Trafficked with Mariana Van Zeller (2020) s01e01 Episode Script
Scams
1
DIRECTOR: Let me know
when you're ready,
and we'll bring Mariana.
(gunshots)
(siren)
MAN: To make money.
MAN: To make money, make money.
TWEETY: Fast money.
MARIANA VAN ZELLER:
They're all Americans?
MARIANA: Lonely?
MARIANA:
So you, don't you feel bad?
MARIANA: Jamaica, Israel,
two capitals of
a multibillion-dollar industry.
Meet the voice on the other end
of that unrecognized number
that won't stop calling you.
MAN: Hello?
♪
♪
MARK TITUS: Jamaicans, we are
the best at all that we do.
MARIANA: This area is all
the tourist area, right?
MARK: Yes.
Last year, we had over four
million visitors to the island.
Montego Bay is
the best tourist destination
you can find in the world.
MARIANA: Are you trying
to sell me on tourism?
MARK: Oh, yes,
you can come at any time.
MARIANA: Coming here
as a tourist?
MARK: Oh, yes, come at any time.
MARIANA: Jamaica.
For most of the 1.5 million
Americans who visit every year,
it mostly looks like this.
♪
Tourists like these
stay at all-inclusive resorts
like this one,
and do this,
which leads to this.
♪
♪
♪
Tourism is the backbone
of Jamaica's legal economy,
and the resorts of Montego Bay
are the crown jewel.
But step outside the walls
of your hotel,
and it's a different story.
MARK: Montego Bay is built
in a sort of strange way
where you have a mix
of the very rich
bordering communities
with extreme poverty.
MARIANA: Mark Titus is
a journalist and former cop.
He knows the areas
of Montego Bay
that don't make it into
the tourist brochures.
MAN: Welcome to Jamaica.
(siren)
NEWSCASTER: Day three
of the state of emergency
in St. James
MARIANA: Two weeks
before I arrived,
the governor here declared
a state of emergency.
MARIANA: The area
surrounding Montego Bay,
the tourist paradise,
now has one of
the highest per cap it a
murder rates in the world.
NEWSCASTER: With an uptick
in crime in St. James
MARIANA: But what's causing
much of this violence
isn't drugs or politics.
It's a new hustle.
What are the gangs fighting for?
(siren)
MARIANA: Lottery scams.
You're probably familiar
with some version.
You get a call saying
you won a lottery
that you don't even
remember entering.
MAN: You have won yourself
$7.5 million
and a 2019
Mercedes-Benz S-Class.
MAN: Uh, that's pretty exciting.
(laughs)
MARIANA: All you need to do
to collect
whatever they're promising--
Your millions, your new car,
your new house--
Is to send a processing fee.
MARIANA: The prize is fake,
of course,
but the fee you've been
conned into paying
generates $300 million a year
for Jamaican scammers.
MAN: We are scamming, scamming,
scamming, scamming.
MARIANA: Scamming now
rivals the drug trade
as a lucrative and violent
source of revenue
for Jamaican gangs.
(sirens)
(man yelling)
I wanted to understand what's
referred to here as "the game,"
meet the players,
see how it's played.
MARK: Word of wisdom--
Enjoy Jamaica,
the best of Jamaica,
but be careful.
MARK: That mean an informer
giving information must die.
MARIANA: Mark warned me
that it would be difficult
to get people to talk
about the game,
but the rise of scamming
can be measured
in another popular aspect
of Jamaican culture.
Big money poppin' huh! ♪
Banga dem deh yah ♪
Dog, quenga dem deh yah ♪
In a neighborhood called
Steer Town, I met with this man,
local dance hall artist Xklusive.
Back to the party,
no stray me mind ♪
Some boy weh a talk,
real waste a time ♪
Nah pree dem ♪
So, what's happening here today?
What are you doing?
MARIANA: He's the man behind
"Big Money Poppin',"
the latest entry in
a growing musical subgenre,
dance hall tracks that celebrate
the danger, easy money,
and fast lifestyle associated
with scamming culture.
What's the song about? What's
the general theme of the song?
XKLUSIVE: It's about money.
Money and what's going on.
Scamming is going on.
Prostitution is going on.
So, I sing about it
because it's going on.
MARIANA: Can you sing it
a little bit for me?
XKLUSIVE: Banga dem deh yah.
Banga dem deh yah ♪
Scammer dem deh yah.
Quenga dem deh yah ♪
MARIANA: And "scammers them
there" meaning scammers are
XKLUSIVE: Around, yeah,
they're around.
MARIANA: Why did you decide
to write a song about scamming?
MARIANA: I'd been warned
that this line of questioning
might not go well.
But there's a lot
of scamming in it.
I mean, the word scamming
comes up a lot in the song
XKLUSIVE: No. MARIANA: No?
XKLUSIVE: You know, it's a song
that gets you hyped.
Big! Money! Poppin'! Huh!
Big money poppin'
anywhere me go ♪
MARIANA: I decide
not to push it.
It's enough to know that
the man whose breakout hit
became a scamming anthem doesn't
want to talk about scamming.
Cho man ♪
Di whole place done know
how di ting go man ♪
Xklusive a talk,
freezer to me heart ♪
But that same night,
I meet a man who says he knows
someone who can help.
(horns honking)
Which is how I wind up in a car
with a man I'll just call "V."
MARIANA: Okay.
V knows a lot about scamming,
but he's skittish as hell.
MARIANA: Okay, make absolutely
sure we don't film his face
or anything that identifies him.
MARIANA: No, no, no, no, no.
MARIANA: As it turns out,
V wants to take me
for a little history lesson
of scamming in Jamaica.
This complex all around us,
these are all call centers
for American companies?
MARIANA: It all starts here,
in call centers.
(phones ringing)
Call centers were set up
on the island to take advantage
of the fact that
Jamaicans speak English.
ANDREW: My name is Andrew,
and I'm calling you
from the brand services.
MARIANA:
And receive lower wages.
MAN: This is in regards to
a few customers in Pasadena.
MARIANA: But a few
local entrepreneurs
saw another opportunity.
The lists of names and phone
numbers used for telemarketing,
political donations,
market research,
and debt collection
can also be used for scamming.
These "lead lists,"
as they're called,
are the backbone of the game.
They're valuable,
and here in Jamaica,
they're bought and sold
underground.
So, these are some of the places
where they're getting the
contact lists and the names
MARIANA:
After earning V's trust,
he tells me he can
introduce me to someone
who has even more knowledge
about scamming.
He leads me to
an abandoned house,
far from the beaches
and tourists.
♪
(knocks)
This is how I meet Tweety.
Hi. Can I come in?
I'm Mariana.
MARIANA: Hi, Tweety.
Nice to meet you.
TWEETY: Nice to meet you.
MARIANA: Juliana? Nice nails!
I'm greeted with weed
and even stronger rum.
MARIANA: Tweety and her friend,
Juliana, not their real names,
agree to talk to me
about the game.
MARIANA: So what would happen
if they found out who you were,
that you were doing this?
MARIANA: By day, Tweety works
at one of the many resorts
on the island.
She wouldn't tell us which one,
but says she makes in a month
what tourists pay
for a one-night stay.
MARIANA: So what is it that
you do on the side, then?
MARIANA: As it turns out,
the hospitality industry
is great preparation
for scamming.
All day long,
Tweety is interacting
with mostly American clients.
MARIANA: Then, after hours,
in her free time,
Tweety opens up her lead list.
Names, numbers, and addresses
in the United States? America?
