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Episode 71: Transnational organized crime expert Jason Tower explains why crackdowns on scam compounds aren’t stopping scams, just moving them from one region in Asia to another. The Myanmar military targeted 3 hubs in a border area that has 43. So there’s a lot of choices. And so Myanmar military went about demolishing KK Park. — Jason Tower, Global Initiative against Organized Crime When Congress wants to understand the criminal empires behind scams, they call Jason Tower. Jason is a source for many news outlets worldwide. He is a leading expert, specifically what’s happening in Myanmar and new activity in South Asia.  Erin West and Jason Tower meet to talk about his new report, “Criminal Convergence? Chinese-origin scam syndicates and their reach into South Asia.”  (India, Sri Lanka, Nepal). Jason traces how the industry follows a predictable pattern: When a country cracks down on organized criminal operations — as the Philippines did with offshore gaming operators or POGOs — the syndicates simply relocate to wherever regulation is weakest. >> Watch the video version and get the episode notes. Episode Sponsors   Thank you to our Stolen podcast sponsors, ‪BioCatch and Scamnetic.‬

Episode 70: Mike Bliss didn’t know much about crypto fraud when he met his first victim in August 2025. With coaching from experienced peers, he now investigates fraud cases and helps other officers. She said, ‘I just lost $15,000.’ She was distraught; she didn’t know what to do. And quite honestly, I didn’t know what to do. — Mike Bliss, Crypto Coalition Erin West talks with Mike Bliss, a patrol officer in Fairway, Kansas, who dove headfirst into crypto fraud investigation after a single case pulled him in. In August 2025, a 27-year-old victim told Bliss she'd lost $15,000 through a crypto ATM — a concept he initially dismissed as untraceable “fake money.” But the case intrigued him. He posted a message on a listserv and was lucky enough to connect with Tom Alber, known as “US Crypto Cop.” Alber drove out to Fairway in the middle of the night shift, walked Mike through tracing the funds, and introduced him to Operation Shamrock’s Crypto Coalition, a global network of law enforcement crypto investigators and analysts.   Episode notes and video: https://operationshamrock.org/podcast/stolen --  Episode Sponsors   Thank you to our Stolen podcast sponsors, ‪BioCatch and Scamnetic.‬

Episode 69: Iowa has found a way to stop elder financial fraud on the very first transaction — before the money is gone. Matt Mortvedt and Jessica McGraw of the Iowa Insurance Division join Erin West to break down their "detect, deploy, disrupt" playbook. They explain how they reach victims early, seize scam websites and the crypto wallets behind them, curb crypto ATMs, and treat every scam victim as the victim of a serious crime. It is a blueprint that any state could copy.   Get the episode notes and video.   Episode Sponsors: Thank you to our Stolen podcast sponsors, ‪BioCatch and Scamnetic.‬ Subscribe to Stolen for straight truth, survivor-centered storytelling, and bold conversations about the scamdemic and the people fighting back.

Episode 68: Susan Ralston outlines the evolution of fraud and why she considers it a human, emotional crime whose victims deserve empathy over judgement. Erin West meets with Tower Federal Credit Union VP and COO to talk about changing the fraud conversation to focus on empathy. Susan’s career started at a grocery store cash register and evolved into decades of frontline fraud-fighting experience. We need to put our banker hats down and be human. — Susan Ralston, Tower Federal Credit Union Susan traces the transformation of fraud from small-town check washing to organized, transnational scam operations that exploded after COVID-19. She explains why considers she fraud to be a fundamentally human, emotional issue. And she shares how her team trains credit-union staff to spot red flags, avoid judgment, and slow suspicious transactions before it’s too late to help the member. The victimization isn’t just money. It’s trust, it’s loved ones, it’s people’s dreams that are being taken away. — Susan Ralston, TFCU   Get the episode notes and video.     Episode Sponsors: Thank you to our Stolen podcast sponsors, ‪BioCatch and Scamnetic.‬   Subscribe to Stolen for straight truth, survivor-centered storytelling, and bold conversations about the scamdemic and the people fighting back.

