The video provides an in-depth investigation into the world of phone scamming, uncovering how it exists as a major industry in places like Jamaica and Israel. The video reveals the methods used by scammers, who primarily target lonely and unsophisticated individuals, often leading to significant losses. The video interviews various players involved in scams, including local individuals from Jamaica as well as major fraud figures in Tel Aviv, sharing their rationale behind engaging in such illegal activities.

Viewers are introduced to the scam culture in Jamaica, where tourism coexists with a burgeoning scam economy. The video discusses the socio-economic factors driving locals, particularly young people, into scamming as a means of survival. The narrative touches on the violence associated with scams, and how some individuals justify their actions as a form of reparation for historical injustices.

Key takeaways from the video:

Please remember to turn on the CC button to view the subtitles.

Key Vocabularies and Common Phrases:

1. gullible [ˈɡʌlɪb(ə)l] - (adjective) - Easily fooled or deceived. - Synonyms: (credulous, naive, trusting)

Let me say that again. Very gullible.

2. lucrative [ˈluːkrətɪv] - (adjective) - Producing a great deal of profit. - Synonyms: (profitable, remunerative, moneymaking)

Scamming now rivals the drug trade as a lucrative and violent source of revenue for Jamaican gangs.

3. paraphernalia [ˌpærəfəˈneɪljə] - (noun) - Miscellaneous articles, especially the equipment needed for a particular activity. - Synonyms: (equipment, apparatus, gear)

We are searching for lots of scamming paraphernalia.

4. rationalization [ˌræʃənələˈzeɪʃən] - (noun) - The action of attempting to explain or justify behavior with logical reasons, even if these are not appropriate. - Synonyms: (justification, explanation, excuse)

The most powerful rationalization I've heard: phone scamming as a last resort.

5. reparation [ˌrɛpəˈreɪʃən] - (noun) - The making of amends for a wrong one has done, by paying money or otherwise helping those who have been wronged. - Synonyms: (compensation, restitution, indemnity)

In other words, reparations, the idea that scamming white people is payback for a brutal history of slavery and colonialism.

6. informant [ɪnˈfɔːrmənt] - (noun) - A person who gives information to another, especially to the police. - Synonyms: (snitch, informant, whistleblower)

That means an informer giving information must die.

7. extradite [ˈɛkstrəˌdaɪt] - (verb) - To hand over a person accused or convicted of a crime to the jurisdiction of the foreign state in which the crime was committed. - Synonyms: (deport, hand over, repatriate)

Some of the bigger players have even been extradited to face justice in the United States.

8. lucrative [ˈluːkrətɪv] - (adjective) - Producing a great deal of profit. - Synonyms: (profitable, remunerative, moneymaking)

Scamming now rivals the drug trade as a lucrative and violent source of revenue for Jamaican gangs.

9. camouflage [ˈkæməˌflɑːʒ] - (noun) - Clothing or materials used to disguise or hide. - Synonyms: (disguise, cover, concealment)

Tel Aviv skyline provides the perfect white collar camouflage.

10. prolific [prəˈlɪfɪk] - (adjective) - Producing much fruit or foliage or many offspring. - Synonyms: (productive, creative, fertile)

Binary options fraud became so prolific that both the Security and Exchange Commission and the FBI were forced to issue warnings.

Scams (Full Episode) - Trafficked with Mariana Van Zeller

Let me know when you're ready and we'll bring mine. Let me tell you something. Money is the root of all evil. A lot of people do a lot of crazy. A lot of people do a lot of crazy. Why do you scam to make money? One is fast money. We call it scam. We call it the money game. Who's the best person to scam your average, middle class, unsophisticated losers? They're all Americans, 95%. One more consulted. They're stupid. Let me say that again. Very gullible. A lot of lonely people did.

Someone is lonely, has a voice in the telephone that always cares. They just want to talk. They send you crazy money. See? Don't you feel bad for these people? No, not really. Where should I be? Sorry? God will provide. God ain't providing. Jamaica, Israel, two capitals of a multi billion dollar industry.

Meet the voice on the other end of that unrecognized number that won't stop calling you. Hello, Jamaicans. We are the best at all that we do. This area is all the tourist area, right? Yes. Last year we had overdose million visitors to the island. Montego Bay is the best tourist destination you can find in the world. Are you trying to tell me on tourism? Oh, yes. You can come here as a tourist? Oh, yes. Come at any time.

