scammed. When this video came out it got my hopes up something put all together like this might be the push needed. Fingers crossed.

[@sgs1313]

I got a friend from the FBI actually tell my roommate that they don't accept gift cards as payment to keep his record clean, they break down your door, but he still didn't believe us and he lost 7 grand in a stupid scam

[@allisons6910]

@@sgs1313 The issue there is that you have: A. Already been trying to convince your roommate it was fake. B. X factor, whatever your relationship is (particularly resentments & conflicts history) that I am not privy to. So, when you called upon an authority figure from outside your personal relationship circle (correct move), the mistake that was made is that the FBI pal was _your friend._ Due to A & B, the roommate had likely been telling his new "friend" about what you said. Absent a step of challenge being presented, the momentary doubt that may have existed was turned to instead, a point of bonding. In a variety of ways to say it, the message provided was: "You were now trying to keep them apart." So, when you brought by the person of authority, which I will assume was at least days, if not weeks later. The roommate was already shields up. If anything, they were probably giggling with their "friend" the lengths you & your "obvious strong-arm tactic via FBI friend" would go to separate them. If not giggling, they could lament how "you were overreacting" etc etc. Many people do not take this level of intervention to help, so it's not your fault. However, a good chunk require a literal intervention. And that's where introducing the challenge after the information is given is vital. Note: If you do not have a good relationship with the victim, then find someone else they do like to give the info. That us vs them move is super common (also used by abusers to isolate you).

[@Young-q6x]

Great work, *Vortextrace* - I’m thrilled that you’re actively combatting these scammers. It’s crucial to prioritize the safety of the elderly and the public by taking every necessary measure to protect them. You truly deserve recognition for your efforts!

[@cijmo]

I work with vulnerable adults and one of our employees came to work Monday and explained that he had almost fallen for one of these. It just so happened he had to go to the bank and withdraw money. He has banked there since 1980 so the staff and esp. the manager knew him well. (We actually all went to high school together). She just casually asked if he was taking a holiday and he told her about spending his money on crypto instead. She sat with him for about an hour explaining it all. It was scary because, in the end, if he said to her that he still wanted to invest, she would have to give him the money but luckily, he knew that she wouldn't be wrong about this so he just deleted everything from the scammer.

[@yahyaahmad8574]

Everyone needs friends like that!!!

[@Bulldogg6404]

I have received a handful of "wrong number" messages before. I do always engage enough to tell them they have the wrong number, because I don't see harm in doing that much for them, in case they legit needed to know. A couple of those times, I do recall, they attempted to make further conversation. I blocked them immediately. Why? Because literally nobody who sends a wrong number message should be using that mistake to try to establish friendship with someone they never met. Period.

[@noconsent]

If you respond to anyone who got your number from anywhere but you personally, all you are doing is making your phone number more valuable, as you have proven your number is a real number. Sure they might not scam you personally, but they just made money selling a real phone number to a different scammer.

[@CristataArt]

Personally, I'd be wary of responding at all, even just to say "wrong number". After all, you're still telling them that there's a real person connected to that number who they can then attempt to target. Then that info could be spread to more scammers as well, and even if you never fall for it, it could still result in an influx of spam messages.

[@bulletsandbracelets4140]

I feel like there was a window of internet safety where some of us learned to be wary of anyone we don't know who is attempting to get friendly like this. I can't explain it, but this is exactly my response to most unknown texts. Unless I'm getting it for a reason (a known event or an authentication code), I block the number.

[@garlicsaucespill9482]

If it’s that important they’d leave a message. Just ignore and report from now on unless you want even more harassment

[@Kobe29261]

Its a testament to how lonely and isolated people feel.

[@Mito383]

“They turned those casinos into bases for online scam operations” So… online casinos.

[@bobf5360]

exactly. Sorry, but not feeling sorry for anyone on the scammer side, be it the bosses or the foot soldiers. They're all just part of the same mob.

