Glitter Bomb Trap Catches Phone Scammer Who Gets Arrested

[00:00] That sound something like this. Three hundred and seventy nine dollars- is a 20 billion dollar scam industry,

[00:15] and see what crawls out. which I typically just reserve for porch pirates, of the slimy chain of command

[00:28] and through five states. and of course glitter bombs, and the scammers before getting arrested.

[00:41] so much money off these calls. Now all this started for me and I kept getting those annoying calls.

[00:54] I could send them my harmless box that shoots out glitter Now my buddy Jim Browning has a YouTube channel and then thwart them in real time

[01:07] My idea was to have a legitimate victim to actually send a glitter bomb instead. and it just so happened a woman named Tracy

[01:22] was being scammed for $12,500 at that very moment. (phone ringing) I'm calling you, hopefully you've got my voicemail.

[01:37] to what Tracy's about to say here about how could anyone ever send $12,000 in the mail because I hate to give these guys credit,

[01:51] and when I put it in the computer, I mistyped it as $13,000. So I had to send money back to them $12,500

[02:06] - [Jim] Right. I'm hoping you haven't sent that money. - [Jim] Oh no. All right. I hate to break this to you, but this whole thing is a scam.

[02:20] - [Mark] I'll tell you what to do, Tracy. they told her to ship the money to. this clearly was some kind of safe house for the scammers.

[02:35] but just in case, we hired two PIs And we knew we shouldn't do that right in front of the house the FedEx truck would come from,

[02:48] that explained they were randomly selected And if you wanted to buy one of these from markrober.com This would allow us to speak to the delivery driver

[03:04] And the plan worked flawlessly. her package was in fact out on the truck for delivery. - Okay.

[03:19] - [Mark] But in a wild twist, there was a second package Her name was Phyllis and we later found out her package - [PI] Okay, so that one's going back, right?

[03:34] - And FedEx was cool enough So both Tracy and Phyllis got all their money back. asking why the package didn't arrive,

[03:47] two day shipping instead of next day air. And that story switched from defense in an official looking vest.

[03:59] - [Mark] And waited for the sweet retribution. (machine blasting sound) Are you gonna give up? Or are you thirsty for more?

[04:14] - What the (squeaky toy sound effect) - [Mark] But for the first time in three years (machine spray noise)

[04:28] and he just sat there with the wretched smell, wondering what his game plan was gonna be, suddenly a bunch of NYPD officers started showing up

[04:42] - It's a glitter bomb. It has a camera built into it. and they called us up and I explained the whole situation, for each other's work.

[04:57] (laughs) - I mean there might be cameras on there, officer. on himself is cause he isn't a scammer.

[05:10] But Gary runs an Airbnb and once you go in that door, So this wasn't a safe house at all. These scammers would use Airbnb to get a temporary address

[05:25] must have been there yesterday. in an orange jacket who appeared right as the PI was talking She also looks directly at the camera and then decides

[05:40] Once the FedEx truck passes, she hurries over to talk to him. she walks right back to her car,

[05:52] The PI's got all the license plates on the street that day You should remember that name for later. It was this guy from Utah with a brand new account

[06:06] he sent this message in awkward English at 3:06 AM, So I did some more research and learned that they would use a money mule

[06:21] So Crystal in this case was the mule, the Money Mule's house, they use an Airbnb. who deposits the cash and wire transfers the remaining money

[06:34] the next day, which meant we caught So we compensated him handsomely We stopped the scammers from receiving two packages

[06:49] But before I show you exactly how we tipped the scales at tricking so many people. that basically says the same thing as the robocall,

[07:04] please call right away to have it refunded. on your computer. and then I'll be able to fully help you out.

[07:17] they've just installed a remote software program that gives They tell her that some accounts have actually already had So she needs to check her bank account to make sure

[07:32] And when Bessie here asks if he can see her banking info, - [Scammer] It's a 3D page, so I cannot see anything. - [Mark] And so sure enough, she hasn't got the refund yet,

[07:46] his billing department in order to process it. - [Scammer] I'm signing out from your account - [Mark] And this is true, he actually does sign out

[07:59] so she can't see anything that he's doing. pre-stored username and password. to temporarily make this Lowe's purchase

[08:12] And as he's editing away, he chats her up do you know this? - [Scammer] I used to share each and everything with her.

[08:27] And you might be wondering why doesn't he just wire transfer But the problem there is that it's traceable But if you can get an old lady to mail you cash,

[08:41] to try and track it down. and he informs her that unfortunately the billing department so they have one last option to try.

[08:54] - [Mark] It's actually just a text window - [Scammer] It is an irreversible form. nothing would be changed over here.

[09:08] that she's the one that has to enter all the information Maybe you can see where this is headed. So her name, last four of social, zip code,

[09:20] (keyboard typing) the two extra zeros on his keyboard and hit enter. - [Bessie] Oh no, this is a mistake!

[09:34] - I'm, it was supposed to be a 200 in there. I'm exhausted, I can't do this!

[09:46] - [Scammer] Ma'am please check your account. Oh my God. Plus twenty thousand! If I'm not earn for my family,

[10:01] - [Bessie] Yes, of course! you are also like my grandmother. you are making me cry now. You're...

[10:15] - [Mark] He tells her that unfortunately So he needs to think for a minute, - [Bessie] Yes?

[10:27] where she's totally willing to send $20,000 in the mail or even her family who might try and stop it.

[10:39] and because she's a good empathetic person, for someone she doesn't realize is a heartless scammer. maintaining pressure on their victim is a key tactic.

[10:53] even as they drive to the bank or they yell at them. - [Mark] Or call this many times in a row. - Yes!

[11:06] it's an actual biological response for the part of our brain - Name a woman! In Tracy's case, they had her put $100 bills

[11:21] In other cases, they have the victims wrap the cash and then foil so it can't be x-rayed. that are just too trusting for their own good.