MARIANA: Big money popping?
MARIANA: No disrespect taken.
Tweety doesn't want to
show me her lead lists.
They're closely guarded
here in Jamaica.
But after a little more
rum and smoke,
she and her friend Juliana
loosen up and show me her rap.
MARIANA: You're really good
with the accent.
(laughs)
You're probably thinking,
how does anyone fall for this?
But there's a definite
profile of a victim
that Tweety has identified.
MARIANA: Are they all
older people?
MARIANA: To send you the money?
(chuckles)
MARIANA: Brash,
unrepentant, cold--
That's how Tweety sounds
when talking about stealing
from lonely old people.
But her posture quickly changes
when she tells me how
she first got into scamming.
MARIANA:
With the state of emergency
driving most scammers
further underground,
I was grateful for the chance
to meet Tweety.
But the crazy thing about my job
is that one minute,
you find yourself trying
to understand a scammer,
and the next, you're with
the people charged
with hunting them down.
CHIEF: Alright, everybody here?
CHIEF: We'll be
searching and seizing
all electronic devices--
Laptops, cell phones,
magic Jacks, banking documents.
CHIEF: We should be
on high alert
just in case the target
chooses to shoot his way out.
(radio chatter)
(siren)
MARIANA: Lottery scams have led
to violence in Jamaica
and caused untold damage abroad.
In almost every corner
of America,
you can find news stories
of those targeted.
NEWSCASTER: It's a crime that
preys on the most vulnerable
and the victims often lose
their entire life savings.
MARIANA: It's no secret
that these scammers
go after older Americans.
MAN: It was the great
American dream
to win some money
where you could retire.
MARIANA: Their methods
can be ruthless.
MARIANA: The results? Tragic.
NEWSCASTER: After being asked
for yet another
1,500 more dollars
to claim his prize,
Poland put a gun to his head
and killed himself.
MARIANA: As a result of
awful stories like these,
the US government has partnered
with this task force.
So once you enter the community,
it's already
sort of a risk, right?
CHIEF: Right.
CHIEF: So we have to get there
as quickly as possible.
(horn beeps)
(radio chatter)
MARIANA: Okay,
we're here, we're here.
Don't get out of the car.
Wow.
He's got his gun pointed
right at the door.
(dog barking)
(howls)
(bark)
♪
(clicks tongue)
(dog howls)
(bark)
(clink)
(banging)
They just broke into the house
through the side door
right here.
CHIEF: Come, come, come here.
(indistinct talking)
Hello, hello, hello, hello,
hello, hello, hello, hello,
hello, hello, hello, hello.
Sir, sir, sir,
sir, sir, sir, relax.
Yeah, man, sit down,
sit down, sit down.
CHIEF: We are searching for
lottery scamming paraphernalia,
credit cards, credit card
burners, those type of things.
(radio chatter)
MARIANA: You think
this is real gold?
CHIEF: Yeah, man.
MARIANA: The Rolex.
This is also a Rolex.
You see this a lot?
CHIEF: For larger scammers,
yes, yes.
♪
♪
That's a brand new car.
This is evidence that this
young man tried to destroy it
when the police tried to enter.
MARIANA: Was it
submerged underwater?
MARIANA: Wow. So it actually
has somebody's name,
and you can see this whole
conversation that they had,
and it says,
"Welcome, Miss (bleep).
Your account balance
is $17,500,000.
You are subjected to pay
the authorization fee
totaling 120,000
as soon as possible."
And they're promising that they
will receive over $17 million.
CHIEF: What we see here
is a lot of cans
that they use to practice Obeah.
MARIANA: This one
is actually called
the Million Dollar Spray.
CHIEF:
Million Dollar Spray, right.
MARIANA: Means if you spray it,
you're gonna be blessed
with a million dollars.
CHIEF: They believe,
they believe so.
MARIANA: Wow.
Some of these are incredible.
Look at this one.
Famous Double Fast Luck Spray.
CHIEF: This one is called
Bring Back Customers.
MARIANA: The state of emergency
led to an uptick of arrests
like these.
Some of the bigger players
have even been extradited
to face justice
in the United States.
All in all, it's a tense time
to be a scammer in Jamaica,
which isn't making it any easier
for me to meet more of them.
(horn honking)
But then I was invited
to meet a local boss,
a man who runs
a crew of scammers.
We arrange to meet
at a hillside hideout,
only a few miles from
Jamaica's rum-soaked resorts.
♪
♪
Looks like a bunch of guys
with masks waiting for us.
MAN: Okay.
MARIANA: I can't tell
if they're armed or not,
but we should probably go.
(car beeping)
Hi.
Okay.
All good?
This is the microphone.
As we approach the meeting spot,
it's clear the boss
isn't taking any chances.
So, we keep going this way?
♪
♪
MARIANA: Hi.
I'm Mariana.
What would you like me
to call you?
MARIANA: Viktor? Okay.
Can I ask you what the G is for?
MARIANA:
So you're proud of that?
MARIANA: Can I put a mic
on you, Viktor?
MARIANA: You wouldn't like it
if it was a man doing this?
MARIANA: Okay, thank you.
MARIANA: I'm ready, Viktor.
MARIANA: So these guys, we are
surrounded by one, two, three,
at least three that
I can see, three guys.
MARIANA: What guns are
used to protect?
MARIANA: So what do you do,
Viktor?
MARIANA: How long have you been
in the money game for?
MARIANA: Do you remember
the first time you did it?
MARIANA: Since those early days,
Viktor has risen to become
what he describes
as a mid level boss.
How has the state of emergency
affected you guys?
MARIANA: Really?
MARIANA: 200 people
working for you?
No way.
MARIANA: Behind all the swagger
is a young man
who says he grew up
on the rough side of Montego Bay
with very few options.
MARIANA: In other words,
reparations.
The idea that scamming
white people is payback
for a brutal history
of slavery and colonialism.
It's a justification that
I heard from Tweety as well.
It's also the title of perhaps
the biggest scammer anthem
of them all.
Dem call it scam ♪
Me call it a reparation ♪
MARIANA: Have you ever had to
hurt anyone because of scamming?
MARIANA: Wait, you were thinking
of taking our cameras
and robbing us?
♪
MARIANA: You were thinking
of taking our cameras
and robbing us?
MARIANA: Okay.
MARIANA: I don't know
how to feel about this.
MARIANA: Thank you, Viktor.
MARIANA: Do you think there's
more money being made through,
by scamming than
in the drug business here?
MARIANA: Over the next
several days,
I meet with a handful
of other scammers,
and they're all
full of surprises.
So first question is,
why these masks?
MARIANA: You're a fan
of Donald Trump?
MARIANA: The Trump twins
are actually
college-educated brothers.
Another woman I meet
had turned to scamming
when she couldn't make enough
money as a hairstylist
to raise her four kids.
MARIANA: What fascinates me most
are the day-to-day details
of their work.
Every day you call 284 people?
MARIANA: At its heart,
scamming is a sales job.
Only a tiny percentage of calls
are going to generate cash.
Of those people that you call,
how many of them
MARIANA: So volume is key.
Okay, so it's an Excel sheet,
and the Excel sheet
is called "Client."
So there's a Nancy, Clarissa,
Rhonda, Paula, Alice, Chad.
Just saying the first names,
just first names.
MARIANA: (bleep). This is crazy.
So, wait, we're at 4,500
and I'm still scrolling.
Much like sales, it helps to
know how to close the deal, too.
