Episodi

  • The Laminated Mimosa: How "Dale Becker" Stole Sandra's Life Savings

    The Laminated Mimosa: How "Dale Becker" Stole Sandra's Life Savings
    Aug 24 2026
    The Laminated Mimosa: How "Dale Becker" Stole Sandra's Life Savings

    Fear that the person you love might be a lie - and a stranger could quietly take everything you saved - starts with a laminated flower wedged beneath a water meter. A meter reader found the pressed mimosa with the words "He was never there" on the back; fourteen months later two hundred thirty-eight thousand dollars had vanished. How did six weeks of carefully staged intimacy lead Sandra to wire life-changing sums, and what did that little flower prove?

    In this episode, we trace the sequence of events from a Tuesday in March to the unraveling of a fraud that moved through email, phone calls, and international bank transfers, asking how trust was manufactured and when warning signs were missed. What did the laminated mimosa mean, and why did it end up on a federal exhibit list?

    Person: Sandra Ward
    Age: 61
    Occupation: Senior curator of ancient Near East collections at the Grover City Museum of Cultural History
    Amount: $238,000
    Perpetrator alias: Dale Becker (real name Thomas Ryker)

    - A meter reader named Douglas Pruitt found the laminated mimosa beneath a water meter on Sycamore Trace and photographed it before touching it.
    - The back of the flower bore four handwritten words: "He was never there."
    - Sandra exchanged messages with "Dale Becker" for six weeks, moving from the museum portal to personal email, then to weekly Wednesday calls at 9:15 p.m.
    - In January Sandra wired $8,000 to a correspondent account in Malta as a bond for a supposed exporter in Nicosia.
    - Before the first message, a bot linked to phishing operations had accessed the museum's public portal 47 times in October.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    21 min
  • He Said He Had a Daughter - $31,400 in Five Months

    He Said He Had a Daughter - $31,400 in Five Months
    Aug 23 2026
    He Said He Had a Daughter - $31,400 in Five Months

    Fear that someone you loved was never real: Jason Griffin sent $31,400 across 11 Western Union receipts over five months to a man who claimed to be a long-haul trucker with an eight-year-old daughter. How did a careful, methodical life get folded into a scripted con, and what single discovery finally exposed the fiction?

    In this episode, we follow the sequence of messages, transfers, and small details that turned into a pattern of deception, and we trace how friends, receipts, and a lone crinkled artifact on a porch revealed the truth. What part did the script and the photo inconsistencies play in unraveling the scheme?

    Person: Jason Griffin
    Person: Kent Morris
    Amount: $31,400
    Transfers: 11
    Period: Five months

    - Jason found eleven Western Union receipts under his welcome mat on September 3.
    - The receipts totaled $31,400 sent over a five-month period.
    - The first money transfer followed a mid-July call claiming a $2,800 clinic bill for an eight-year-old daughter.
    - Gifts: Jason mailed a stuffed rabbit and coloring book in early August to a PO box that later became unavailable.
    - A photo sent in late August claimed to be taken at 9 p.m. in Little Rock but showed midday lighting.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    18 min
  • He Wrote Like a Dead Critic - I Lost $5,500 to It

    He Wrote Like a Dead Critic - I Lost $5,500 to It
    Aug 22 2026
    He Wrote Like a Dead Critic - I Lost $5,500 to It

    The first message that felt off was a perfectly warm goodnight text - nineteen words copied verbatim from a 2011 food magazine byline. A dead critic's sentences threaded through six months of messages, a lost phone found on a hiking trail, and $16,500 that vanished between two women who never spoke: how did a voice borrowed from a deceased writer turn into a costly deception?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline and people in the record to show how the relationship began online, moved to an anonymous platform, and then unraveled after a lost phone became evidence; could an encrypted, identity-free app and a love of precise prose have enabled a literary impersonation that cost real money?