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. The 99% are not the minority majority they bring. 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.

Montego Bay is built in a sort of strange way, where you have a mix of the very rich bordering communities with extreme poverty. Mark Titus is a journalist and former cop. He knows the areas of Montego Bay that don't make it into the tourist brochures. Welcome to Jamaica. Day three of the state of emergency incident.

Two weeks before I arrived, the governor here declared a state of emergency. Crime has increased a lot, frankly. Spurred by gang warfare, mostly organized crime. The area surrounding Montego Bay, the tourist paradise, now has one of the highest per capita murder rates in the world. Welcome to the somewhere with an uptick in crime in St. James.

What's causing much of this violence isn't drugs or politics. It's a new hustle. What are the gangs fighting for? They are fighting for loot from lottery scammer. 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. You have won yourself $7.5 million in a 2019 Mercedes Benz S Class. That's pretty exciting. 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.

The price is fake, of course, but the fee you've been cond into. Penn generates $300 million a year for Jamaican scammers. Guys suddenly who didn't have anything yesterday, today are rotten rich. Scamming now rivals the drug trade as a lucrative and violent source of revenue for Jamaican gangs. I wanted to understand what's really referred to here as the game. Meet the players, see how it's played.

Word of wisdom. Enjoy Jamaica, the best of Jamaica. But be careful. We grew under a culture of informa fidead. That means an informer giving information must die. 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. In a neighborhood called Steartown, I met with this man.

Local dance hall artist exclusive behind big money popping. The latest entry in a growing musical subgenre. Dance hall tracks celebrate the danger, easy money, and fast lifestyle associated with scamming culture. What is this song about? What's the general theme of this song? It was about money. What's going on? Scamming is going on. Prostitution is going on. So let's sing about it. Cause it's going on.

Can you sing it a little bit for me? And scammers them there. Meaning scammers are around. Why did you decide to write a song about scamming? I've 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, and it's the most. No, it's a song that gets you hyped.

I decide not to push it. It's enough to know that the man whose breakout hits became a scamming anthem doesn't want to talk about scamming. But that same night, I meet a man who says he knows someone who can help, which is how I wind up in a car with a man I'll just call v knows a lot about scamming, but he's skittish as hell. Okay. Make absolutely sure we don't film his face or anything that identifies him. They'll probably say that I am an informer. Informer for dead. Informers get gunshot. Kill them.

No, no, no, no. Go around the city, and this is one of the centers. 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, European companies. It all starts here in call centers. Call centers were set up on the island to take advantage of the fact that Jamaicans speak English. My name is Andrew. I'm a colleague from the grand services and receive lower wages. But a few local entrepreneurs saw another opportunity. The list. 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 are 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 list. Scammers make millions of dollars off 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. This is how I meet Tweety.

Hi. Can I come in? I'm Marianna. Tweety. Hi, Tweety. Nice to meet you. Juliana. Nice nails. I'm greeted with weed and even stronger rum. This is what I'm drinking. Fire. Tweety and her friend Julianna, not their real names, agreed to talk to me about the game.

So what would happen if they found out who you were, that you were doing this? In Jamaica, we don't play friends. Still friends. Your own family kill you, and your own family set you up. Jamaica is not a play pen. By day, Tweedie 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.

They ain't paying you nothing. They ain't giving you right going to work. It's like slavery. You have to do something else on the side. So every warrior go is scamming. So what is it that you do on the side, then? Make me call them entrepreneurship. As it turns out, the hospitality industry is great preparation for scamming.

All day long, Tweety is interacting with mostly American clients. So I basically know how to talk to you, how to get into your head. Then, after hours in her free time, Tweety opens up her lead list. Names and numbers and addresses in the United States. Americans, because you have the US the big money popping. Big money popping. Big money popping. Right.

No disrespect, but white people love free things. 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 wrap. Hello. Good morning. Your crash pie is a winner of $3.5 million or even a car or whatever, you know. And then the person will probably say, oh, really? I don't believe it. You're totally lying. Are you kidding me right now? I didn't do anything. How did I win this?

Milling? You're really good with the accent. You're probably thinking, how does anyone fall for this? But there is a definite profile of a victim that Tweedy has identified. Some people to talk to us, not even hesitate. They'll send out the money because they're just so lonely and miserable. Husband divorced, husband is dead, wife is gone, whatever the case may be, so most of them lonely.

