Tech Support Scam Turns Romance Scam

The Perfect Scam

AARP

True Crime, Aarp, Fraud, Society & Culture, Scam, Crime, Bobsullivan

4.5 • 980 Ratings

🗓️ 8 August 2025

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

When Joe can’t get his Apple Pay payment to go through, he does a quick search for their customer service number and reaches an operator named Daisy. Daisy informs Joe that his account has been flagged – criminals have compromised his identity and are coming after his life savings. But there is nothing to worry about, Daisy works directly with the FBI, and she will help him protect his assets. Over the following months, Joe is in constant contact with Daisy as she helps him transfer his savings and precious metals investments to safe accounts. He tells her all about his wife, who recently passed away, and she shares details about her life. As their connection grows deeper, they make plans for a future together. But as soon as the money is gone, Daisy disappears, leaving Joe heartbroken.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This week on the Perfect Scan.
0:03.0	I told her that we have this pretty substantial amount of money in metals, and she said,
0:09.0	we need to protect that.
0:11.0	I said, why does it need to be protected?
0:13.0	It's in the armory.
0:14.0	I said, they got cameras all over that place.
0:16.0	They got armored guards inside.
0:18.0	She said, the hackers can steal the identity.
0:21.5	Gold and silver are marked.
0:23.1	They got like stamps on them.
0:24.9	So that's what she claimed that they could get that.
0:26.9	So she said, we need to get that out and put it in a safe locker.
0:35.0	Welcome back to the perfect scam. I'm your host, Bob Sullivan.
0:42.3	Sometimes crime is all about circumstance. This one sure is. Joe Subach was deeply grieving the loss of his beloved wife, Neri, and quite literally at her grave on one
0:55.5	of his usual midday visits.
0:58.2	When he tried to help a friend, and the internet led him right into the arms of a criminal,
1:04.0	who would take that broken heart and wring every last dollar out of it.
1:08.8	Here is Joe Subox's story. I was trying to send a friend $500. I had knee surgery,
1:16.8	and I was off for work at the time. So I was going to the cemetery like every, not every day,
1:22.4	but every couple days. And I happened to be at the cemetery that day when my Apple Pay got rejected.
1:28.7	I just typed in like Apple customer support for Apple Pay or something,
1:34.5	and it brought me up a list of things.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from AARP, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of AARP and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.