    Person: Jean Watson
    Age: 48
    Location: Varnell, Ohio
    Platform: Amore Vero
    Amount missing: $16,500

    - Jean Watson had 40,000 subscribers to her food blog Plate & Place.
    - The copied line contained exactly nineteen words and matched a 2011 article by Aldo Ferrini.
    - Aldo Ferrini died in 2016 at age 61 of cardiac arrest in a Bologna restaurant.
    - Jean lost her phone on a hiking trail in August 2019; its recovery triggered the investigation.
    - The correspondence with "Norman Hughes" began in February 2019 and continued daily across multiple platforms for four months.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    19 min
  • The Voice That Stole $36,000: How a Fake Coast Guard Won Him Over

    The Voice That Stole $36,000: How a Fake Coast Guard Won Him Over
    Aug 21 2026
    The Voice That Stole $36,000: How a Fake Coast Guard Won Him Over

    Loneliness made him vulnerable: a man with a steady routine lost $36,000 to a constructed persona who repaid an initial loan to prove trust. How did months of morning messages, a single six-minute video call, and a staged repayment convince him to hand over everything?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline from the phone found at Pelican Cut to the bank parking lot where Earl sat frozen, and we outline how the impersonator built credibility through voice, small asks, and bureaucratic excuses. What sequence of touches and transfers turned a careful marine technician into a victim?

    Person: Earl Brooks
    Date: July 11, 2019
    Location: Pelican Cut; Regions Bank on Delamar Street; Grover's Landing, Mississippi
    Amount: $36,000
    Investigator: Beverly Edwards

    - Phone found face-up in sedge grass at Pelican Cut with thirty-one percent battery remaining.
    - Incident occurred at 2:47 a.m. on July 11, 2019; phone discovered at dawn.
    - Impersonator profile created in late February 2019 as "Aaron Whitfield - Lieutenant Commander, United States Coast Guard."
    - Initial requested transfer in May 2019 was $800, which was repaid with $940 in fees recorded in cloud documents.
    - By early July 2019 Earl had sent $22,000 across three accounts before total losses reached $36,000.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    18 min
  • Glasses Case on a Dock: How He Mapped a Widow's Trust and $48K

    Glasses Case on a Dock: How He Mapped a Widow's Trust and $48K
    Aug 20 2026
    Glasses Case on a Dock: How He Mapped a Widow's Trust and $48K

    A small burgundy glasses case on an empty dock led to a name that did not belong there and ultimately to $48,000 wired into four cryptocurrency wallets - how did a pair of progressive lenses become the first clue? Who built the architecture of trust that turned a woman’s steady habits into a target?

    In this episode, we follow the sequence of discoveries from a surveyor’s find to the online messages that converted personal details into a financial scheme, and we ask how everyday routines were used to engineer confidence and loss.

    Person: Dawn Stein
    Date: June 2022 (dock discovery); March 2022 (prescription fill)
    Location: 14 Crestwater Lane (dock); 14 Quarry Street (residence)
    Case: $48,000 transferred into four cryptocurrency wallets
    Perpetrator: Dennis Pratt (alias used: Wayne Vickers)

    - A surveyor, Monica Young, found a burgundy quilted glasses case on a dock at 7:40 AM on a Tuesday morning in June 2022.
    - The prescription label named Dawn Stein with a Barton Falls address and a fill date of March 2022.
    - Dawn Stein joined the Rebuilding Circle forum in October 2021 and began messaging "Wayne Vickers" in November 2021.
    - The man in the profile was actually Paul Devereaux’s photo; the real sender was Dennis Pratt, age 49, living in short-term rentals across three states.
    - $48,000 was converted into wire transfers and routed into four cryptocurrency wallets that never returned to Dawn.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    20 min
  • The Chekhov Letter in the Septic Tank: How "Edward Marshall" Lied to Scott

    The Chekhov Letter in the Septic Tank: How "Edward Marshall" Lied to Scott
    Aug 19 2026
    The Chekhov Letter in the Septic Tank: How "Edward Marshall" Lied to Scott

    Fear that the person connecting with you online is not who they claim - and that the proof might be as mundane as a water-damaged paperback in a septic tank - drives this episode from the first sentence. A 1963 Signet edition of Chekhov with a page marked "The Lady with the Dog" contained a handwritten letter beginning "my darling Scott" and a wire-transfer confirmation number; who really wrote it, and why did it end up in a rented bungalow's septic access riser?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline laid out in the transcript to show how an online persona built on literary detail turned into a cross-state fraud case, and we trace the physical clue that linked the virtual identity to an actual property. What did the messages and the Chekhov quote reveal about the person behind "EdwardMarshall_Editions," and how did a septic pump-out become pivotal evidence?