This man, who says
he's made millions scamming,
has a special trick
after telling his marks
that they've won a Mercedes.
MARIANA: You actually send a key
to, like, a fake Mercedes?
MARIANA: The best scammers
are relentless,
but they're also intuitive,
quickly assessing what the voice
on the other line really wants.
MARIANA: With little more than a
burner phone and some gumption,
scammers can reach across oceans
and wreak havoc on the lives
of ordinary people.
Welcome to the dark side
of globalization.
Half a world away,
I was about to get a glimpse
of an even more lucrative
type of scamming.
While scamming in Jamaica
brings in
hundreds of millions
of dollars a year,
scamming in Israel is reported
to bring in billions.
I want to know how it works.
(clapping)
What's happening?
You can see him?
Okay. Everyone ready?
He's driving up, guys.
So, I arranged to meet with
a man who was described to me
as a big player in
the scamming industry.
I'm told he's made a fortune
running various
investment companies,
all of which specialize
in financial fraud.
I was also told
to be very careful.
MARIANA: Hi. MOSHIKO: Hello.
MARIANA: Thank you so much
for meeting us. I'm Mariana.
Moshiko.
I do.
Okay.
So you're gonna turn it off?
Okay.
I've interviewed hundreds
of people through the years.
Moshiko is the first
to ever take away my phone.
I ask him to give me
the scammers tour of Tel Aviv.
MARIANA: In a lot
of these buildings
that look completely legitimate,
there's actually all this
MARIANA: Is it an open secret?
You seem to know.
Do people in Tel Aviv
and Israel know?
MARIANA: How many
of these companies,
fraudulent scamming companies
do you think there are?
MARIANA: Yeah.
No way.
Holy (bleep).
(Moshiko chuckles)
While the lottery scam
in Jamaica is the go-to con,
in Israel, it's all about
the investment scam.
The depth of this fraud
was first uncovered
by Simon a We in glass,
an investigative journalist
who was tipped off by a source
working at
a scam investment company.
SIMONA WEINGLASS: He told me
that there wasn't just
one company like this,
but there were hundreds,
and they were stealing
billions of dollars.
It sounded crazy,
and it turned out to be true.
MARIANA: Just like in Jamaica,
Simon a says the investment scams
in Israel often start with
call centers and lead lists.
Employees at these seemingly
legitimate companies
cold call potential clients
and get them to invest in
an exciting trading opportunity.
SIMONA: You start to trade,
you'll see your account
going up and up,
the retention agent
will keep talking to you
and getting you to put
more and more money in,
and then eventually,
when they sense
that you're not going
to put any more money in,
they just disappear
with the money.
MARIANA: Josh, you work
for a company,
getting clients and lying
to clients and scamming clients?
JOSH: Yes.
MARIANA: I found one of these
agents who was willing
to talk to me if we agreed
not to reveal his identity.
We'll call him Josh.
Where do you find the clients?
How do you
MARIANA: They catch them with
ads and websites like this
that look like legitimate and
professional trading platforms
and often promise
easy trading and profits.
You convince these people
to invest with you,
and then after they give you
the money that you want,
you sort of disappear?
JOSH: We actually
don't disappear.
We work with them for a while.
MARIANA: At any point,
is that money actually invested
in anything or is that money
JOSH: No.
MARIANA: So it's all a lie?
JOSH: Yeah.
SIMONA: The money was never
in your account to begin with,
there never was an account.
This company was probably
not where they said it was.
MARIANA: Josh works
in one popular version
of an investment scam, which is
often sold as a binary option.
Not all binary options trading
is fraudulent,
and the scam version itself
runs the spectrum
from misleading investors
to the outright theft that
Josh and Simon a describe.
But binary options fraud
became so pervasive,
that both the Security
and Exchange Commission
and the FBI were forced to issue
warnings to investors.
And over the past year alone,
the U. S. Justice Department
has charged
at least 15
binary option agents.
Around the globe,
Israeli scammers have
allegedly stolen billions.
Do you ever feel guilty
about what you do?
JOSH: Yes.
I hardly sleep.
My soul is, like, telling me,
fighting against what I'm doing,
on my actions.
MARIANA: On one occasion,
Josh claims he was
so racked by guilt
at how much money he'd already
stolen from a Canadian client
that he actually called
the authorities
to prevent the client from
transferring any more money.
And did anyone find out
that you did that?
JOSH: No.
MARIANA: What would have
happened to you if they did?
JOSH: I will have not been
sitting here right now.
Either I will be killed
or something like that.
MARIANA: You'd be killed?
JOSH: Yes.
MARIANA: Is it that serious?
JOSH: It is. Very dangerous.
MARIANA: He says his soul
is crushed by guilt
and that he works under
the threat of violence,
and yet he keeps scamming
because he makes keeps 10% to
15% of any money he brings in.
JOSH: It's a huge
amount of money.
MARIANA: How many of these
companies do you think exist
here in Israel?
SIMONA: Now the industry
has gone underground,
they're not as open.
I hear from people
that these call centers
are still everywhere.
MARIANA: "Jobs for
multilinguals in Israel,"
let's see what shows up.
"Looking for hardworking,
fluent English speakers,
enthusiastic and assertive,
who are looking to
make a lot of money.
A young and dynamic
atmosphere with snacks."
For the snacks alone, I'm gonna
send an email to this one.
So apart from people like you,
who's benefiting from this?
(phone ringing)
MAN: Hi. Yes?
MARIANA:
Hi, this is Maria Flores.
Yes, Maria Flores,
I emailed about a job position?
If I wanted to go to
one of these companies
and film undercover inside and
say that I'm applying for a job,
what should I say?
JOSH: Why, you're applying
for something?
MARIANA: Maybe.
So I've got my little
button camera right here.
I've got the mic pack.
DIRECTOR: Alright,
let's roll on it.
♪
MARIANA: While applying for jobs
at what I suspect might be
a scam investment company,
I've turned to Josh for advice
on how to get
my foot in the door.
JOSH: You can say that
I know how to do sales
and probably you can get in.
MARIANA: Not in
the actual trading?
JOSH: No. There are agents
who don't know anything,
a single word about trading,
they just know how to sell.
MARIANA: I've worked in
translations as an interpreter.
I've also worked at
a carpet/rugs company
where I was dealing
with very rich clients.
MARIANA: Okay.
Yeah, a polygraph?
MARIANA: That's never
happened to me, but okay.
MARIANA: Should I be concerned
about my security
if they find out
I'm filming undercover?
JOSH: Yes.
MARIANA: What do you think
they could do?
JOSH: There are no limits.
What is the worst damage
you think you can get of?
MARIANA: I mean, I could be
hurt or killed, obviously.
JOSH: Exactly, so that's it.
That's the answer
for your question. (Chuckles)
MARIANA: Have we thought
this through, guys?
This, for better or worse,
is where my curiosity
gets the better of me.
What could these places possibly
look like from the inside?
There's only one way
to find out.
So, I'm Maria Flores.
I was born in '87.
I'm moving to Tel Aviv with
my boyfriend, which is Jacob.
PRODUCER: He's Israeli.
MARIANA: I'm applying for
a sales job at this company.
You're my friend, and you're
helping me with Hebrew.
PRODUCER: Yeah.
MARIANA: Sounds good?
PRODUCER: Yeah.
MARIANA: My wing woman
for this operation
is an amazing local producer
whose name and identity
we've agreed not to disclose.
So, I've got my little
button camera right here.
I've got the mic pack.
This gets really hot, so I don't
want to turn it on early.