Are they all older people? All older people. One elderly lady, I took everything that she so called had, right? And she only had one thing. That was her wedding ring that her husband died and, you know, left for her. She went and she sold her ring. To send you the money? Yeah, to send me the money. People say it's wrong, and it's not. To me, it's not wrong. You send us money once, you didn't receive anything.

You send us money twice, you still haven't received anything. Are you crazy? These people are stupid. Sorry, but they're stupid. 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. My grandpa was sick, and the surgery caused 400,000 Jamaican dollars, and he died.

All he needed was a surgery, and it couldn't happen because of money. This is way less than the money that I'm making right now. You know, grow up in church and waiting on God to provide. I'm. God ain't providing. I'm God for my family. I'm God. I provide. I put food on that table. I did all of that. And if God don't approve of me making something out of myself, then God.

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 1 minute you find yourself trying to understand a scammer and the next, you're with the people charged with hunting them down. All right, everybody here. The target is described as totally built, grown, complexion. We'll be searching and seizing all electronic devices. Laptops, cell phones, magic jacks, banking documents. Warrants.

We don't need a warrant. The target location falls within the state of emergency. We should be on high alert just in case the target chooses to shoot his way out. 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. It's a crime that preys on the most vulnerable, and the victims often lose their entire life savings.

It's no secret that these scammers go after older Americans. It was a great American dream to win some money where you could retire. Their methods can be ruthless. The results, tragic. After being asked for yet another 1500 more dollars to claim his prize, Poland put a gun to his head and killed himself. 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? Right. People start making phone calls, informing their cronies the police are on way. So we have to get there as quickly as possible. 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. They just broke into the house through this side door. Right here. Come, come, come here.

Hello, hello, hello. Hello, hello, hello. Hello. Sir, sir, relax. Yeah, man. Sit down, sit down, sit down. We're going to conduct a search of your premises. We are searching for lots of scamming paraphernalia. Credit cards, credit card burners, those type of things.

You think this is real gold? A Rolex. This is also a Rolex. You see this a lot? Yeah. For larger scammers, yes. Yes. That's a brand new car. This is evidence that this young man tried to destroy. When the police tried to edit off was it submerged underwater. You threw it in the shower. Wow.

So it actually has somebody's name. And you can see this whole conversation that they had. And it says, welcome, Miss Ella. 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. Lottery scammers believe in a lot of Obia. You could probably call it black magic.

What we see here is a lot of cans that they use to practice Obia. This one is actually called the million dollar spray. Million dollar spray, right. Means if you spray it less with million dollars, they believe so. Wow. Some of these are incredible. Look at this one. Famous double fast luck spray. This one is called bring back customers.

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, its a tense time to be a scammer in Jamaica. Which isnt making it any easier for me to meet more of them. But then I was invited to meet a local boss, a man who runs a crew of scammers. We arranged to meet at a hillside hideout only a few miles from Jamaica's rum soaked resort. It's like a bunch of guys with masks waiting for us.

Can't tell if they're armed or not, but we should probably go. Okay. All good. This is the microphone. As we approach the meeting spot, it's clear the boss isn't taking any chances. Should we keep going this way? Hi yo. I'm Mariana. What would you like me to call you? Call me Victor. Victor. Okay. Can I ask you what the g is for?

I say it's a Freemason sign, but I take it for being a gangster. So you're proud of that? Of course. Can I put a mic on you, Victor? Yeah, do it. You're a female. I have no problem with that. You wouldn't like it if it was a man doing this. Never. Couldn't even touch me for a second. Okay.

Thank you. You ready, Mariana? I'm ready, Victor. Okay, let's go. So these guys, we're surrounded by one, two, three. At least three that I can see. Three guys. They're my bodyguards. Like that. They're holding me down. What guns are used to protect a case?

AR 15, Tommy guns, automatic clocks. My gun is a Glock 40. It's my baby. So what do you do, Victor? You know what I do. I'm in the game. You call it scam, we call it the money game. How long have you been in the money game for? More than twelve years. We just left high school. We didn't have no jobs at the time, and we were getting in so much trouble, we decided to wanna try out something new. Do you remember the first time you did it?

Oh, sure. On the phones. I met a guy, I think his name was Mike. First time he sent me like $500. I couldn't believe it. First day of my life in this game. The amount of money I see. Since those early days, Victor has risen to become what he describes as a mid level boss. How has the state of emergency affected you guys? Oh, my team of the scatter man.