[@Chrisko1492]

No. (Legal) casinos aren‘t scams. Scamming means you definitely lose. In a casino you CAN win, just not over a longer time frame. That‘s called gambling, where the casino has an edge that plays in their favor over a large number of plays. Doesn‘t make it a scam.

[@Jartran72]

Yeah but he said online casinos. Those after often straight scams

[@jimsanders4517]

Yes, gambling is a scam typically based upon one’s belief in luck and/or their ability to beat the mathematics of probability.

[@Redmanticore]

the house always wins (and sometimes makes you a literal slave)

[@alexhearn9270]

I remember when it first started. I got these weird wrong number messages. The first one i actually thought was legit, but I didn’t really feel like talking to them. When it happened the second and third time from different numbers with each of their own unique and believable stories I realized it was a scam of some sort but I never messaged long enough to really understand how it works. Very scary.

[@Preston-Crosby]

That Christmas Tree is like fast food restaurant pictures vs what you actually get.

[@elsen2235]

Called marketing

[@cannot-handle-handles]

Called unfair business practices, specifically unfair business practices involving the advertising and sale of products and services to consumers.

[@michag4337]

@@cannot-handle-handles yea it's always chinese companies. Never buy anything from over there, do it the right way and pay extra to buy it from an american company. Same product, slightly more protections.

[@Stop_Gooning]

I prepared food for an advertising photo shoot one time (kale salad with grilled salmon) and the chef had me spray it with hair spray so it wouldn't wilt. KZbin, please don't delete my comment!

[@ConsecDesign]

My girl ordered a cactus shaped cat tree from an Instagram ad and received a bag of green rope 😂😂😂

[@LaLaLonna]

The dad who just hugged his daughter even when they had just lost everything seems like such a good dad. ❤

[@melanieenmats]

Yeah he is indeed. They'll be fine. They've still got what matters.

[@PrimaMapleSyrup]

He knows that by just giving his daughter money he robbed her of any chance to develop money skills

[@nikinnorway]

this trafficking issue is why i try to be gentle with scammers when they call. i tell them i know it's a scam and i hope they are ok and find a good real job soon.

[@agatagogh7072]

I’m close to someone who lost 120K in one of these scams. It is truly WILD, they will ‘date’ their targets for over a year before asking for money. TRULY UNREAL

[@Praiselizzy212]

Same happened with me. But #Agent_Scorey saved my life and made my recovery process possible. 🙏🙏🙏💯💯

[@rafaelvicari92]

In the case you mentioned, did the person send money directly to the scammer for 'help', or was it to a fake organization for profit, like explained in the video?

[@goodasgoing]

I would like to think I wouldn't be a victim of this because I'm so antisocial and, unfortunately, quick to ghost people if I have to do a lot of communicating. But I'm glad to be aware that this is going on.

[@strnglhld]

@@jadisal5335Reported for being a scammer

[@a.r530]

It's wild how these scams happened. My husband literally got scammed while sitting next to me. It was a job scam when he replied to a job ad on FB. He kept it to himself at first because he didn't want to trouble the family. To think that all of this can happen literally next to you :( The same month my aunt who is a retired teacher got scammed out of all her pensions + added loan! They told her she owed money to a company and helped her do the paperwork to loan from the bank. She has been keeping it to herself for a year out of shame. It took a big hit ok our family. Just last week my boss told me a neighbour passed away after the stress from a love scam that took all her savings. Please keep an eye out for the people around you

[@FayeVert]

And get your lonely relatives out to socialize in-person at the senior center or somewhere.

[@Volkbrecht]

But seriously, how do people get hit so hard? I mean, a few hundred dollars I could understand, but once it hits serious numbers, wouldn't a sane person bail?

[@ladyabaxa]

@@Volkbrecht Never underestimate how sunk cost can motivate someone to keep going when they should bail. Humans are extremely good at rationalizing themselves into trouble.

