Episodi

  • He Proposed on the Bridge - She Wired $3,400 to a Stranger

    He Proposed on the Bridge - She Wired $3,400 to a Stranger
    Oct 16 2026
    He Proposed on the Bridge - She Wired $3,400 to a Stranger

    Cold certainty: a small white jewelry box with four engagement rings was found half-hidden in honeysuckle, each ring tagged with a different woman’s name - and one of those women, Nancy Stein, had just said yes to a man she barely knew. She wired $3,400 to a Georgia account after months of church introductions and morning walks; how did a routine of trust become the map for a methodical scam?

    In this episode, we tell what happened to Nancy Stein and how a newcomer at her church fit into her life, detailing the timeline of meetings, the wire transfers, and the discovery that followed. Can the patterns of a community routine explain how $3,400 moved from a local life into a stranger’s account?

    Person: Nancy Stein
    Location: Calder Creek pedestrian bridge, western Prentice Park
    Date: March 4 (proposal at 6:20 a.m.) and mid-February (wire transfers)
    Amount: $3,400 total ($2,400 then $1,000)
    Introduced by: Phillip Warwick (deacon)

    - A small white jewelry box with four engagement rings was found thirty feet off a church walking trail.
    - Nancy Stein had been a member of Calvary Crest Community Church for eleven years.
    - Nancy wired $2,400 in mid-February to a bank account in Georgia.
    - Ten days after the first transfer, Nancy wired an additional $1,000, totaling $3,400.
    - Norman Hensley (introduced at the church in early January) proposed to Nancy on March 4 at 6:20 a.m, on the Calder Creek bridge.

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    © 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
  • The Widower, The River Phone, and the $41,000 Lie

    The Widower, The River Phone, and the $41,000 Lie
    Oct 15 2026
    The Widower, The River Phone, and the $41,000 Lie

    Grief became the bait: a widower in Millhaven County fell for a nursing widow who never existed, and $41,000 vanished into a digital life built from stolen photos and scripted messages. How did a phone sealed in a zip-lock bag, weighted with a rusted bolt and pulled from the Sattler River, hold the answers that a grieving young man could not see?

    In this episode, we tell how Howard Henderson met "Serena Vance" on a grief forum, how their messages moved to a private phone number, and how a recovered Samsung phone revealed 112 texts, 67 photos, and wire-transfer confirmations totaling $41,000 - but who was really behind the account and why did they try to sink the phone?

    Person: Howard Henderson
    Location: Millhaven County
    Event: Phone recovered from Sattler River
    Date: February 2019
    Amount: $41,000

    - The phone was sealed in a gallon zip-lock bag, wrapped in electrical tape, stuffed in a mesh produce sack, and weighted with a rusted bolt.
    - Julie Callahan found the phone on a trotline on a Tuesday morning in February 2019 after eleven years working the Sattler River.
    - The recovered Samsung phone contained 112 text messages and 67 photographs dated August 2018 through February 2019.
    - Wire-transfer confirmations on the phone added up to $41,000 and were all addressed to Howard Henderson.
    - The person operating the fake account, Beverly Cox, was 44 years old, renting a room in Galer, and had two prior fraud convictions (2009 and 2014).

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    © 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 Loved Her Routine - Then a Thermos Revealed the Lie

    He Loved Her Routine - Then a Thermos Revealed the Lie
    Oct 14 2026
    He Loved Her Routine - Then a Thermos Revealed the Lie

    He thought routine was safety; she thought routine was love - but a red Stanley thermos wedged on a frozen treeline exposed a staged intrusion and a falsified romance. A handwritten note and an "estimated extraction ceiling" inside the thermos proved someone had been on her land at night after planting an unauthorized survey stake with fresh orange cap paint; how far did the deception go and who planned it?

    In this episode, we follow the timeline from the first anonymous messages to the thermos discovery to understand the methods used and the moment investigators first realized this was engineered, not accidental. How did a fabricated identity, rehearsed cover stories, and a calibrated money transfer turn routine into a trap?