Episode 67: How an assignment with the DEA led to Detective Scott Simons becoming one of the nation’s go-to crypto tracers and the investigative lead for Operation Shamrock’s Crypto Coalition. The Greenfield, Wisconsin officer's career took an unusual turn in 2015 when he opened one of the earliest cyber drug-trafficking cases in the history of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. Simons taught himself to trace cryptocurrency and navigate the dark web to investigate cases that spanned Miami, Argentina, and Albania. Scott’s self-taught expertise now anchors his role leading Operation Shamrock’s law enforcement triage team, where he has personally worked on or overseen hundreds of crypto fraud cases. Erin West and Scott trace his path from beat cop to one of the country’s most trusted resources for tracing stolen crypto. Watch the video of the episode on the Operation Shamrock website.   Episode Sponsors: Thank you to our Stolen podcast sponsors, ‪BioCatch and Scamnetic.‬   Subscribe to Stolen for straight truth, survivor-centered storytelling, and bold conversations about the scamdemic and the people fighting back.

Episode 66: Erin West invites 20-year fraud-fighting veteran Lenny Gusel of Feedzai — former Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, and Robinhood fraud leader — to talk about why banks are the last line of defense against pig butchering scams, not the first. They dig into behavioral biometrics, why financial institutions can't even share fraud data within their own organizations, and why the real fix isn't more regulation — it's getting people to actually share information. Get the episode notes and watch the video.    Subscribe to Stolen for straight truth, survivor-centered storytelling, and bold conversations about the scamdemic and the people fighting back.

Episode 65: Don was a retired engineer building his dream home when a Facebook "friend of a friend" request turned into a years-long journey into the world of investment scams. Host Erin West and Don trace how a slow-building pig butchering scam that began in late 2021 cost him $700,000 — and how he did the investigative work law enforcement couldn't, or wouldn't. Don walks through the grooming process, the moment a single click handed scammers full access to his crypto wallet, and how he chased his stolen money through Coinbase, Kraken, Binance, and Gemini. He and Erin dig into what happened next: Don obtained records identifying two Chinese nationals — then spent years trying to get the US Secret Service and police in China, Singapore, and Laos to act on the evidence he'd gathered. Erin also reflects on what Don's case — and others like it — reveal about a fraud crisis and the challenges of law enforcement as it continues to grow.   Get the episode notes and watch the video.     Subscribe to Stolen for straight truth, survivor-centered storytelling, and bold conversations about the scamdemic and the people fighting back.   Episode Sponsors: Thank you to our Stolen podcast sponsors, ‪BioCatch and Scamnetic.‬

Episode 64: When Patrick Coughlin's mother got a call telling her that her daughter had been kidnapped and would be killed unless she paid up, it wasn't real — but it was terrifyingly convincing. In this episode of Stolen, host Erin West sits down with Patrick, a former national security and cybersecurity expert, to unpack how that "grandparent scam" changed the course of his career. Patrick walks through the moment-by-moment terror of the scam call, why AI-powered voice cloning is making these attacks more personal and harder to detect, and what he learned mapping out the criminal ecosystems behind them. He and Erin dig into the structural failures enabling fraud at scale — under-resourced law enforcement, telecom systems built to connect calls (not verify them), payment rails that make stolen money nearly impossible to trace, and social media platforms with little incentive to intervene. Patrick's response wasn't just to write about it — his book, Dark Side of the Boom: How Scammers Hijack the AI Revolution, breaks down the "five families of fraud." He also co-founded Savi Security, building consumer tools like Scamwise (a free scam-checking tool) and an in-call AI assistant that gives people a second opinion during a live phone call. Chapters: 00:00 – Intro 02:33 – Patrick's background in counterterrorism and cybersecurity 03:35 – The call: A fake kidnapping scam 08:01 – Where these scams are coming from 09:03 – The "five families of fraud" by region 11:08 – Why Patrick decided to write the book 14:13 – How the money moves — payment rails and crypto 15:26 – Why telecoms can't verify calls, only connect them 17:09 – Chasing ghosts: why law enforcement struggles to investigate 19:33 – Regulation vs. relationship-building across borders 20:34 – Why law enforcement is exponentially under-resourced 22:29 – Rethinking cybersecurity products for everyday families 25:26 – The mission behind Savi Security 28:03 – Why we don't talk about this the right way 28:34 – A national security issue, not just a consumer one 33:14 – Social media's business incentives 35:15 – Inside Patrick's product: Scamwise and Savi Security 41:15 – Looking ahead: the "deepfake decade" 44:53 – Final thoughts: what real progress would look like Prefer to watch? Find the Stolen podcast on YouTube. Episode notes: https://operationshamrock.org/podcast/stolen Episode Sponsors Thank you to our Stolen podcast sponsors, Biocatch and Scamnetic. https://www.biocatch.com/ https://scamnetic.com/ Subscribe to Stolen for straight truth, survivor-centered storytelling, and bold conversations about the scamdemic and the people fighting back.