[@aesinam]

​@@Volkbrechtwell the many many gambling addicts losing money every day should tell you that it's a very easy hole for many to go down

[@ErinWilke]

​@@Volkbrechtit's really just a sign of how unwell many people are in society. Lonely, disconnected, depressed, hopeless, and willing to believe anything that helps them feel better. It's heartbreaking

[@MouseTheGoblin]

John is the only news place I can go for civil rights protests, comedy, scam information, and sometimes he’ll just heavily imply he gives handys to horses

[@CryptoNewsUpdate0]

This man really hit the ground running and hasn't stopped yet. He gives us more understanding of him without interviews and negative antics he just shows us who he is through the Recovery. True living legend. We salute you. Incredible recovery. The execution, creativity, and goodness that came from it were inspiring on a number of levels. Cheers *VortexTrace* & looking forward to seeing what vou do next….!!!

[@nancymathisen9707]

I almost got scammed by a telephone scammer pretending to be from the electric utility company when I was moving and sleep deprived. I was about to buy a gift card to send so my electricity wouldn’t get shut off, when I realized that’s not how it’s done. I called the utility, gift card in hand, and heard their outgoing message about the exact scam I had almost fallen for. Very embarrassing and humiliating.

[@Allie-w1l]

The safest path is don't ever answer. If you don't know someone personally, just don't answer. I ignore almost all calls and pretty much all texts. I had a sibling who was scammed out of 10G, and she is not a gullible sucker.

[@melanieenmats]

If anyone mentions a gift card it is ALWAYS a scam. This is one of the few effective ways of making money untraceable.

[@cwinnizzle]

At least you caught it beforehand. Hoped you enjoyed that gift card as a celebration of catching it before you lost it.

[@nancymathisen9707]

@@cwinnizzle, I never bought the card. I was on line to pay for it when my semi conscious brain said “wait a minute! I think you’re about to get scammed!” so I called the utility and put the card back on the rack.

[@vonlogan1]

I live in Laos and my Chinese neighbors got arrested and deported last year, after it was discovered they were doing online scams. And we also have cases of human traffickers forcing people to do these scam centers. Very sad.

[@IxMeTutorials]

A lot of scammers are Laos natives though

[@vonlogan1]

@@IxMeTutorials I don’t think so. Most of the operations here are run by Chinese gangs, look at the Golden Triangle. If they are Lao, they are mostly there as slave labor. Most Lao don’t speak English or Chinese so they are not the ideal candidates to get in on the scamming.

[@materialgrl2000]

Curious - is this common or were they an exception? Getting punished I mean.

[@vonlogan1]

@@materialgrl2000 from what I heard, they were targeting Chinese back home. So it was a Chinese police unit that came down to Laos and worked with local police to get these guys.

[@melanieenmats]

Unfortunately it doesn't surprise me with how racist the average Chinese are.

[@susanneelmakdisi]

Oh my! This segment JUST saved me a lot of trouble. I watched it this morning and in the evening I was selling something on Facebook marketplace and two byers were doing exactly this type of scam. I would have definitely fallen for it, it was so well done! THANK YOU!

[@Raisinette-p1f]

How were fb buyers doing this exact scam?

[@PrimaMapleSyrup]

Lmfao for what $50. You're probably just paranoid

[@BinaIsaiahDanladi]

Man, this one hit me in the heart. She reminds me of my aunt, who is an incredibly giving person and donates more than anyone I know. Sometimes her kindness is taken of advantage of, and it makes my blood boil. Thank you guys for saving her $980,700. You dramatically changed her life for the better. The scammers don't stop after 1 success. Thank you *SWIFT WIDGET* , thank you, thank you Dave and your team. You guys are heroes to me. I'm just so happy this dudes is coming back stronger than ever and i can't begin to express how excited i am for the future jobs. i love these guys so Dearly

[@AlexN7]

I freely admit that I had never heard of these kinds of scams being called pig butchering, and I had a WILDLY different idea about the direction this episode was going to take

[@ismailahmad9597]

lol same, I was thinking, "I don't eat pig, but I wonder what kind of scams are happening in the slaughterhouses"

[@all-eq1nd]

lol

[@ashleyneku5432]

I didn't watch this episode for a while because I was thinking "I don't care about the pork market and I don't know how someone is being scammed in it anyways."

