The Greatest Scam Ever Written | 3. One Man's Trash

The Binge Cases: Baby Broker

Sony Music

True Crime, Society & Culture, Documentary

4.1 • 3.3K Ratings

🗓️ 15 August 2024

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The Maria Duval letter scam began in Europe—so how did it make its way to America? U.S. Postal Inspector Clayton Gerber begins to unravel the threads of the scam when he discovers an address on Long Island, where victims are sending their replies to Duval. They also send intimate items like locks of their hair, hoping for the psychic’s help. Clayton’s team goes dumpster diving on Long Island and finds bags of return letters – proof Duval herself wasn’t getting the replies. Why were their replies ending up here, of all places? And who’s responsible? Unlock all episodes of The Greatest Scam Ever Written, ad-free, right now by subscribing to The Binge. Plus, get binge access to brand new stories dropping on the first of every month thats all episodes, all at once, all ad-free. Just click Subscribe on the top of the Smoke Screen show page on Apple Podcasts or visit GetTheBinge.com to get access wherever you get your podcasts. An ITN Productions & Sony Music Entertainment production. Find out more about The Binge and other podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to Smokescreen, the greatest scam ever written.
0:04.0	Before you dive in, if you want to listen to the whole story uninterrupted, you can.
0:09.0	Unlock the entire season, ad free, right now with a subscription to the binge.
0:14.8	That's all episodes, all at once.
0:17.4	Unlock you're listening now by clicking
0:19.2	subscribe at the top of the smoke screen show
0:22.1	page on Apple Podcast or visit get the
0:25.1	Binge.com to get access wherever you get your podcasts.
0:30.0	The Binge. The bench. J And I was really not happy about this. Clayton Gerber, an inspector with the US Postal Inspection Service,
0:46.5	creeps along a dark alley on Long Island
0:49.2	with his team of agents.
0:51.6	Picking through dumpsters is not his favorite way to spend an evening, but you have to
0:56.6	fall over the case leads.
0:58.6	A standard investigative technique is to go pull the trash if it's publicly available.
1:06.3	The Maria Duval letters are still landing across Canada.
1:11.1	But Chrissy Robinson, whose mother sent money to Maria, and amateur scam
1:15.8	buster Dr. Terry Polavoy, are having no luck getting the authorities in
1:20.1	their country to act. But by 2014, over in the US, Clayton and his team
1:26.2	have launched an investigation and are working around the clock trying to
1:30.2	figure out who's behind the letters.
1:32.6	He's got a good idea of how the scam works logistically
1:38.3	and plenty of evidence to back it up.
	...

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