[11:36] So for the scammers, it's just a game of percentages from the scammer's own computers, will send out a half a million robocalls;

[11:52] and land maybe five to ten victims after we got FedEx to send back her package, and I found out her husband of 40 years had passed away

[12:07] The scammers knew she was mourning this loss. So they sold her info to other scammers the same week her husband died.

[12:22] like that, it just made me that much more motivated and perhaps in the process we might stumble upon So now we needed another scammer to send a glitter bomb to,

[12:38] it's better for him just to stop it cold So we reached out to our friend Pierogi to his actual phone, he turns on his cameras,

[12:54] - [Scammer] If they will ask you in your bank - [Pierogi] Um, I'm getting it for Derek Wilson - [Scammer] No, no ma'am! No!

[13:09] for your personal reason, for your personal reason! old woman Pierogi to get us an address in New Jersey. - [Scammer] Right. Grab box, right? So you can put the cash.

[13:24] - [Mark] This one was actually to a hotel and not an Airbnb, once again a money mule was out there waiting for us. - [PI] For Jaquelin? I just need you to sign here.

[13:38] - [Mark] So they took the package and drove around we made the call just to get the box back and then maybe the box audio recording might help us

[13:51] part of a scam? - No. - [PI] I understand.

[14:03] and I don't want no trouble. Oh, well now I feel bad. and they might even be victims themselves.

[14:16] but maybe just in case, we just have (laughs) - [Mark] Then she got on the phone with her boss James.

[14:30] I took the picture and sent it to you. you said that I was done for the day. You said that we was working out here in New Jersey.

[14:42] or nothing for tomorrow. up like this in in New Jersey! which means Jaquelin was probably in the car

[14:55] - And the other time she's in the car watching me. but Jacqueline was talking a lot of trash about you. might be gunning for your job.

[15:09] - [Jacqueline] Bout a hundred dollars. So we get seven parcel and it's seventy five dollars Everybody's getting seven hundred dollars.

[15:25] Delaware, Maryland, you gonna be here, having the time of your life. - We learned two key things here.

[15:37] multiple mules reporting to them, and just one mule could receive as many as And the second is that this address was from a

[15:49] So that same supervisor can work with And so in the spirit of avenging Phyllis, we really wanted it to be a supervisor.

[16:02] - [Scammer] Uh, get the 50,000 dollars Once you're in your car, let me know. - [Pierogi] So I don't need to tell my husband?

[16:16] - [Mark] This one would be in Illinois. It was interesting to see them experimenting with - [PI] Meet me at the gas station then.

[16:30] Come park in front of me. - [Mark] The Walgreens was here, and the handoff occurred (shuffling noises)

[16:43] We tailed the supervisor for a few minutes And then 20 minutes later he stopped here (machine shooting noise)

[16:58] the cameras got a perfect shot of his face here. to approach him right after he opened it, And we just used the GPS in the glitter bombs

[17:11] And right after that, Pierogi got this message The supervisor and scammer And that seemed like the end of the story

[17:23] was tied to a business So we went back a week later to get footage that dumpster and house for reference,

[17:36] And wait a second, that's a 2019 Honda passport. That's the same guy whose face is on camera we were able to hand off to the authorities

[17:52] and a direct connection between a bunch of mules Pierogi came through with one final address in Texas And like all the others,

[18:07] and then she took it inside to open it. You guys give up? Or are you thirsty for more?

[18:21] - [Mark] Notice how she films herself opening the package. because I suppose there's no honor among thieves to confirm she hasn't taken more than she's allowed.

[18:34] like a hundred bucks. gets a 10% cut and sends the rest back to the scammers. was exchanging the cash for Bitcoin

[18:48] which meant she was actually a supervisor. - It seems the package may be in motion as well. but the police were alerted

[19:02] - Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. with the parking warning. But as every parent knows,

[19:14] from her pants and car - Yeah, so I just- I don't know. tell my probation officer, I don't know what's happened.

[19:28] Okay, so I want to contact with with, err, someone. the police returned to the Airbnb to gather evidence. had her under investigation for another package scam.

[19:41] and the actual glitter bomb and footage We did one more in Illinois and two more in California. because those scammers are being monitored

[19:53] Jim, Pierogi, and I have been in contact with the Department of Justice, Homeland Security, and the FBI. every last bit of evidence we've stumbled upon.

[20:08] of how these scam calls operate, both here in the States and in India. because the financial incentives are so great.

[20:22] thereby making it ineffective. please educate them or even share this video with them. if you've been exposed to fraud, but all the experts agree,

[20:37] but proactive by spreading awareness I will close with some good news, in a video he just released on his channel,

[20:52] of the folks over in India who scammed our girl Phyllis. And so over the next year, we'll be executing a multi-phase operation that will be,

[21:06] I don't wanna give too much away, And the first phase might include a door handle So make sure you're subscribed,

[21:21] (crashing sound) to measure the soil moisture level, - [Machine] Hi, I need a little water over here.

[21:35] how long it's been since you've stood up on a long flight method to encourage a stretch break. and this is a secret safe

[21:48] And finally, this is a g-dang Lunchables assembly line. And what do all of those have in common? creative engineering course.

[22:02] a few months ago, and it was so freaking rewarding (horror sound effect) And because we got so much overwhelmingly positive feedback

[22:16] This class covers my full engineering design process, to finalizing the build and giving it character. everything that I'm doing, and I do it three times.

[22:31] design and create three totally original builds, three creative builds of your own. and work it around your schedule,

[22:46] So whether you're a working professional whether you're a complete beginner and then level up your skills.

[22:59] to see what other people had to say about their experience and then enroll, and I'll see you in class.