Pranks Destroy Scam Call Centers: GlitterBomb Payback

[00:00] James Bond style contraption that turns this ball screw and And then I put it in a lunchbox for camouflage Now you might think, that's not very nice, Mark.

[00:15] (man yelling) because this isn't just any office. that scams people of their life savings.

[00:29] stumbling onto the low-level thugs all the way to the top, And so after a year and a half of planning,

[00:43] but four different scam call centers. glitter bombs, and then, of course, the whole thing unfold in real time.

[00:57] multinational adventure. can actually do to help put the nail in the coffin of these Now, why would we go after this $20 billion scam industry?

[01:12] to scammers in the past year. who you might recall from my previous video when I detailed - [Scammer] You're like my granny, Mrs. Bessie.

[01:26] - [Scammer] She was like one of my closest friends. - [Mark] Basically, it starts with an email or a spam call. the victim they've been charged $200 for something.

[01:40] Then after they call, have the victim type the $200 - Only they take over and secretly

[01:54] - [Scammer] Check everything. Oh, I screwed up! - [Bessie] It was supposed to be $200 in there.

[02:08] I'm exhausted! - [Scammer] Ma'am, please check your account. - [Mark] Then they take her to a totally

[02:21] where it looks like because of Bessie's mistake, they just sent her $20,000 instead of $200. Plus $20,000.

[02:33] If I'm not earn for my family, - Yes, of course! - Please don't cry. You're also like my grandmother.

[02:45] - [Bessie] You know, I'm an honest person. - [Bessie] Now how do I fix this? Now fix her mistake,

[02:57] thinks is an extra $20,000 in cash, when in reality, And she's gonna send it in the mail to a heartless scammer.

[03:09] here's another call from a few weeks ago where the scam is missing taxes that are owed. and then I was diagnosed with breast cancer in August.

[03:26] And after today, I know it's not your fault, but it's worse now. - [Patient] I would rather just pay it.

[03:40] and I'll be worse in my health, you know what I mean? - [Mark] So the scammer places her on hold to talk with the done to help her out.

[03:55] I just had a word with the higher authorities and I informed they're also concerned about your health. she'll only have to send these scammers $2,000.

[04:11] missing in the taxes was £1,489. in getting a handful of people involved in this scam But the problem was we discovered these were just the

[04:25] who then send the bulk of the And while we did turn over all the intel reached out to us, to truly avenge Bessie,

[04:38] either temporarily disrupt or possibly even permanently shut It'd be like a special operation. a target, and a plan.

[04:53] who you recall from last year as a YouTube channel that computers and gaining access to their CCTV footage. - [Mark] And then another YouTube channel

[05:09] in India implementing the pranks, we were able to locate and gather tons of For starters,

[05:21] India on the 5th floor of this building. and they've got over 1,000 agents. and you can even see the rest of their leadership team here

[05:34] why would a scam call center have a public website? percentage of their employees So if they get rated by the authorities,

[05:46] clean while the real money making operation Then we found VRM, also located in Kolkata, They also have over 1,000 agents and they've been in

[05:59] operation for six years and they run 24 hours a day in three Oh, and allow me to introduce to the world, the husband and wife co-owners.

[06:12] They also run three shifts 24 hours a day with all their key info shown here. all three of these centers were located within just a few

[06:27] which is a hotspot for scam call centers like this. but we're not releasing public information on them yet. And so once we'd amassed mountains of evidence against all

[06:41] to apply for jobs at each of these centers, Now, in order for them not to arouse suspicion, but we told them to remember the victim's information and

[06:56] And at first, protocol and used his phone to capture some footage for us and whatever this is.

[07:11] CCTV because the next day, his roommate knew to lie and say he wasn't home and he was but they stayed out in front of his house all day and later

[07:26] him and they would pay him handsomely. They were just simply curious what kind of evidence he'd we reiterated to the remaining nine to lay really low like a

[07:40] And speaking of the plan, we knew we'd have to go full James Bond Q-mode with some (explosion)

[07:54] Kind of. but if you unscrew just this portion of the lid, And if you put military grade putrid smelling stuff in that

[08:08] it creates a perfect seal and you can't smell anything. you just twist the lid like this, And we're using a water bottle

[08:23] we know they allow them to have water bottles at their desk. no one's going to suspect that's the origin of the smell. same kitchen grade food coloring

[08:38] (crowd cheering) it will leave them stained for at least a day. we'll learn exactly who does and doesn't wash their hands.