    Person: Lisa Zeller
    Age: 38
    Occupation: Billing coordinator for a regional orthopedic group
    Location: Ridgecrest Road, Harlan County
    Alias used: "Jeffrey Fisher" (photo of Andrew Petrie)

    - Thermos found on January 9 wedged between a cedar root and an unauthorized survey stake.
    - Survey stake showed fresh orange cap paint, no weathering, and no permit on file.
    - Alias profile contacted Lisa within 72 hours of her creating her dating account.
    - $600 sent by Lisa was repaid six weeks later, described by investigators as a calculated investment.
    - The fake profile used a real LinkedIn photo of Andrew Petrie, an engineer in Portland, Oregon.

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    © 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
  • The Singapore Mug: How a Cup Exposed a Fake Voice and a Romance Fraud

    The Singapore Mug: How a Cup Exposed a Fake Voice and a Romance Fraud
    Oct 13 2026
    The Singapore Mug: How a Cup Exposed a Fake Voice and a Romance Fraud

    A single ceramic mug from Singapore on a windowsill triggered the slow unravelling of a two‑year romance scam that used synthetic voice technology and stolen photos. Who left the mug - a ten‑centimeter souvenir with a dark coffee ring - and was it an accident or a deliberate message that exposed the fraud?

    In this episode, we tell how a college professor meeting a supposed oil engineer online was actually speaking to a voice‑synthesized persona, how photos of a real Douglas Prentiss were used without his knowledge, and how a mundane object found on December 9, 2022 redirected an investigation; how did the mug connect to the man who built the deception?

    Person: Patricia Ward
    Date: December 9, 2022
    Location: Kellner, Ohio
    Perpetrator: Troy Sawyer, age 38
    Impostor identity: Douglas Prentiss (real man in Savannah, Georgia)

    - The mug measured approximately 12 centimeters and depicted Marina Bay Sands, Singapore.
    - The mug was discovered at 7:43 AM by a septic tank technician who had serviced the property annually for over a decade.
    - Patricia Ward was 62 years old, a French and Spanish professor living at 47 Mosgrove Lane since her husband died in spring 2019.
    - Troy Sawyer, 38, lived in Atlanta and had used voice synthesis tools since about 2019 to create a fake 57‑year‑old engineer persona.
    - About 40 hours of audio from a deleted podcast were used to train the commercial voice generation platform that produced the fake voice.

    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
  • He Lied About Being a Soldier - She Lost $90,000 and Her Trust

    He Lied About Being a Soldier - She Lost $90,000 and Her Trust
    Oct 12 2026
    He Lied About Being a Soldier - She Lost $90,000 and Her Trust

    In this episode, we tell what the transcript documents about the unfolding of the case, from the morning a face-up phone with an eleven percent battery was found on a concrete drainage block to the messages that built trust and the money orders that betrayed it. What pattern of message timing, personal details, and urgent financial requests allowed one fabricated identity to extract so much from so many?

    Person: Pamela Clark
    Location: Branton, Indiana
    Group: Veterans' Quiet Hours (private Facebook group)
    Duration: four years
    Loss: more than $90,000

    - The phone with the final message was found at six in the morning on a concrete drainage block in Kellner Park, Branton, Indiana.
    - Pamela received a message saying "I love you more than I have ever loved anything. Please don't tell anyone about the money." as the last text on that phone.
    - Chad began contacting Pamela in August 2019 and moved conversations to WhatsApp within three weeks, messaging morning and night.
    - Eleven weeks into their conversation, Chad asked Pamela for $1,400 for his sister Paula's ICU care, claiming his account was frozen.
    - Investigators took three months to fully reconstruct the hours before the phone was found and to unravel a fraud spanning nineteen victims.

    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
  • He Was "Roy Coleman": How a Curator Lost $311,000 to a Ghost Mentor

    He Was "Roy Coleman": How a Curator Lost $311,000 to a Ghost Mentor
    Oct 11 2026
    He Was "Roy Coleman": How a Curator Lost $311,000 to a Ghost Mentor

    Fear that the person who knows you best is a lie: a curator wired $311,000 over 14 months to a man who never existed, then woke to a manila envelope on his doorstep saying the account and the man were gone-who left it eleven blocks away and why? This episode follows the slow, expert grooming that turned professional trust into a $311,000 loss and asks how fabricated paperwork and stolen photos can make deception feel inevitable.