Yup. Definitely nervous.
Just can't wait
for this to be over.
So you're constantly
thinking that maybe
they're going to realize
that you're filming,
even though they
probably aren't.
DIRECTOR: Alright,
let's roll on it.
MARIANA: You see it?
DIRECTOR: Yeah.
MARIANA: Okay, so
it's recording now.
Wish me luck, guys.
♪
♪
♪
Fifth floor.
Oh, my god.
Okay.
This is it.
Okay, so we're here.
It sounds like there's a party
going on in there, right?
PRODUCER:
Yeah, there's music in it.
(muffled music)
MAN: Hello.
MARIANA: Hi, how are you?
I'm here to meet (bleep). I am.
Oh, you were waiting for me!
MARIANA: Hi, how are you?
MAN: Nice to meet you.
MARIANA: This is the man I had
corresponded with over email.
This is a nice office.
MARIANA: Thank you.
Oh, okay.
Yeah.
We can't know for sure
that this is a scam company,
but our sources told us to be on
the lookout for certain clues,
like a blind emphasis on sales
and assurances that no knowledge
of finance is required.
MARIANA: Mm-hmm. Oh, definitely.
MARIANA: Yeah.
My only fear is that
I don't know anything
about the For ex market.
MARIANA: Really? Okay.
So it's not that hard?
So what are you looking for?
What kind of characteristics
would you
MARIANA: Great, so all I need
is to want money.
MARIANA:
Then the manager arrives.
Hi. Nice to meet you, too.
And gets straight to the point.
MARIANA: Wait, how much,
how much money can I make here?
MARIANA: A month?
MANAGER: A month. Okay?
MARIANA: Not bad for
an entry level job.
Again, it's hard to say
for certain
that this is a scam company,
but for an investment firm,
they sure have a funny approach
to customer service.
MARIANA: Salespeople
at scam companies
are ordered to sell
under fake names.
They're also told to lie about
the company's location.
The scammers say they're
in New York, London, Zurich,
but never, ever Israel.
If you don't know
who you're dealing with,
or where they're located,
it's very hard to
get your money back.
MARIANA: That is it.
♪
♪
He kept looking at my boobs.
Can you believe it?
I was thinking, are they looking
at my boobs or the camera?
PRODUCER: Yeah.
MARIANA: Or my necklaces
or what's happening?
Okay, guys. Okay, the good news
is that I was hired.
(man laughs)
I can start as early
as next week.
DIRECTOR: Nice. Congratulations.
MARIANA: I mean, super shady.
I'm so happy it's over.
As we drive through Tel Aviv,
I realize the city skyline
provides the perfect
white-collar camouflage.
So much of the business world
looks and sounds the same.
The offices, the branding,
the button-downs,
and yet some not-small number
of these normal-looking people
are on their way to
normal-looking cubicles
where they'll spend their days
stealing money
from innocent people
around the world.
And for what?
So they can buy a big-ass yacht.
On my last day in Tel Aviv,
I caught up with Moshiko
to try and understand
how he justifies
the lifestyle he's chosen.
MOSHIKO: And in three months,
I might send them back 30,000,
and they think they just
had a bad experience
with the financial markets.
MARIANA: There is no part of you
that feels bad about this?
That you're taking away the last
200,000 from Joe the mechanic
who's worked all of his life
for this money?
MOSHIKO: If Joe the mechanic
thinks it's responsible
to send $200,000 to a website
that he hasn't checked out,
Joe the mechanic needs to be
responsible for his decisions.
MARIANA: So, Moshiko, you seem
like a very smart person
who obviously has
no problem making money.
Why do, why do it this way?
MOSHIKO: Where else can you make
a million dollars in a week
from home?
Come on.
You live one life.
Why should I spend my whole life
working, making 50,000 a year,
when I can sit here
and I can enjoy my life?
MARIANA: How much money do you
think you've made from this?
MOSHIKO: The most I made
in one day was $300,000.
Ten plus years, I have probably
brought in $75 to $100 million.
MARIANA: Moshiko says that
scamming is here to stay.
It's an inconvenient truth
about the globalized world.
MOSHIKO: Just like
PT Barnum said,
what's, there's a sucker born
every minute.
MARIANA: You know who else
said that to us?
The Jamaican scammer.
The exact same line.
MOSHIKO: That is
absolutely true.
♪
(phone ringing)
(phone ringing)
ADAM: Hello?
SCAMMER: Hey, Adam?
ADAM: Uh-huh.
SCAMMER: Brace yourself.
Are you braced?
You've won
19.42 million US dollars.
How do you feel?
ADAM: Okay,
how is that possible?
SCAMMER: Adam, do you eat out?
ADAM: Yes.
SCAMMER: Are you vegetarian?
ADAM: Uh-huh.
SCAMMER: Oh, my god, Adam,
you ran your credit card
at a Whole Foods store.
Have you had Whole Foods
recently?
ADAM: Yeah, all the time.
SCAMMER: Adam, you've won.
You've (bleep) won!
What are you gonna do
with $19.42 million?
MARIANA: Hey, Adam,
if you're watching,
I want you to know
that this call is a scam.
MARIANA: Adam,
you're not a sucker,
but the guys on the other line
are hoping,
really hoping, that you are.
MARIANA: They make a living
in a way that's obviously wrong.
But imagine waking up
every morning
and seeing a bunch of tourists
spending more money in a week
than you make in a year,
and then going home to a place
outside resort walls
that were erected
to keep you out.
MARIANA: Now imagine all this is
wrapped in a history of slavery
and exploitation, a legacy that
is very much alive and well.
MARIANA: Reverse imperialism?
MARIANA: "If you have a phone,
you have a chance."
It's the most powerful
rationalization I've heard.
Phone scamming as a last resort.
A literal lifeline.
Even so, most scammers I met
seem to struggle
with what they do.
Real jungle out here.
TWEETY: Right, right, right.
MARIANA: I know Tweety does.
TWEETY: Almost there,
Mariana, almost there.
MARIANA: Huge spiderweb!
(Tweety laughs)
MARIANA: Just down here?
TWEETY: Yeah.
MARIANA: You good?
This is really cool.
TWEETY: Whoa.
MARIANA: Is it cold?
TWEETY: Yeah. (Laughs)
MARIANA: So this is to
ward off evil spirits?
TWEETY: Right.
MARIANA: Ghosts, yeah.
And you mix that with water?
TWEETY: Water. MARIANA: Okay.
TWEETY: Whoa, it's getting wet.
MARIANA: Wow, it's raining,
it's raining a lot.
MARIANA: Extra blessing?
I'm gonna join you since
I'm totally wet already anyway.
There's no point
in me pretending here.
MARIANA: One, two, three.
I've spent a lot of time
with people like Tweety,
telling stories of
those who make a living
on the wrong side of the law.
All too often, the people
who inhabit these worlds
are painted as
ruthless criminals,
immoral villains, bad people.
But in my experience,
they're a lot more like us
than we want to admit.
TWEETY: Fresh start,
new beginning, right?
MARIANA: Fresh start,
new beginning.
♪
♪
JOSH: Everything is a scam.
Everybody takes their piece.
MOSHIKO: Who's making money
off of these industries?
Everyone.
It funds entire countries!
VIKTOR: If I'm a billionaire,
I'll be done.
MOSHIKO: Will I ever
stop scamming?
No, it's too much fun.
MARIANA: How do you think
this is gonna end for you?
(gunshots)
(siren)
MAN: Know what I mean?
You get it, right?