Otherwise, you come and see about ten guys right here, right now. Really? I have more than 200 people under my organization. 200 people working for you? Probably more. No way. Of course, behind all the swagger is a young man who says he grew up on the rough side of Montego Bay with very few options. The most reason why we do this is just for survival. We have such a huge history of being broke and stuff like that. Things taken from us. So you know what I mean?

Sometimes we just look at it as taking some back. 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 them all. Love that song. I used to play it every morning just for, like, giving me energy to go through the day. Have you ever had to hurt anyone because of scamming?

I never really have to take anyone's life through scamming, but I really roughed up and hurt people and stuff like that. I'm just finding a way to make some money. Otherwise I'll be going out there trying to rob somebody. I wasn't even thinking about doing it today, but I'm thinking you're a very nice person. You were thinking of taking our cameras and Robin everything? Of course. You were thinking of taking our cameras at Robin everything?

Of course. Okay. Yeah. Well, at least I wouldn't hurt you. But I would take your. And make some extra money off it. I don't know how to feel about this. It's okay, Mariana. You're a very cool kid. I like you. Thank you.

Victor. Do you think there's more money being made through by scamming than in the drug business here? Of course. Scammers make more money than job. Dealers are like, small times to us. When they see us at the party, they gotta go in the corner. They're jealous of us. We ball harder than these guys. All the girls flex to us, not them. We have the hardest girls, man.

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? Me personally, I'm a fan of Donald Trump. You're a fan of Donald Trump? I think he's an honest president, whereas most US presidents still are. Think he's showing the true nature of America. 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.

There's no shame in it. It's wrong, but there's no shame in it. What fascinates me most are the day to day details of their work. Every day. Every day you call 284 people every day. 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? Sometimes I get, like, two or one.

If I'm lucky, I got three. So volume is key. Okay, so it's an excel sheet, and the excel sheet is called client. So there's Anansi, Clarissa, Rhonda, Paula, Alice, Chad. Just saying the first names. First. Just first names. This is crazy. So, wait, we're at 4500, and I'm still scrolling. Much like sales, it helps to know how to close the deal, too. This Mandez who says he's made millions scamming, has a special trick.

After telling his marks that they've won a Mercedes, keeping them a key for the car. You actually send a key? Why not, like, a fake Mercedes? A fake Mercedes? Yeah. The best scammers are relentless, but they're also intuitive, quickly assessing what the voice on the other line really wants. Most of the times, people just want to talk, complaining shit. Louie's sometimes they just want someone to pretend to be their husband. Them just complain about something.

Figure compensation. Something free. Money. Everybody wants money. Everybody. Everybody wants to drive a flashy car. Buns the bugs. They like to have more. People always need more. 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. 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. 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. Hi. Hello. Thank you so much for meeting us. I'm Mariana Moshiko, Morshiko, do you have a phone? I do. I'd like to have it. Okay. I don't want to be tracked. So you're going to turn it off? Just give it to me. I'll take care of it.

Okay. I've interviewed hundreds of people through the years. Moshik was the first to ever take away my phone. I asked him to give me the scammer store of Tel Aviv. We're in the Ramadan, an area known as the diamond district. Buildings like this and all these skyscrapers, you see, they have hundreds and hundreds of people that go to work each day selling fake investments to people around the world. In a lot of these buildings that look completely legitimate, there's actually all this fraud.

Many of the companies there are just fake scams with a name that makes them look real. No one knows what's going on behind closed doors. Is it an open secret? You seem to know. Do people in Tel Aviv, in Israel, know? No. They don't want to attract attention. They don't want reporters calling them. It's a massive, massive fraud. They want to be under the radar.

How many of these companies fraudulent scamming companies do you think they are? Israel. Yeah. Five to 10,000. No way. 100%. Holy. 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 Wineglass, an investigative journalist who was tipped off by a source working at a scam investment company.

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, 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. 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. Josh, you work for a company getting clients and lying to clients and scamming clients. Yes. 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 somebody's searching a certain thing through Google, like somebody is just looking about finance? We know that this person is interested in finance.

Catch them. 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. We actually don't disappear. We work with them for a while. We really show them the growth so that they can put more and more, more and more. At any point, is that money actually invested in anything or is that money? No.

Technology, Global, Leadership, Scamming Culture, Fraud Investigation, Tourism Impact, National Geographic