[@minetruly]

IKR? I figured farmers were sending their pigs off to slaughterhouses and then never seeing a dime.

[@xzonia1]

I got a call waking me up the other day from someone with a heavy accent asking me about medicare or something and I asked him to please take me off his call list and stop calling. As I was shifting the phone, I heard him say 'Please listen to me' just as I clicked the button to hang up. The way he said it made me wonder if he was being held against his will and was trying to ask me for help, but that thought only crossed my mind several seconds after I'd disconnected the call. It's tragic that anyone is being forced to do such horrible things, and so horrible that people are losing all their money in scams like this. Thank you for raising public awareness on this issue, John!

[@trytoguess]

I suppose one cold comfort is the call was most likely being monitored so it's highly unlikely the caller was trying to ask for help.

[@RaptorNX01]

I watch a channel called scammer revolts, basically he's a scam baiter, focusing on tech scammers. been watching for years. 99% of them come from call centers in india. a fair few of the ones he's gotten have tried to use similar excuses, tho it always turns out to be BS. so there is a pretty good chance thats the case. not a guarantee, but highly likely.

[@brentbeacham9691]

The next scam will be them asking you to send money so they can bribe the guards at their prison.

[@sabrinarachal]

How long until they start a scam where you *think* you are helping them by sending them money to free them from scammer slavery. Ugh. They will always be one step ahead of the victim pool.

[@solego5504]

100% this completely flipped my perspective on the people sending me the spam messages. I genuinely thought I was dealing with the same people that were working out of the Indian scam call centers. And some of them may be, but I'd rather be kind to a scammer than screw with someone living THAT kind of life. No more baiting them and screwing with them, just messages of support and encouragement. Doing what I can to spread the word against this scam, too, but hopefully with this level of visibility, it's on the decline.

[@tomwobus1482]

When you reply like this he will soon tell you that he is held under horrible conditions and need you to send 5000$ for his escape😂😂😂

[@skorp5677]

Do not answer, just block. A confirmed telephone number is worth much more than an unconfirmed. They will sell you on eventually and at some point, you might fall for a scam. It is not worth it.

[@melanieenmats]

Skorp here is right. They get any response => you'll be getting them for months or years. My GF was nearly tricked by one, and she gets loads of these messages now.@@skorp5677

[@braunarete5044]

I had a pig scammer who was this random dude in my city talk about how he came into my work and met me. Talked very vaguely about entrepreneurship/life while still trying to build rapport with me. He'd call me 1-2 times a year trying to earn my trust, I led that dude on for 4 years and he finally slipped where you could really tell he was a selfish and ruthless kind of person due to his frustration. Felt amazing to play the dance over several years and laugh in his face that he slipped and ruined his mark he had invested so much time and energy into, get fucking owned dude. So grateful I was scammed in Runescape and Diablo 2 as a kid because I still feel those loses in my soul, who knew it would protect me so much later in life.

[@MrNikolidas]

Ahh, Runescape scams... That brings back memories. The day that a random guy cleared their trade and immediately accepted yours was the day many lost their trust in people on the internet.

[@braunarete5044]

@@MrNikolidas who knew how insanely beneficial that was, especially at a young age because no one EVER forgets that feeling as a kid lol

[@moogle68]

@@braunarete5044 This is actually a great point, because as a kid, you _have_ no real currency, so your gaming life feel as close to real life as it gets until you be come an adult. I have had numerous, I won't say "scams" but, "betrayals" in the Dark Souls series where duplicating items via a glitch took two people meeting online in the game and having the other person claim to be onboard, but then just dip out with some really rare items once I did the first drop. Anyways, I think this is a great example of one of the ways that video games can be _very_ helpful for kids because you get the opportunity to have some of these painful adult experiences that genuinely hurt, but not as much as they would if they had happened for the first time as an adult when the stakes are bigger and the pain is an order of magnitude greater.