    Person: Scott Ward
    Person: David Pruitt
    Person: Arthur Clemmons
    Date: May 12, 2019
    Location: Calloway County, Ohio

    - A 1963 Signet paperback of Chekhov was recovered during a septic pump-out on Tuesday, May 12, 2019.
    - The book had a single page marked and a handwritten letter that began "my darling Scott" and included a wire-transfer confirmation number.
    - Scott Ward, age forty-four in spring 2017, met the online user EdwardMarshall_Editions via a rare-book marketplace forum in late April 2017.
    - The persona "Edward Marshall" used photos of Arthur Clemmons, a retired English professor from Vermont, without his knowledge.
    - The man sending the messages was David Pruitt, forty-one from Akron, Ohio, with at least three prior fraud convictions.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    21 min
  • The Photo That Cost Her $31,400 - He Called Her Val, K

    The Photo That Cost Her $31,400 - He Called Her Val, K
    Aug 18 2026
    The Photo That Cost Her $31,400 - He Called Her Val, K

    Fear that your kindness will cost you everything: she wired a total of $31,400 across eleven transfers believing a civil engineer and three children in Zambia were real-until a church newsletter and a single initial, K., started to unravel the story. Who was using real photos and real names to build a fiction that nearly emptied her savings?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline from first contact on a dating app in September 2017 through the discovery in April 2019, outlining how messages, photographs, and eleven wire transfers added up to a devastating scam. How did a printed photo in a coat pocket and a church newsletter expose the deception?

    Person: Valerie Christensen
    Date (first contact): September 2017
    Date (discovery by Leon Thorpe): April 14, 2019
    Total amount wired: $31,400
    Number of transfers: 11

    - Valerie sent eleven wire transfers between March 2018 and November 2018.
    - Individual transfers ranged from $800 to $6,200.
    - The back of the found card had four words in blue ballpoint: "Val - they are real. You are real." and a single initial, "K."
    - The photograph on the card matched a photo taken by volunteer Rachel Moy at a facility in Ndola in October 2015.
    - A $600 transfer listed as a pharmacy payment for "Peter" traced to a business in Tucson, Arizona.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    20 min
  • A Stranger Left His Shoe: The Sandra Sanders Case

    A Stranger Left His Shoe: The Sandra Sanders Case
    Aug 17 2026
    A Stranger Left His Shoe: The Sandra Sanders Case

    A size 10½ brown leather oxford and a red rose were left on Sandra Sanders's porch on March 11, 2019 - details that should have been reclaimed, but were not. The shoe was left-footed, lightly worn, and belonged to a carefully constructed fraud that used scripts, rotating performers and a shared phone to make one woman fall for a man who did not exist; how did they tune the deception so precisely to Sandra's life?

    In this episode, we trace the timeline from the porch step back through Sandra's routines, the introduction by a coworker, and the operation run by a man who wrote scripts and coordinated multiple impostors; what keeps appearing is the same question: how did the frauders replicate a credible life well enough to bypass Sandra's caution?

    Person: Sandra Sanders
    Date: March 11, 2019
    Location: 414 Birchwell Drive, Kellerton Heights
    Person: Victor Malone
    Person: Stanley Schultz

    - Sandra Sanders was 53 years old and a senior billing coordinator at Weston Medical Group.
    - The shoe found on the porch was a size 10½, left-footed, and lightly worn.
    - Sandra had lived alone at 414 Birchwell Drive for three years before January 2019.
    - Osgood, Sandra's Belgian Hare, was 12 years old and required medication twice daily at 7:00 AM and 7:00 PM administered by syringe.
    - Victor Malone, 44, wrote the script, controlled the shared phone, and recruited at least three men in their late 30s to early 50s to impersonate "Stanley Schultz."

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    17 min