[08:52] You take a box of Sudafed and then print out and paste on Then, importantly, box like it's his prescription.

[09:05] that can store cockroaches in it. the microcontroller will trigger the stepper motor, That means if you disguise it in a lunchbox,

[09:18] you get a bunch of cockroaches crawling out of a lunchbox. And some other ideas we had were bees sting as well as possibly rats because we already knew from

[09:34] the rats could make themselves right at home. strategic choice because we checks what's inside.

[09:47] but we were concerned that might be crossing a line if the I want everything I do to be exciting, we found these micro foggers that are basically

[10:02] We also noticed motorcycle helmets were allowed onto the it would also detonate itself based on a timer. we're gonna deliver them a package,

[10:15] It's glitter bomb 4.0, which of course, finest glitter and an uncharitable amount of fart spray. - [Mark] And so now that our team, target,

[10:30] it was time to avenge Bessie Step one was getting the Trilogy Media guys all the way over stored securely in their luggage.

[10:43] - [Mark] Now safely on the ground, that we could put in the lunchbox. they found out you can't just take a few bees,

[10:55] - [Youtuber] Dude, no. there's no such thing as stingless bees. (group laughing)

[11:10] where we could at least secure some rats. who's a former magician, and Art,

[11:22] They're just an incredible duo. this is a good time to point out that the real people of It's true that nearly every scam call you get

[11:35] but everyone in India hates these scammers, too. tiny fraction of the total population and no one wants to be had hearts more like Johnny,

[11:47] who's made it his life's mission to do whatever he can to hands on 100 cockroaches. it was time to meet up with our sleep arrangements

[12:02] which went about as well as expected. - Yeah. Get 'em in.

[12:14] (group yelling) - [Youtuber] Grab, grab, grab, grab, grab! God!

[12:27] Please, please, please, please, please! - Okay, pause. - I swear, I would not let you down.

[12:42] were feeling optimistic about our chances. received its first major blow. scammers all across India belong to

[12:56] And because Johnny was still a member of this group from his "Two of us in the town of Kolkata have seen but the driver drove the car

[13:09] There was two Indians with them So apparently some scammers had recognized Art and Ashton at 'cause they've confronted a lot of scammers

[13:21] Now, thankfully just outta habit, but they still were able to pinpoint their hotel location "Might be there working with the FBI,

[13:36] So whenever you see them, you shoot them." to me that we'd have to scrap the whole operation because But when I brought this up to the guys,

[13:51] this was a cause they were passionate enough about So we decided moving forward, And that's when the second major blow came because

[14:04] center so much they just changed up everyone's assignments agents to a new floor where there was no CCTV coverage.

[14:16] Johnny thought to have another one of his reformed And because he had so much experience on his resume, which meant he could be the one

[14:29] headed in for battle, and an hour later, I'll give you a very quick crash course on what we've them for so long.

[14:43] - [Caller] I don't understand that. during the US working day hours chance the person who picks up will be retired.

[14:58] They don't have anyone even working the phones. you're over 65 years old, and if you press anything else, but they also pretend to be Microsoft, McAfee,

[15:14] Norton Antivirus, the IRS, and your bank, and on and on. build trust right out of the gate. that information unfortunately is securely held on the

[15:27] Although I suppose if you had you could just watch the boss type his password and then which is what we did and how we know

[15:42] That's $18 million a year. average of $7,000 a month. they hand it over to a closer and they make on average

[15:56] They never say the word scam or victim, That way they just seem more like a normal office. all the walls plastered with inspirational corporate words,

[16:11] like synergy, or management, or process. And the FTC has put out a list of four signs to help spot a and I'll link to it in the video description.

[16:25] we kicked things off with the stink bomb water bottle. he went to the bathroom and dropped off the hand soap and And it didn't take long for us to

[16:37] What was great though is they all kind of covered their people next to them wouldn't feel accused. Then, a few minutes later,

[16:49] who clearly doesn't wash her hands after using the restroom. we struck pay dirt as he comes out trying to you could see him still trying to work it out.