(siren)
Captioned by
Side Door Media Services
DIRECTOR: Let me know
when you're ready,
and we'll bring Mariana.
(gunshots)
(siren)
MAN: To make money.
MAN: To make money, make money.
TWEETY: Fast money.
MARIANA VAN ZELLER:
They're all Americans?
MARIANA: Lonely?
MARIANA:
So you, don't you feel bad?
MARIANA: Jamaica, Israel,
two capitals of
a multibillion-dollar industry.
Meet the voice on the other end
of that unrecognized number
that won't stop calling you.
MAN: Hello?
♪
♪
MARK TITUS: Jamaicans, we are
the best at all that we do.
MARIANA: This area is all
the tourist area, right?
MARK: Yes.
Last year, we had over four
million visitors to the island.
Montego Bay is
the best tourist destination
you can find in the world.
MARIANA: Are you trying
to sell me on tourism?
MARK: Oh, yes,
you can come at any time.
MARIANA: Coming here
as a tourist?
MARK: Oh, yes, come at any time.
MARIANA: Jamaica.
For most of the 1.5 million
Americans who visit every year,
it mostly looks like this.
♪
Tourists like these
stay at all-inclusive resorts
like this one,
and do this,
which leads to this.
♪
♪
♪
Tourism is the backbone
of Jamaica's legal economy,
and the resorts of Montego Bay
are the crown jewel.
But step outside the walls
of your hotel,
and it's a different story.
MARK: Montego Bay is built
in a sort of strange way
where you have a mix
of the very rich
bordering communities
with extreme poverty.
MARIANA: Mark Titus is
a journalist and former cop.
He knows the areas
of Montego Bay
that don't make it into
the tourist brochures.
MAN: Welcome to Jamaica.
(siren)
NEWSCASTER: Day three
of the state of emergency
in St. James
MARIANA: Two weeks
before I arrived,
the governor here declared
a state of emergency.
MARIANA: The area
surrounding Montego Bay,
the tourist paradise,
now has one of
the highest per cap it a
murder rates in the world.
NEWSCASTER: With an uptick
in crime in St. James
MARIANA: But what's causing
much of this violence
isn't drugs or politics.
It's a new hustle.
What are the gangs fighting for?
(siren)
MARIANA: Lottery scams.
You're probably familiar
with some version.
You get a call saying
you won a lottery
that you don't even
remember entering.
MAN: You have won yourself
$7.5 million
and a 2019
Mercedes-Benz S-Class.
MAN: Uh, that's pretty exciting.
(laughs)
MARIANA: All you need to do
to collect
whatever they're promising--
Your millions, your new car,
your new house--
Is to send a processing fee.
MARIANA: The prize is fake,
of course,
but the fee you've been
conned into paying
generates $300 million a year
for Jamaican scammers.
MAN: We are scamming, scamming,
scamming, scamming.
MARIANA: Scamming now
rivals the drug trade
as a lucrative and violent
source of revenue
for Jamaican gangs.
(sirens)
(man yelling)
I wanted to understand what's
referred to here as "the game,"
meet the players,
see how it's played.
MARK: Word of wisdom--
Enjoy Jamaica,
the best of Jamaica,
but be careful.
MARK: That mean an informer
giving information must die.
MARIANA: Mark warned me
that it would be difficult
to get people to talk
about the game,
but the rise of scamming
can be measured
in another popular aspect
of Jamaican culture.
Big money poppin' huh! ♪
Banga dem deh yah ♪
Dog, quenga dem deh yah ♪
In a neighborhood called
Steer Town, I met with this man,
local dance hall artist Xklusive.
Back to the party,
no stray me mind ♪
Some boy weh a talk,
real waste a time ♪
Nah pree dem ♪
So, what's happening here today?
What are you doing?
MARIANA: He's the man behind
"Big Money Poppin',"
the latest entry in
a growing musical subgenre,
dance hall tracks that celebrate
the danger, easy money,
and fast lifestyle associated
with scamming culture.
What's the song about? What's
the general theme of the song?
XKLUSIVE: It's about money.
Money and what's going on.
Scamming is going on.
Prostitution is going on.
So, I sing about it
because it's going on.
MARIANA: Can you sing it
a little bit for me?
XKLUSIVE: Banga dem deh yah.
Banga dem deh yah ♪
Scammer dem deh yah.
Quenga dem deh yah ♪
MARIANA: And "scammers them
there" meaning scammers are
XKLUSIVE: Around, yeah,
they're around.
MARIANA: Why did you decide
to write a song about scamming?
MARIANA: I'd been warned
that this line of questioning
might not go well.
But there's a lot
of scamming in it.
I mean, the word scamming
comes up a lot in the song
XKLUSIVE: No. MARIANA: No?
XKLUSIVE: You know, it's a song
that gets you hyped.
Big! Money! Poppin'! Huh!
Big money poppin'
anywhere me go ♪
MARIANA: I decide
not to push it.
It's enough to know that
the man whose breakout hit
became a scamming anthem doesn't
want to talk about scamming.
Cho man ♪
Di whole place done know
how di ting go man ♪
Xklusive a talk,
freezer to me heart ♪
But that same night,
I meet a man who says he knows
someone who can help.
(horns honking)
Which is how I wind up in a car
with a man I'll just call "V."
MARIANA: Okay.
V knows a lot about scamming,
but he's skittish as hell.
MARIANA: Okay, make absolutely
sure we don't film his face
or anything that identifies him.
MARIANA: No, no, no, no, no.
MARIANA: As it turns out,
V wants to take me
for a little history lesson
of scamming in Jamaica.
This complex all around us,
these are all call centers
for American companies?
MARIANA: It all starts here,
in call centers.
(phones ringing)
Call centers were set up
on the island to take advantage
of the fact that
Jamaicans speak English.
ANDREW: My name is Andrew,
and I'm calling you
from the brand services.
MARIANA:
And receive lower wages.
MAN: This is in regards to
a few customers in Pasadena.
MARIANA: But a few
local entrepreneurs
saw another opportunity.
The lists of names and phone
numbers used for telemarketing,
political donations,
market research,
and debt collection
can also be used for scamming.
These "lead lists,"
as they're called,
are the backbone of the game.
They're valuable,
and here in Jamaica,
they're bought and sold
underground.
So, these are some of the places
where they're getting the
contact lists and the names
MARIANA:
After earning V's trust,
he tells me he can
introduce me to someone
who has even more knowledge
about scamming.
He leads me to
an abandoned house,
far from the beaches
and tourists.
♪
(knocks)
This is how I meet Tweety.
Hi. Can I come in?
I'm Mariana.
MARIANA: Hi, Tweety.
Nice to meet you.
TWEETY: Nice to meet you.
MARIANA: Juliana? Nice nails!
I'm greeted with weed
and even stronger rum.
MARIANA: Tweety and her friend,
Juliana, not their real names,
agree to talk to me
about the game.
MARIANA: So what would happen
if they found out who you were,
that you were doing this?
MARIANA: By day, Tweety works
at one of the many resorts
on the island.
She wouldn't tell us which one,
but says she makes in a month
what tourists pay
for a one-night stay.
MARIANA: So what is it that
you do on the side, then?
MARIANA: As it turns out,
the hospitality industry
is great preparation
for scamming.
All day long,
Tweety is interacting
with mostly American clients.
MARIANA: Then, after hours,
in her free time,
Tweety opens up her lead list.
Names, numbers, and addresses
in the United States? America?
MARIANA: Big money popping?