[@Julia-lk8jn]

... except that this guy was likely not doing it for fun and giggles, or even for money, but because he was all but chained to a computer by criminals. Apart from that, great story.

[@aikkirederf]

@@Julia-lk8jn Might be just a story - but not only Chinese mafia is doing this kind of scam. One might also be scammed by a single unchained person in your country - or even someone one actually meets.

[@natersoz2]

The next time I get a scam call: "If you're being held against your will, press 1. If you are willingly trying to scam me, press 2"

[@WhatUpRob]

Haha, make sure to add “listen carefully as our options may have changed”

[@dridadbunkerphd6523]

I love it! How about telling them have reached a sex-talk line and the number they have called from has been linked to their credit card account. If they remain on the line after 3 more seconds, they will be charged $4.00/minute on that credit card.

[@brokenstereotype]

@@dridadbunkerphd6523I’m going to make that my voicemail to cut down on scammers and sales people

[@nathanielbeven9052]

"12"

[@vintagearisen]

If the ringleaders are monitoring their screens and calls, it probably won't work. Knowing these people are trapped doing this is genuinely heartbreaking.

[@prologue_00]

I had gotten some of these texts. In the early days, I thought that they were just wrong numbers, and I would send a humorous and lighthearted response letting them know that. But regardless of what they text back, that's as far they got. I already have enough trouble texting back people I know, I'm not going to waste time with someone I don't. In recent years, I would get one of those texts every few months, and I figured that something was up with them. Good to hear the full story behind those messages.

[@Matthew10950]

Oh, you can think critically and have good instincts? You must feel so lonely.

[@SugarandSarcasm]

I usually just block the numbers

[@Matthew10950]

@daydream2818 Low intelligence. There is no other way. Most people around you couldn't actually have graduated highschool if they weren't pushed through.

[@Klm49]

Thank you! I am trying to keep active texting going with a dozen family members, legit real world friends, work contacts, and parents from my kid's schools! I wish i had free time to also build up online relationships with seemingly attractive, successful strangers!

[@enemyspotted2467]

I recently entertained one of these texts, just interested in how the scam was actually going to work. It thought it was pretty obvious, every photo sent was clearly ripped off the internet, they’d forget to translate the texts before sending them. Got bored after a few days and they still hadn’t initiated the scam yet. I once had a girl from Ghana add me on snapchat who I thought was a scammer, ended up being totally real. Turns out some Africans are sliding into dms now and try to get you to “sponsor” them.

[@bobbauer7928]

A few years back I had just gotten out of a relationship and was very vulnerable. I matched with a 'russian from SLC' on a dating app. We chatted a bit and there were red flags but I was lonely and it was nice to have someone to talk to. As soon as Crypto came up though I was out. I am glad I kept my wits enough for that.

[@jazzochannel]

you rubbed one out for the team! good work, m8

[@davisknoxchris3237]

The way you guys just remain humble & move behind the recommendation is how more people should move. You *Strong widget* deserve it all! This Helps people see how much of an angel Strong widget is. I'm proud of you man. The Main reason you inspire me to help people.

[@matthewminelli]

"He looks like Harry Potter if he just stayed under the stairs." 😂

[@johnchambers8166]

This is genuinely one of the best episodes of the past several years. Bravo, LWT team. Bravo, John Oliver.

[@jacquelinesternberg8461]

I agree. Great job, John Oliver and team.

[@skler69]

Beat ways to avoid scams: Never respond to text messages you don't know. Never click on links or attachments from random text messages or emails. Never answer random numbers you dont recognize.