Episode 63: Erin West and researcher Paul Raffile spent six days on the ground investigating the criminal network behind sextortion. TRIGGER WARNING: This episode discusses psychological manipulation, sextortion, teen suicide, and animal cruelty. If you’re struggling, the 988 Lifeline Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is available 24x7 by call, chat, or text. What they found: • A scam that has been linked to over 60 teen suicides worldwide. • A ritual performed to "charm" a real US target • A room full of masked scammers who freely discussed their tactics • A real scammer they tracked down and confronted This episode is the debrief: the investigation, the fear, the breakthroughs, and what it actually takes to hold these criminals accountable from 6,000 miles away. IF YOU OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW IS BEING TARGETED WITH SEXTORTION 1. Don't pay 2. Screenshot everything 3. Block the account 4. Report it to NCMEC's CyberTipline and IC3.gov. Use "Take It Down" (takeitdown.ncmec.org) to help prevent images from circulating.   Episode Sponsors   Thank you to our Stolen podcast sponsors, ‪BioCatch and Scamnetic.‬ --- Subscribe to Stolen for straight truth, survivor-centered storytelling, and bold conversations about the scamdemic and the people fighting back.

Episode 62: Host Erin West sits down with Kate Griffin of the Aspen Institute's Financial Security Program to unpack how she brought together 80 organizations — from banks to tech companies to nonprofits — to build the first-ever national blueprint for fighting scams. Kate walks through how the project came together, the four key focus areas the task force identified (data sharing, law enforcement collaboration, consumer awareness, and measuring the problem), and why getting competitors and cross-sector players to agree on anything is harder than it sounds. She also shares what's next: Aspen's new Scam Prevention Initiative, aimed at turning that 70-page strategy into real, actionable change — including work already underway with Congress, where dozens of bipartisan bills have been introduced this session alone. This conversation offers a rare look behind the scenes at the slow, often invisible work of building consensus on one of the biggest financial crimes of our time. Episode notes: https://operationshamrock.org/podcast/stolen Thank you to our Stolen podcast sponsors, ‪BioCatch and Scamnetic.‬ --- Subscribe to Stolen for straight truth, survivor-centered storytelling, and bold conversations about the scamdemic and the people fighting back.

Episode 61: Erin West connects with Frank McKenna, a 30-year fraud-consulting veteran and founder of Point Predictive, who has built four separate industry data consortiums — including efforts that now touch credit card, mortgage, ATM, and auto-lending fraud. McKenna shares how simple, incremental data-sharing agreements can disrupt fraud rings that are already collaborating freely on platforms like Telegram. The conversation moves from the origins of Southeast Asian scam compounds to how generative AI is transforming everything from romance scams to "digital arrest" extortion schemes, and closes with McKenna's prediction that fraud-fighting careers are about to boom, not disappear.   Episode notes and video: https://operationshamrock.org/podcast/stolen   Episode Sponsors   Thank you to our Stolen podcast sponsors, ‪BioCatch and Scamnetic.‬   Subscribe to Stolen for straight truth, survivor-centered storytelling, and bold conversations about the scamdemic and the people fighting back.