[17:04] special package in the bathroom. - [Worker 2] Viagra? - [Mark] The audio cut out here,

[17:16] the boss could possibly leave that lying around. he uses this as his profile pick on Facebook.

[17:28] countdown on the cockroach, rat, - [Jaani] Come on in, man. - [Jaani] You okay?

[17:41] - [Secret Agent] Yeah. have no idea what's about to happen, - [Worker] There's Viagra in the bathroom.

[17:55] the first boxes must have triggered 'cause And then he's quickly followed by the second dude. randomly see cockroaches start coming in frame.

[18:09] they call in the reinforcements with the mop. Or three. Five.

[18:23] right as the mop guy finishes his cleanup, the smoke begins. quite a crowd and it takes them a while. and gingerly take it off the premises.

[18:38] And this is possibly my favorite clip of the whole night where you see a cockroach lead the way and wander all around of what in the world is possibly happening.

[18:52] they're under attack, but just to remove any sense of doubt, And they almost opened it right there, so far that night, he took it downstairs.

[19:05] And then this happened. (alarm ringing) Or are you thirsty for more?

[19:19] - [Mark] Yeah, in fact, - [Worker] It smells! - [Worker] It just blasted and...

[19:39] - [Package] Five, four, three, two, one. Recovery sequence initiated.

[20:00] Yes, it smells bad! - So after our incredibly successful special operation, And we didn't have to wait long.

[20:15] a package bomb and it exploded and there was a bad smell and These guys are playing good with us.

[20:27] they must be in between us, we don't even know." know which of their employees might've been compromised. ladies purse as well.

[20:41] I assume he's referring to the soap dye here. They came to bad word all of us so we didn't think it was safe enough to launch our attacks

[20:57] But the beautiful thing is we didn't have to. are closed from today as well as Monday We had created enough confusion and mass panic that not only

[21:13] but we got all the large scam centers all across India shut that means those tiny cockroaches stopped $2 million from And I would say that's the perfect ending,

[21:28] Once Ashton and Art were safely back home on American soil, scammers by uploading this gem to the chat. - No matter how many numbers you removed from this group,

[21:45] we've also downloaded every single person's contact We have every single one of those contact information. So you guys better run and you better watch out.

[22:00] removing themselves from the chat group ground over in India, you should go check out their video. eventually opened back up,

[22:14] But they still didn't and still don't realize probably till So Jim improvised a bit, fact he was just looking at them on the camera.

[22:28] I am calling you from the Microsoft. (Priya gasping) - [Priya] Do you know my father's name?

[22:42] but is your father proud of you, what you do? - [Priya] Yes, of course. Will I tell you one more name?

[22:54] Oh my God, Saweeni! Hello? they would do outbound calls to their potential victims.

[23:09] Who are you? - So to see a lot more of that quality entertainment, we're sort of in a good news, bad news situation here.

[23:23] the 4th center here is gonna be raided by the authorities The bad news is that these other three And for reasons I can't say here,

[23:37] Now you might ask, where these three call centers are located? that's been tried before and it didn't work.

[23:50] there are a few bad apples that prevent anything from Well, as they say, sunshine is a great disinfectant. this video as entertaining as possible in the hopes that

[24:07] the more people are aware of how these scams work, So please share it, especially with your older loved ones. the more people that see this video and learn about these

[24:21] the more the press will pick it up, especially in India. This helps out the good apples because the bad ones can't or quietly tip off the scam center bosses.

[24:35] We've seen this tactic work successfully in the past and we If you are with the press or a law enforcement agency, we'll share everything we have with you.

[24:51] operation an astounding 29 years this day, even right now as we release this video. I'll either post a follow-up video here on my YouTube

[25:07] So subscribe and all that stuff are just harmless entertainment, down for good is by shining a light

[25:21] Now let's make Bessie proud. I've been using their service myself for over three years

[25:35] With Nord, you can surf the web anonymously, Because even though I'm not I generate a ton of information online every day.

[25:47] wasn't sold or used against me in some way. and makes it so others can't either. like to watch all the shows you're used to,

[26:00] They also have a new service called Threat Protection, even when you're not connected to a VPN. ready to take your privacy more seriously,

[26:15] plus one additional month free if it's not right for you for any reason, that's nordvpn.com/markrober

[26:29] Thanks for watching and sharing with literally every person (dramatic bang)