All language subtitles for Trafficked.with.Mariana.van.Zeller.S01E01.Scams.1080p.WEB.h264-CAFFEiNE

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 capita

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 dancehall 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,

dancehall 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,
magicJacks, 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 midlevel 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 Simona Weinglass,
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,
Simona 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 Simona 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 Forex 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)

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