Episode 60: Anola Johnson thought LinkedIn was the one platform safe from scammers — professional, vetted, serious. A connection request two days after a work trip to Paris changed that. Over the following months, a charming "oil rig engineer" supposedly stationed in Abu Dhabi convinced her to wire money again and again: $1.4 million to a supplier in Singapore, $180,000 more days later, and a $350,000 home equity loan she drained over multiple trips to her bank. By the time it was over, Anola had lost $850,000 — and her job. She joins former prosecutor Erin West to explain how it happened, why she refuses to fit the "little old lady" scam-victim stereotype, and how she's turned her story into testimony before the Utah legislature and her own podcast, Romance Scam Rebellion.   Episode notes and video: https://operationshamrock.org/podcast/stolen   Thank you to our Stolen podcast sponsors, ‪BioCatch and Scamnetic.‬ --- Subscribe to Stolen for straight truth, survivor-centered storytelling, and bold conversations about the scamdemic and the people fighting bac

Episode 59: Her heart stopped when Mariana van Zeller climbed into a boat to cross into Myanmar. In this episode of Stolen, Erin West sits down with the National Geographic journalist behind Trafficked to talk about the two minutes that separate Thailand from Shwe Kokko — the gleaming, casino-lit city that a Chinese crime syndicate built on forced labor and pig butchering scams. Mariana describes the dog-and-pony tour, the anti-trafficking posters hung for show, the karaoke night with a criminal gang, and the moment she realized the scammers behind the keyboards were as trapped as the victims they targeted. Mariana van Zeller and Erin West are two women who've walked the same ground investigating transnational organized crime, money laundering, and the journalism crisis that's keeping the world's largest modern enslavement operation in the dark.   Episode notes and video: https://operationshamrock.org/podcast/stolen --  Episode Sponsors   Thank you to our Stolen podcast sponsors, ‪BioCatch and Scamnetic.‬ --- Subscribe to Stolen for straight truth, survivor-centered storytelling, and bold conversations about the scamdemic and the people fighting back.

Episode 58: Despite his careful research and skepticism, scammers defrauded Syd of $50,000. Next came the challenge of dealing with law enforcement. Erin West sits down with a former securities industry professional who lost more than $50,000 to a technically sophisticated crypto investment fraud. Syd’s story isn’t one of carelessness; he had identified several earlier scam pitches before one — built over months on Facebook Messenger and dressed up in legitimate terms like “automated market making” — finally succeeded. In his conversation with Stolen, he traces his methodical research, the moment the scheme unraveled, and the maze of law-enforcement dead ends that followed. Episode notes and video: https://operationshamrock.org/podcast/stolen --  Episode Sponsors   Thank you to our Stolen podcast sponsors, ‪BioCatch and Scamnetic.‬ --- Subscribe to Stolen for straight truth, survivor-centered storytelling, and bold conversations about the scamdemic and the people fighting back.

Episode 57: A scammer can counterfeit your face, your voice, and your documents. What they can't fake is where your phone actually goes. That's the solution André Ferraz built. The founder of Incognia joins Erin to explain how physical-world behavior — precise to eight feet, accurate enough to tell one apartment from another in a high-rise — became a living identity that AI can't counterfeit. They get into the tradecraft it defeats: wiping an iPhone in 30 seconds to spin up a new identity, one fraudster opening 60,000 accounts in a single week, hundreds of devices running out of one room. André also walks through Incognia's 2026 report on mule account handovers and why the people laundering scam money will share their location, then spoof it — only to get caught operating from sanctioned countries.   Episode notes and video: https://operationshamrock.org/podcast/stolen --  Episode Sponsors  Thank you to our Stolen podcast sponsors, ‪BioCatch and Scamnetic.‬ --- Subscribe to Stolen for straight truth, survivor-centered storytelling, and bold conversations about the scamdemic and the people fighting back