MARIANA: No disrespect taken.
Tweety doesn't want to
show me her lead lists.
They're closely guarded
here in Jamaica.
But after a little more
rum and smoke,
she and her friend Juliana
loosen up and show me her rap.
MARIANA: You're really good
with the accent.
(laughs)
You're probably thinking,
how does anyone fall for this?
But there's a definite
profile of a victim
that Tweety has identified.
MARIANA: Are they all
older people?
MARIANA: To send you the money?
(chuckles)
MARIANA: Brash,
unrepentant, cold--
That's how Tweety sounds
when talking about stealing
from lonely old people.
But her posture quickly changes
when she tells me how
she first got into scamming.
MARIANA:
With the state of emergency
driving most scammers
further underground,
I was grateful for the chance
to meet Tweety.
But the crazy thing about my job
is that one minute,
you find yourself trying
to understand a scammer,
and the next, you're with
the people charged
with hunting them down.
CHIEF: Alright, everybody here?
CHIEF: We'll be
searching and seizing
all electronic devices--
Laptops, cell phones,
magic Jacks, banking documents.
CHIEF: We should be
on high alert
just in case the target
chooses to shoot his way out.
(radio chatter)
(siren)
MARIANA: Lottery scams have led
to violence in Jamaica
and caused untold damage abroad.
In almost every corner
of America,
you can find news stories
of those targeted.
NEWSCASTER: It's a crime that
preys on the most vulnerable
and the victims often lose
their entire life savings.
MARIANA: It's no secret
that these scammers
go after older Americans.
MAN: It was the great
American dream
to win some money
where you could retire.
MARIANA: Their methods
can be ruthless.
MARIANA: The results? Tragic.
NEWSCASTER: After being asked
for yet another
1,500 more dollars
to claim his prize,
Poland put a gun to his head
and killed himself.
MARIANA: As a result of
awful stories like these,
the US government has partnered
with this task force.
So once you enter the community,
it's already
sort of a risk, right?
CHIEF: Right.
CHIEF: So we have to get there
as quickly as possible.
(horn beeps)
(radio chatter)
MARIANA: Okay,
we're here, we're here.
Don't get out of the car.
Wow.
He's got his gun pointed
right at the door.
(dog barking)
(howls)
(bark)
♪
(clicks tongue)
(dog howls)
(bark)
(clink)
(banging)
They just broke into the house
through the side door
right here.
CHIEF: Come, come, come here.
(indistinct talking)
Hello, hello, hello, hello,
hello, hello, hello, hello,
hello, hello, hello, hello.
Sir, sir, sir,
sir, sir, sir, relax.
Yeah, man, sit down,
sit down, sit down.
CHIEF: We are searching for
lottery scamming paraphernalia,
credit cards, credit card
burners, those type of things.
(radio chatter)
MARIANA: You think
this is real gold?
CHIEF: Yeah, man.
MARIANA: The Rolex.
This is also a Rolex.
You see this a lot?
CHIEF: For larger scammers,
yes, yes.
♪
♪
That's a brand new car.
This is evidence that this
young man tried to destroy it
when the police tried to enter.
MARIANA: Was it
submerged underwater?
MARIANA: Wow. So it actually
has somebody's name,
and you can see this whole
conversation that they had,
and it says,
"Welcome, Miss (bleep).
Your account balance
is $17,500,000.
You are subjected to pay
the authorization fee
totaling 120,000
as soon as possible."
And they're promising that they
will receive over $17 million.
CHIEF: What we see here
is a lot of cans
that they use to practice Obeah.
MARIANA: This one
is actually called
the Million Dollar Spray.
CHIEF:
Million Dollar Spray, right.
MARIANA: Means if you spray it,
you're gonna be blessed
with a million dollars.
CHIEF: They believe,
they believe so.
MARIANA: Wow.
Some of these are incredible.
Look at this one.
Famous Double Fast Luck Spray.
CHIEF: This one is called
Bring Back Customers.
MARIANA: The state of emergency
led to an uptick of arrests
like these.
Some of the bigger players
have even been extradited
to face justice
in the United States.
All in all, it's a tense time
to be a scammer in Jamaica,
which isn't making it any easier
for me to meet more of them.
(horn honking)
But then I was invited
to meet a local boss,
a man who runs
a crew of scammers.
We arrange to meet
at a hillside hideout,
only a few miles from
Jamaica's rum-soaked resorts.
♪
♪
Looks like a bunch of guys
with masks waiting for us.
MAN: Okay.
MARIANA: I can't tell
if they're armed or not,
but we should probably go.
(car beeping)
Hi.
Okay.
All good?
This is the microphone.
As we approach the meeting spot,
it's clear the boss
isn't taking any chances.
So, we keep going this way?
♪
♪
MARIANA: Hi.
I'm Mariana.
What would you like me
to call you?
MARIANA: Viktor? Okay.
Can I ask you what the G is for?
MARIANA:
So you're proud of that?
MARIANA: Can I put a mic
on you, Viktor?
MARIANA: You wouldn't like it
if it was a man doing this?
MARIANA: Okay, thank you.
MARIANA: I'm ready, Viktor.
MARIANA: So these guys, we are
surrounded by one, two, three,
at least three that
I can see, three guys.
MARIANA: What guns are
used to protect?
MARIANA: So what do you do,
Viktor?
MARIANA: How long have you been
in the money game for?
MARIANA: Do you remember
the first time you did it?
MARIANA: Since those early days,
Viktor has risen to become
what he describes
as a mid level boss.
How has the state of emergency
affected you guys?
MARIANA: Really?
MARIANA: 200 people
working for you?
No way.
MARIANA: Behind all the swagger
is a young man
who says he grew up
on the rough side of Montego Bay
with very few options.
MARIANA: In other words,
reparations.
The idea that scamming
white people is payback
for a brutal history
of slavery and colonialism.
It's a justification that
I heard from Tweety as well.
It's also the title of perhaps
the biggest scammer anthem
of them all.
Dem call it scam ♪
Me call it a reparation ♪
MARIANA: Have you ever had to
hurt anyone because of scamming?
MARIANA: Wait, you were thinking
of taking our cameras
and robbing us?
♪
MARIANA: You were thinking
of taking our cameras
and robbing us?
MARIANA: Okay.
MARIANA: I don't know
how to feel about this.
MARIANA: Thank you, Viktor.
MARIANA: Do you think there's
more money being made through,
by scamming than
in the drug business here?
MARIANA: Over the next
several days,
I meet with a handful
of other scammers,
and they're all
full of surprises.
So first question is,
why these masks?
MARIANA: You're a fan
of Donald Trump?
MARIANA: The Trump twins
are actually
college-educated brothers.
Another woman I meet
had turned to scamming
when she couldn't make enough
money as a hairstylist
to raise her four kids.
MARIANA: What fascinates me most
are the day-to-day details
of their work.
Every day you call 284 people?
MARIANA: At its heart,
scamming is a sales job.
Only a tiny percentage of calls
are going to generate cash.
Of those people that you call,
how many of them
MARIANA: So volume is key.
Okay, so it's an Excel sheet,
and the Excel sheet
is called "Client."
So there's a Nancy, Clarissa,
Rhonda, Paula, Alice, Chad.
Just saying the first names,
just first names.
MARIANA: (bleep). This is crazy.
So, wait, we're at 4,500
and I'm still scrolling.
Much like sales, it helps to
know how to close the deal, too.
This man, who says
he's made millions scamming,
has a special trick
after telling his marks
that they've won a Mercedes.