[@GwendolynnBY]

exactly! it's like when someone knocks on your door, but you weren't anticipating anyone stopping by. you don't answer the door, you pretend no one is home.

[@BbsnNbs]

In other words: be extra sceptical with strangers and only ever believe 10% of what people on the internet tell you

[@Ahakenab]

I would make one expection to the last one. Sometimes you do expect to be contacted by a number you don't know. Like when you give a co worker your number for something. But generally I agree with it.

[@ShaneTheBane]

But if I do that then I might miss the one time the email from the Nigerian prince is real

[@banquetoftheleviathan1404]

great advice except you can't get your doctors and other appointments to text you instead. I basically have to answer every call during a certain time of day because these assholes can't text me. you shouldn't get to have a business if you are still running fucking xp and using voicemail. what happened to regulations

[@radir870]

Remarkable job, Grind Techiei -I'm delighted you're out there fighting these jerks. We must do everything possible to protect the elderly and the general public from these vile con artists! You deserve it!! Big up, brother, you deserve the Nobel Peace Prize for keeping us safe!’

[@jadein23]

"unless that image is in a mirror, you might be wrong". This shows writing is insanely good.

[@jackster9775]

You Know John is actually a writer on this show too.

[@Badcaseoflovingyou55]

I think this is a extremely serious topic that shouldnt be ingonre and these praise comments should not exist

[@PolrisTired]

@@Badcaseoflovingyou55I don’t think appreciating the show undermines its point or the importance of the topic at all. We are allowed to enjoy what the shows provides us. If anything, discussion of this episode helps more and more people find out about it and learn to be safe

[@IngPeace]

13:49 scamming someone into scamming their own father of their life Savings is absolutely devastating.

[@WindFireAllThatKindOfThing]

The fact that the US Government won't protect regular civilians from these foreign based, often state linked attacks as a form of economic warfare is just as devastating. But if you're a Cash Register that got scammed by Indian and Chinese scam centers, the FBI will be right there in 5 minutes with a SWAT team and a US Ambassador with a formal protest in hand.

[@laurensa.1803]

A serious clusterfuck indeed.

[@landor7610]

So they were both dumb AF... that's devastating.

[@wolfgangjr74]

Tragically fell for this evil scam as well and its exactly how John presented it. Never bother with those random texts. An expensive lesson to learn.

[@leafyrox]

Sorry for your loss, that's so scary. It makes you not want to trust people.

[@TheBnzr]

I fell for one on FB marketplace when I was sleep deprived. After seeing these stories, I'm glad I only sent $500 before I got suspicious.

[@wolfgangjr74]

@@TheBnzr I was even able to retrieve some money from my wallet to buy a laptop and software for djing. It seemed too good to be true and it was.in the end. As soon as I did the big payment and poof. Taxes time. These people are real good. Don't fall for it.

[@bubblegumplastic]

​@@wolfgangjr74 I'm sorry that happened to you :(

[@garlicsaucespill9482]

How long did you talk to the scammer? I think that’s the part that could’ve eventually fooled me. I’d think, “they’ve talked to me every day for 4 months, a scammer wouldnt waste their time.” Foolish thinking but i think that’s the aspect of the crime I’d be vulnerable to.

[@emilybazer]

My sister in law was a victim of this scam, they did exactly what John said, they targeted her when she was in the middle of a divorce and at low. Many of us tried to tell her she was being scam and that "James" was not real, but she refused to hear and and said that no one wanted good things for her. It was really sad. I pretty sure she sent him money, it was a very elaborate scheme.

[@ZelenoJabko]

Yeah in the middle of divorce that she initiated!

[@LRM12o8]

Being heartbroken and depressed makes us REALLY vulnerable to this kind of scam and it's crazy how little awareness society has to it... 😪

[@peglamphier4745]

I had the same experience with a recently widowed friend. No matter what evidence I showed her she didn't believe me. It was terrible.