    In this episode, we follow the timeline from a single networking message to daily intimacy, gifts, and increasingly urgent financial requests that culminated in multiple international wire transfers, and we consider the unanswered question the envelope posed: who delivered that note and what did they know?

    Person: Mark Mitchell
    Age: 48
    Location: 214 Bellhaven Drive
    Case: $311,000 lost over 14 months
    Detective: Charles Schmidt, 44, Claremont PD

    - The first contact came in August when “Roy Coleman” sent a connection request on a professional networking platform used by museum staff.
    - A printed wire confirmation for $42,000 to an account in Cyprus arrived inside a manila envelope left at 6:47 AM on October 9.
    - Over 14 months, Mark transferred a total of $311,000 out of his accounts after liquidating inherited investments, a house, and savings.
    - The impersonated “Roy Coleman” profile used stolen photographs from a real retiree in Boise who had reported the theft to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center two years earlier.
    - Detective Schmidt noted the envelope was slid into the storm door with no stamp or return address and that it had been placed from eleven blocks away, near the Meridian Suites on Commerce Street.

    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 Bracelet in the Gravel: How Lily's Lie Cost $11,280

    The Bracelet in the Gravel: How Lily's Lie Cost $11,280
    Oct 10 2026
    The Bracelet in the Gravel: How Lily's Lie Cost $11,280

    A county road-grader turned up a pink bracelet engraved LILY buried in gravel, and that small object tied a rented farmhouse to an $11,280 string of transfers - but who manufactured the lie behind the bracelet, and why was it worth so much? This episode starts with a discovered medical-style ID and ends with a woman asleep to a persona built from her own home.

    In this episode, we follow the timeline from the road-grader discovery to the payments a woman made after meeting a fake profile, covering the profile creation, the mailed bracelet, and the sequence of money transfers that connected them - how did a bracelet and a name lead to eight transactions totaling $11,280?

    Person: Megan Moore
    Location: Prewitt County
    Date: September 19, 2022
    Amount: $11,280
    Profile name: RoadHaulRick

    - A road-grader operator named Carl Crawford found a pink bracelet engraved LILY on September 19, 2022.
    - Megan Moore sent eight money transfers beginning August 4, 2022, totaling $11,280 to a man she never met in person.
    - The RoadHaulRick account was created in April 2022 and contacted Megan in early July 2022.
    - The bracelet arrived on September 9, 2022, inside a card with a handwritten note signed Rick and a Louisville area code stamped inside.
    - Photos used for the fake profile belonged to Dennis Halford, 44, a heavy equipment mechanic from Bowling Green, Kentucky, whose images had been posted publicly on Facebook.

    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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    22 min
  • He Stole My Trust - The Rome Critic Who Cost Me $11,000

    He Stole My Trust - The Rome Critic Who Cost Me $11,000
    Oct 9 2026
    He Stole My Trust - The Rome Critic Who Cost Me $11,000

    Fear and betrayal collide: a dead critic's byline resurfaced online, a burgundy pickup left keys in the ignition, and one linen dish towel printed with the Colosseum set off a decade-long fraud-how did a routine inspection lead to $11,000 vanished from a Millhaven food blogger's life?

    In this episode, we follow the sequence of events that connected a found crate of annotated reviews to an online correspondent and a string of small wire transfers that added up to a large loss; what began as praise and peer recognition turned into repeated requests for cash-how did trust become currency?

    Person: Robert Hunter
    Person: Gary Collins
    Person: Marco Bellini
    Date: October 2016 (death of Marco Bellini)
    Amount: $11,000

    - A utility lineman found a burgundy pickup with keys in the ignition on Route Nine outside Millhaven, Virginia, in August 2022.
    - Inside the truck bed was a wire milk crate containing forty-one pages of printed restaurant reviews wrapped in a linen dish towel printed with the Colosseum.
    - Marco Bellini had been dead since October 2016, but his byline resumed in January 2017 without explanation.
    - Robert Hunter, age fifty-one in 2021, ran the Table Notes food blog and had about forty thousand followers.
    - The first wire transfer from Robert to Gary was $900 sent in March 2022, and the total Robert later sent reached $11,000.

    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