MARIANA: You actually send a key
to, like, a fake Mercedes?
MARIANA: The best scammers
are relentless,
but they're also intuitive,
quickly assessing what the voice
on the other line really wants.
MARIANA: With little more than a
burner phone and some gumption,
scammers can reach across oceans
and wreak havoc on the lives
of ordinary people.
Welcome to the dark side
of globalization.
Half a world away,
I was about to get a glimpse
of an even more lucrative
type of scamming.
While scamming in Jamaica
brings in
hundreds of millions
of dollars a year,
scamming in Israel is reported
to bring in billions.
I want to know how it works.
(clapping)
What's happening?
You can see him?
Okay. Everyone ready?
He's driving up, guys.
So, I arranged to meet with
a man who was described to me
as a big player in
the scamming industry.
I'm told he's made a fortune
running various
investment companies,
all of which specialize
in financial fraud.
I was also told
to be very careful.
MARIANA: Hi. MOSHIKO: Hello.
MARIANA: Thank you so much
for meeting us. I'm Mariana.
Moshiko.
I do.
Okay.
So you're gonna turn it off?
Okay.
I've interviewed hundreds
of people through the years.
Moshiko is the first
to ever take away my phone.
I ask him to give me
the scammers tour of Tel Aviv.
MARIANA: In a lot
of these buildings
that look completely legitimate,
there's actually all this
MARIANA: Is it an open secret?
You seem to know.
Do people in Tel Aviv
and Israel know?
MARIANA: How many
of these companies,
fraudulent scamming companies
do you think there are?
MARIANA: Yeah.
No way.
Holy (bleep).
(Moshiko chuckles)
While the lottery scam
in Jamaica is the go-to con,
in Israel, it's all about
the investment scam.
The depth of this fraud
was first uncovered
by Simon a We in glass,
an investigative journalist
who was tipped off by a source
working at
a scam investment company.
SIMONA WEINGLASS: He told me
that there wasn't just
one company like this,
but there were hundreds,
and they were stealing
billions of dollars.
It sounded crazy,
and it turned out to be true.
MARIANA: Just like in Jamaica,
Simon a says the investment scams
in Israel often start with
call centers and lead lists.
Employees at these seemingly
legitimate companies
cold call potential clients
and get them to invest in
an exciting trading opportunity.
SIMONA: You start to trade,
you'll see your account
going up and up,
the retention agent
will keep talking to you
and getting you to put
more and more money in,
and then eventually,
when they sense
that you're not going
to put any more money in,
they just disappear
with the money.
MARIANA: Josh, you work
for a company,
getting clients and lying
to clients and scamming clients?
JOSH: Yes.
MARIANA: I found one of these
agents who was willing
to talk to me if we agreed
not to reveal his identity.
We'll call him Josh.
Where do you find the clients?
How do you
MARIANA: They catch them with
ads and websites like this
that look like legitimate and
professional trading platforms
and often promise
easy trading and profits.
You convince these people
to invest with you,
and then after they give you
the money that you want,
you sort of disappear?
JOSH: We actually
don't disappear.
We work with them for a while.
MARIANA: At any point,
is that money actually invested
in anything or is that money
JOSH: No.
MARIANA: So it's all a lie?
JOSH: Yeah.
SIMONA: The money was never
in your account to begin with,
there never was an account.
This company was probably
not where they said it was.
MARIANA: Josh works
in one popular version
of an investment scam, which is
often sold as a binary option.
Not all binary options trading
is fraudulent,
and the scam version itself
runs the spectrum
from misleading investors
to the outright theft that
Josh and Simon a describe.
But binary options fraud
became so pervasive,
that both the Security
and Exchange Commission
and the FBI were forced to issue
warnings to investors.
And over the past year alone,
the U. S. Justice Department
has charged
at least 15
binary option agents.
Around the globe,
Israeli scammers have
allegedly stolen billions.
Do you ever feel guilty
about what you do?
JOSH: Yes.
I hardly sleep.
My soul is, like, telling me,
fighting against what I'm doing,
on my actions.
MARIANA: On one occasion,
Josh claims he was
so racked by guilt
at how much money he'd already
stolen from a Canadian client
that he actually called
the authorities
to prevent the client from
transferring any more money.
And did anyone find out
that you did that?
JOSH: No.
MARIANA: What would have
happened to you if they did?
JOSH: I will have not been
sitting here right now.
Either I will be killed
or something like that.
MARIANA: You'd be killed?
JOSH: Yes.
MARIANA: Is it that serious?
JOSH: It is. Very dangerous.
MARIANA: He says his soul
is crushed by guilt
and that he works under
the threat of violence,
and yet he keeps scamming
because he makes keeps 10% to
15% of any money he brings in.
JOSH: It's a huge
amount of money.
MARIANA: How many of these
companies do you think exist
here in Israel?
SIMONA: Now the industry
has gone underground,
they're not as open.
I hear from people
that these call centers
are still everywhere.
MARIANA: "Jobs for
multilinguals in Israel,"
let's see what shows up.
"Looking for hardworking,
fluent English speakers,
enthusiastic and assertive,
who are looking to
make a lot of money.
A young and dynamic
atmosphere with snacks."
For the snacks alone, I'm gonna
send an email to this one.
So apart from people like you,
who's benefiting from this?
(phone ringing)
MAN: Hi. Yes?
MARIANA:
Hi, this is Maria Flores.
Yes, Maria Flores,
I emailed about a job position?
If I wanted to go to
one of these companies
and film undercover inside and
say that I'm applying for a job,
what should I say?
JOSH: Why, you're applying
for something?
MARIANA: Maybe.
So I've got my little
button camera right here.
I've got the mic pack.
DIRECTOR: Alright,
let's roll on it.
♪
MARIANA: While applying for jobs
at what I suspect might be
a scam investment company,
I've turned to Josh for advice
on how to get
my foot in the door.
JOSH: You can say that
I know how to do sales
and probably you can get in.
MARIANA: Not in
the actual trading?
JOSH: No. There are agents
who don't know anything,
a single word about trading,
they just know how to sell.
MARIANA: I've worked in
translations as an interpreter.
I've also worked at
a carpet/rugs company
where I was dealing
with very rich clients.
MARIANA: Okay.
Yeah, a polygraph?
MARIANA: That's never
happened to me, but okay.
MARIANA: Should I be concerned
about my security
if they find out
I'm filming undercover?
JOSH: Yes.
MARIANA: What do you think
they could do?
JOSH: There are no limits.
What is the worst damage
you think you can get of?
MARIANA: I mean, I could be
hurt or killed, obviously.
JOSH: Exactly, so that's it.
That's the answer
for your question. (Chuckles)
MARIANA: Have we thought
this through, guys?
This, for better or worse,
is where my curiosity
gets the better of me.
What could these places possibly
look like from the inside?
There's only one way
to find out.
So, I'm Maria Flores.
I was born in '87.
I'm moving to Tel Aviv with
my boyfriend, which is Jacob.
PRODUCER: He's Israeli.
MARIANA: I'm applying for
a sales job at this company.
You're my friend, and you're
helping me with Hebrew.
PRODUCER: Yeah.
MARIANA: Sounds good?
PRODUCER: Yeah.
MARIANA: My wing woman
for this operation
is an amazing local producer
whose name and identity
we've agreed not to disclose.
So, I've got my little
button camera right here.
I've got the mic pack.
This gets really hot, so I don't
want to turn it on early.
Yup. Definitely nervous.
