Witnessed: Devil in the Ditch - A New Case: The Criminal Empire of Scam Calls

Episode Date: August 1, 2022

Chameleon: Scam Likely, the latest story from the team that brought you Witnessed – is available now, subscribe on Apple Podcasts to binge all episodes ad-free. When a small team of government investigators learns that ordinary citizens all around the U.S. are losing their life savings to scam callers, they go on the hunt for the shadowy multinational mob behind the con, unraveling their plot from strip malls in suburban Texas to office towers in one of India's largest cities. In the latest season of Chameleon, host Yudhijit Bhattacharjee retraces the steps of the cops and the crooks, and goes deep into the Indian underworld looking for the alleged masterminds who got away. Search for Chameleon: Scam Likely wherever you get your podcasts to start listening today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It starts with a call. You pull out your phone, look down. The number seems sort of familiar. You press accept. Hello, can you hear me? The voice isn't someone you know, but they seem official. You stay on the line. Can I have the name of the person I'm speaking with?

At this point of time, you have to make an immediate payment. You tell them there must be a mistake. You don't owe back taxes. You aren't overdue on your loans. You already paid off that car. No, no, no. You are just making the excuse it. You can resolve this matter by paying your miscalculation on my... The caller tells you,

no, there is no mistake. You got to pay up. Like right now? Yeah, right now. Or else, there's no escape. We can find you from anywhere. You will be arrested and you will be behind bars for five years. You have a journey for yourself. You will seize your bank account with the name of the taxi.

We will seize your bank account. If there is a debit card number, you'll credit card number. Any of you banking and following. Finally, you pay. Thank you. It's me. Finally, you pay. Thank you. It's over. You hang up. And then you realize that wasn't a collection agency.

That wasn't your bank. And it certainly wasn't the IRS. It was a scam. How many times have you been on the receiving end of a scam phone call? If you're like me, you get at least one a week. But who's behind them? And how are they getting away with it? From the team that brought you witness to friendly fire, the latest season of chameleon,

scam likely, is available now. The story follows a small team of government investigators who learn that ordinary citizens all around the U.S. are losing their life savings and millions of dollars to scam callers. They go on an international hunt for the shadowy mob behind the con, retracing the steps of the cops and the crooks looking for the masterminds who got away. They unravel a plot that stretches from suburban Texas to the outskirts of Singapore to a drab office complex in one of the largest cities in India. Take a listen. Tell me about this call that you received. The funny thing is on my phone the caller I reached showed me 911 and I picked

it up and the guys are like, can you go out of your office and find some place where no one else is hearing you? So I started worrying a little bit. This is a guy I'm going to call Dhruv. It's the fall of 2013. Dhruv is living in a mid-sized American city working in information technology. He's in his late 30s.

He walks out of his office building to the parking lot, says, okay, no one else is around. The person on the other end of the line says they're calling from the Department of Homeland Security. The troupe's heart skips a beat. The caller says there's a problem with Thruv's immigration paperwork. Unless Thruv pays a penalty to the government, he's going to be arrested and deported. So of course, when I heard I was scared, so I said, okay fine, it's fine there, I'm ready to pay. You can understand Hispanic. Thruv and his wife had moved to the United States from India as students,

hoping to build a better life. After graduating, they got work visas and started their careers. They planned to save enough money to buy a house, start a family, make America their home, being deported would destroy that dream. For a moment, through Wunder, is this really homeland security? But then the caller mentioned details that only an immigration official could have known,

like the dates when through had most recently traveled to India. So, through trusted the caller, and he was going to do what he said. The official said, you owe the government $500 to correct your immigration file. Then he started barking orders. He tells truth, go buy a prepaid cash card at CVS. Thruv drives to the nearest CVS, finds the card in an aisle close to the entrance and

pays at the register. $500, a lot of money for Thruv. He's on the phone the whole time and the official says, good, now read out the numbers from the back of the card. That was the equivalent of transferring all $500. Thruv starts to relax. The hard part is over. So I think he put me on hold around 10, 15 minute dish.

And then he came back and he said, hey, man, looks like your file is not corrected. So he definitely going to cost a lot more now. Thruv feels his heart sinking. But he had no choice but to agree to pay more. The immigration official gave him the address for a nearby Walmart where Thruv bought more prepaid cards. At one point, he hung up and texted his wife to tell her

he might not answer her if she called. Literally he called me back and he said, why did you text someone? I said no I just text my wife only so he said no you're not allowed to call anyone not allowed to text anyone until we are done. Thruv was already frightened. Now he was spooked. He felt the immigration official could see his every move. So, through followed orders. Over the next few hours, through drove from one store to another, buying more and more prepaid cards.

If a store turned him away because of rules against selling prepaid cards above a certain limit, the official would give through addresses for new stores. I did not drink water, I did not eat anything, keep driving, I only stopped or parked my car, either I'm going to the store, I stopped once at the shelter to fill the gas. And that also he was literally saying,

ask, keep asking every few months, saying, okay, is it done? Is it done? How much more do you need? The official had bad news. It turned out, Truev's case was even more complicated than he'd first thought. It was being referred to the FBI. A new government official took over the call.

This guy yelled at Truev and insulted him, intimidating him even more aggressively than the first guy. When Thruv went to another Walmart to buy even more money cards, the new official told him that a person asking for donations by the entrance was actually a government agent surveilling him. The man's words deepen Th his feeling of helplessness and loss of agency. It was as if he were in a trance, completely under the control of this voice on the phone. The caller instructed him to buy a lighter and burn up all the cards.

So I did that actually, but a few of them I did, but then it's also, you know, you can do those kind of thing in the parking area as well. So I said, hey, I did it, but I ended up putting it in my trunk. Drouf was dizzy and terrified, and more than anything else exhausted. He couldn't go on. He told the official he couldn't pay anymore. So I don't care now if you say like I'm illegal and you want me to depart right now, go ahead do so because I don't have money, I can't do anything else anymore. So I'm done. The caller finally let him go. When Th God home, he searched online and discovered, as he had begun to suspect, that he had fallen for a scam. But it wasn't just him.

Something seemed off with his wife. And finally, she told him what it was. She had gotten a similar call that morning and done exactly what proved it, frantically driving from store to store, giving more and more money to the scammers. Thruv's nightmare had been twice as bad as he had thought. So, that night both of you didn't sleep? No. Were you just researching on Google what to do next or? No, we were just pretending that we are sleeping. But we couldn't get to sleep, not even single minute. And you were pretending

because you didn't want to upset the other person? Yes, same for both of us. They had lost 3030,000. From campsite media and Sony Music Entertainment, binge all episodes of Camillean scam likely on Apple Podcasts right now, or listen weekly wherever you get your podcasts. right now, or listen weekly wherever you get your podcasts.