The Perfect Scam

Jim, 76, is running a small resort in Lake Tahoe, when he receives a mysterious call. The woman on the other end of the line asks for Jim by name. She introduces herself as Desiree and asks if Jim remembers her. He doesn't. Unfazed, Desiree claims to have met Jim at the resort while she was a guest. Before the call ends, Desiree has arranged another trip to the resort to visit a flattered Jim. But by the the end of the trip Desiree and Jim's life savings are nowhere to be found.

When a Florida journalist uncovers that his charity is a scam, Bobby Thompson goes on the run. He starts a new life as “Don Morsette” in Portland, Ore. Thompson thinks he’s outsmarted the U.S. marshals hunting him. But marshals catch up with him, ending their two-year manhunt. Although they know Thompson is the man they’ve been looking for, marshals still don’t know who he is. Thompson refuses to give his real name, signing court documents as “Mr. X.”

The man known to Washington’s elite as Captain Bobby Thompson has disappeared. Due to an investigation by a Florida-based journalist, it’s been revealed that Thompson’s charity, the US Navy Veterans Association, is an elaborate scam. Rather than face up to his crimes, when a warrant is issued for his arrest, Thompson goes on the run. U.S. marshals are hot on his trail, but with more than 19 fake ids, Thompson is a hard man to catch.

The U.S. Navy Veterans Association was founded by Bobby Thompson, known to top politicians as a retired lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy Reserve, the charity’s stated purpose was to support veterans and their families. But nothing about the charity was what it seemed. The U.S. Navy Veterans Association wasn’t sending money to veterans; it was an elaborate scam and its founder was not a retired naval officer — nor was his name Bobby Thompson, but instead John Donald Cody.

Darren Berg’s crimes are catching up to him. Through his company the Meridian Group, Berg has been operating Washington state’s largest Ponzi scheme, defrauding investors of more than $100 million. He is charged with nine counts of wire fraud and one count of money laundering. . Berg claims to be cooperating with authorities, but they aren’t sure he’s being truthful. They think he might be hiding funds and planning an escape, and what happens next proves their suspicions.

It’s 2009 and Bernie Madoff has pleaded guilty to stock and securities fraud in New York. Madoff’s Ponzi scheme is front of mind for many Americans and has a group of investors on the West Coast concerned. They’ve placed their savings with the Meridian Group, a company operating out of Seattle. When one of Meridian’s largest investors wants to cash out, and founder Darren Berg is unable to pay investors’ worst fears are confirmed: They are part of the largest Ponzi scheme Washington state has ever

The FBI is on to Farid Fata, an oncology doctor in Michigan who has been administering unnecessary cancer treatments in order to steal $34 million from Medicare. George, the practice’s office manager, has gathered enough evidence to bring the case to the authorities. It lands of the desk of Agent Drake during his first week with the FBI’s health care fraud team. Investigators are disgusted by what they find and work to bring Fata to justice.

When Dr. Maunglay moves to Michigan, he’s excited to join Dr. Fata’s practice. But Fata’s controlling and odd ways make him question his decision to take the job. When Maunglay looks into a patient’s records, he’s shocked at what he finds: Fata is giving chemotherapy and other treatments to patients who don’t need it, some of whom don’t have cancer at all. His motive? Stealing money from Medicare.

A bustling oncology practice in Michigan is hiding something sinister. Patients come to Farid Fata at their most vulnerable, after they’ve been diagnosed with cancer or to receive the life-altering diagnosis. But when Angela, an oncology nurse, arrives at one of Fata’s well-regarded clinics for an interview, she finds that nothing is as it seems. Horrified by what she sees, she reports the doctor for committing an unthinkable form of Medicare fraud.

Single mother Sara is growing suspicious of the man she met online. He claims to be an Army major stationed in South Africa, but Sara’s family worries she’s being scammed. Meanwhile, another woman approaches law enforcement to report that she’s been swindled out of thousands of dollars by the same man in a romance scam.

Sara thought she knew everything about the Army major and single father she met online. After months talking she found herself falling for him. But what Sara didn’t know was that the man she’d fallen in love with was actually the ringleader of a romance scam that bilked nearly $2 million from its victims.

On this special episode of The Perfect Scam, Frank breaks down all the ways fraudsters try to scam you through voicemail and email by claiming to be everything from IRS agents to bank officials. Frank gives the skinny on each scam, who’s behind them, and what you should and shouldn’t do if you get a scam message. Plus, the show producers share their own voicemails from scammers.

Bryon, a retired pastor, thought he’d met his dream girl online. For five years he conversed over the internet with Joy, who claimed to live in London. So when Joy asked Bryon to transport real estate papers, he had no idea he was being used in an elaborate plot to smuggle drugs. Bryon is one of hundreds of Americans over the age of 60 who were conned into unwittingly serving as drug mules in what the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging calls one of the worst scams it has uncovered.

Every year thousands of Americans get fraudulent calls from con artists claiming to be from the IRS. Working from call centers around the world, these fraudsters pressure targets with threats of jail, liens and garnished wages to scam them out of money. We uncover how these call centers work and speak to a 19-year-old who helped the FTC shut down one of the largest.

Jeff has lived for decades as a couch-surfing con man preying on the kindness of the outdoors community. He spins tales of hikes he’s never completed and exploits the sympathy of his marks with sad stories of his past to rip them off. Now Jeff’s lies are finally catching up with him. After stealing a car and credit cards, the con man has turned fugitive with the police hot on his trail.