Just can't wait
for this to be over.
So you're constantly
thinking that maybe
they're going to realize
that you're filming,
even though they
probably aren't.
DIRECTOR: Alright,
let's roll on it.
MARIANA: You see it?
DIRECTOR: Yeah.
MARIANA: Okay, so
it's recording now.
Wish me luck, guys.
♪
♪
♪
Fifth floor.
Oh, my god.
Okay.
This is it.
Okay, so we're here.
It sounds like there's a party
going on in there, right?
PRODUCER:
Yeah, there's music in it.
(muffled music)
MAN: Hello.
MARIANA: Hi, how are you?
I'm here to meet (bleep). I am.
Oh, you were waiting for me!
MARIANA: Hi, how are you?
MAN: Nice to meet you.
MARIANA: This is the man I had
corresponded with over email.
This is a nice office.
MARIANA: Thank you.
Oh, okay.
Yeah.
We can't know for sure
that this is a scam company,
but our sources told us to be on
the lookout for certain clues,
like a blind emphasis on sales
and assurances that no knowledge
of finance is required.
MARIANA: Mm-hmm. Oh, definitely.
MARIANA: Yeah.
My only fear is that
I don't know anything
about the For ex market.
MARIANA: Really? Okay.
So it's not that hard?
So what are you looking for?
What kind of characteristics
would you
MARIANA: Great, so all I need
is to want money.
MARIANA:
Then the manager arrives.
Hi. Nice to meet you, too.
And gets straight to the point.
MARIANA: Wait, how much,
how much money can I make here?
MARIANA: A month?
MANAGER: A month. Okay?
MARIANA: Not bad for
an entry level job.
Again, it's hard to say
for certain
that this is a scam company,
but for an investment firm,
they sure have a funny approach
to customer service.
MARIANA: Salespeople
at scam companies
are ordered to sell
under fake names.
They're also told to lie about
the company's location.
The scammers say they're
in New York, London, Zurich,
but never, ever Israel.
If you don't know
who you're dealing with,
or where they're located,
it's very hard to
get your money back.
MARIANA: That is it.
♪
♪
He kept looking at my boobs.
Can you believe it?
I was thinking, are they looking
at my boobs or the camera?
PRODUCER: Yeah.
MARIANA: Or my necklaces
or what's happening?
Okay, guys. Okay, the good news
is that I was hired.
(man laughs)
I can start as early
as next week.
DIRECTOR: Nice. Congratulations.
MARIANA: I mean, super shady.
I'm so happy it's over.
As we drive through Tel Aviv,
I realize the city skyline
provides the perfect
white-collar camouflage.
So much of the business world
looks and sounds the same.
The offices, the branding,
the button-downs,
and yet some not-small number
of these normal-looking people
are on their way to
normal-looking cubicles
where they'll spend their days
stealing money
from innocent people
around the world.
And for what?
So they can buy a big-ass yacht.
On my last day in Tel Aviv,
I caught up with Moshiko
to try and understand
how he justifies
the lifestyle he's chosen.
MOSHIKO: And in three months,
I might send them back 30,000,
and they think they just
had a bad experience
with the financial markets.
MARIANA: There is no part of you
that feels bad about this?
That you're taking away the last
200,000 from Joe the mechanic
who's worked all of his life
for this money?
MOSHIKO: If Joe the mechanic
thinks it's responsible
to send $200,000 to a website
that he hasn't checked out,
Joe the mechanic needs to be
responsible for his decisions.
MARIANA: So, Moshiko, you seem
like a very smart person
who obviously has
no problem making money.
Why do, why do it this way?
MOSHIKO: Where else can you make
a million dollars in a week
from home?
Come on.
You live one life.
Why should I spend my whole life
working, making 50,000 a year,
when I can sit here
and I can enjoy my life?
MARIANA: How much money do you
think you've made from this?
MOSHIKO: The most I made
in one day was $300,000.
Ten plus years, I have probably
brought in $75 to $100 million.
MARIANA: Moshiko says that
scamming is here to stay.
It's an inconvenient truth
about the globalized world.
MOSHIKO: Just like
PT Barnum said,
what's, there's a sucker born
every minute.
MARIANA: You know who else
said that to us?
The Jamaican scammer.
The exact same line.
MOSHIKO: That is
absolutely true.
♪
(phone ringing)
(phone ringing)
ADAM: Hello?
SCAMMER: Hey, Adam?
ADAM: Uh-huh.
SCAMMER: Brace yourself.
Are you braced?
You've won
19.42 million US dollars.
How do you feel?
ADAM: Okay,
how is that possible?
SCAMMER: Adam, do you eat out?
ADAM: Yes.
SCAMMER: Are you vegetarian?
ADAM: Uh-huh.
SCAMMER: Oh, my god, Adam,
you ran your credit card
at a Whole Foods store.
Have you had Whole Foods
recently?
ADAM: Yeah, all the time.
SCAMMER: Adam, you've won.
You've (bleep) won!
What are you gonna do
with $19.42 million?
MARIANA: Hey, Adam,
if you're watching,
I want you to know
that this call is a scam.
MARIANA: Adam,
you're not a sucker,
but the guys on the other line
are hoping,
really hoping, that you are.
MARIANA: They make a living
in a way that's obviously wrong.
But imagine waking up
every morning
and seeing a bunch of tourists
spending more money in a week
than you make in a year,
and then going home to a place
outside resort walls
that were erected
to keep you out.
MARIANA: Now imagine all this is
wrapped in a history of slavery
and exploitation, a legacy that
is very much alive and well.
MARIANA: Reverse imperialism?
MARIANA: "If you have a phone,
you have a chance."
It's the most powerful
rationalization I've heard.
Phone scamming as a last resort.
A literal lifeline.
Even so, most scammers I met
seem to struggle
with what they do.
Real jungle out here.
TWEETY: Right, right, right.
MARIANA: I know Tweety does.
TWEETY: Almost there,
Mariana, almost there.
MARIANA: Huge spiderweb!
(Tweety laughs)
MARIANA: Just down here?
TWEETY: Yeah.
MARIANA: You good?
This is really cool.
TWEETY: Whoa.
MARIANA: Is it cold?
TWEETY: Yeah. (Laughs)
MARIANA: So this is to
ward off evil spirits?
TWEETY: Right.
MARIANA: Ghosts, yeah.
And you mix that with water?
TWEETY: Water. MARIANA: Okay.
TWEETY: Whoa, it's getting wet.
MARIANA: Wow, it's raining,
it's raining a lot.
MARIANA: Extra blessing?
I'm gonna join you since
I'm totally wet already anyway.
There's no point
in me pretending here.
MARIANA: One, two, three.
I've spent a lot of time
with people like Tweety,
telling stories of
those who make a living
on the wrong side of the law.
All too often, the people
who inhabit these worlds
are painted as
ruthless criminals,
immoral villains, bad people.
But in my experience,
they're a lot more like us
than we want to admit.
TWEETY: Fresh start,
new beginning, right?
MARIANA: Fresh start,
new beginning.
♪
♪
JOSH: Everything is a scam.
Everybody takes their piece.
MOSHIKO: Who's making money
off of these industries?
Everyone.
It funds entire countries!
VIKTOR: If I'm a billionaire,
I'll be done.
MOSHIKO: Will I ever
stop scamming?
No, it's too much fun.
MARIANA: How do you think
this is gonna end for you?
(gunshots)
(siren)
MAN: Know what I mean?
You get it, right?
(siren)
Captioned by
Side Door Media Services