Nickel & Crime Season 2, Episode 3

How do you convince a complete stranger to hand over their entire life savings in a couple of hours over the phone? With a few pieces of personal information, a fake government identity, a terrifying story, and a lot of confidence. It’s how skilled con artists have been able to drain billions of dollars from otherwise rational victims across the US, with what experts are calling imposter scams.

In this episode we examine the reality-twisting, psychological trickery of this particularly cruel form of fraud. We’re telling the true stories of Linda Khandro, and Charlotte Cowles, two smart, well-educated people who got wrapped up in the lies of some incredibly adept scammers and handed over hundreds of thousands of dollars. Linda is a college professor who lost her entire life savings during her four-month ordeal of being regularly contacted by con artists. Charlotte was under the spell of several scammers for one afternoon and lost $50,000.

In depth imposter scams like these hinge on isolation, false identities, and sucking the victim into a made-up world, using a sophisticated string of deceptions designed to bewilder even the savviest of victims. Charlotte and Linda are sensible people just like you, who were sure something like this would never happen to them, until it did.