[@emilybazer]

so sad, all the lonely people@@peglamphier4745

[@JustWasted3HoursHere]

A.I. is making this sort of scam way easier for the scammers. It blows my mind that the phone companies aren't much help and still allow "spoofing" to happen (where a caller is able to make a different number appear on your caller ID to make you think they're calling locally instead of on the other side of the world etc.)

[@chromicapop4595]

I see that too

[@pirojfmifhghek566]

The scam that I found the most dangerous in the past were the ones where they would call you up and pretend to be a wrong number or a butt dial. If you happened to say your name out loud to correct them and said any affirmation like "yes" to one of their questions, they would then use that combination to sign you up for a bunch of shit and use those recordings as evidence that you had signed up for it. I can't imagine how wild it's going to get when AI is able to recreate your voice from similar snippets of your voice. Right now they need about 5 minutes worth of recorded audio to train the model on your voice, but every step forward brings that number lower and lower. Some models are even "passable" at 30 seconds of audio, given the average call quality. The spoofing is just beyond obscene though. The ball is wholly in the phone carrier's court. The fact that it's possible... why? Why would you allow that? What possible purpose would it serve to allow your 'customers' to fake another person's phone number? There's no reason why the FCC shouldn't take measures to ban this entirely. I wanna say it's more regulatory capture and corruption at play, but I can't even understand why the phone carriers would _want_ to continue to allow this. How does it benefit them? Sheer laziness? I'm trying to find the occam's razor here but it don't make no sense. Blocking spoofing would be a major selling point for their service, just like the automatic blocking of "Potential Spam" is. I don't understand the motivation.

[@AzmodaeusStern]

​@@pirojfmifhghek566 I'd say it just to drum up business. I guarantee at least some government officials and businessmen are in on these scams. As long as people fall for them, there's people employed to fix the issue too.

[@hew195050]

Did not know that!

[@GreenScreenBartender]

The phone companies aren't doing anything but surprisingly Google is. If you own a Pixel phone one of its best features is automatically detecting potential spam or phishing texts and phone calls. It's not perfect but it's a HUGE reason I got one.

[@MD-tj4br]

Thank you so much for doing this story! This exact thing is currently happening to my friend and I tried to show him some other stories covering this but they failed to show how this can happen to anybody. We are all subject to being victims of scams.

[@saurabhdeshmukh343]

The world is a better place because of you Joh Oliver. Hats off to you and to your team for all the hard work you put in behind the scenes.

[@preshisify1]

💯

[@Beth-ie]

They got SOOOOO close to wiping out my bank account during covid. The guy sounded so professional, was trying to help me from "a scam" 🤔that was "occuring to me." I had given out some info, then my bank called me and told me that _I was on the other line with them trying to transfer my money to another account at an unknown bank!_ I love my bank!!! I was a fool, felt so embarrassed for ALMOST getting financially ruined. NO ONE gets my bank name, my credit cards, not even my husband. He looks nice, but how do I know if he isn't just scamming me. 😉

[@onothankyou]

I know someone in Financial services, who gets training on exactly this every month, and she almost fell for one just like this. Another person was updating her records after her husband died, and the phone number she got off Google no longer went to her electric company - scammers figured that out and sat on it, it is called a "waterhole attack".Please give yourself some grace - they are so good at this now. It wasn't your fault, you are enough, and you did the right things. Keep helping others and just look to be on guard. All the best!

[@benzaiten933]

it can happen to anyone, you're not a fool - they are in the wrong to try to trick people! but I hope you sent the bank employees a sincere 'thank you' card with perhaps a nice bottle of wine.

[@RobTaylorTraining]

You people are so unbelievably stupid.

[@rogerstevenson8068]

You’re smart. I found my wife right out of a failed relationship, living in a new city, and totally hornswaggled her. It’s been 25 years and she still hasn’t figured it out yet.

[@mancube7645]

😂😂😂 Even husband caught a stray. Don't trust no one.