Narrator/Denise Chan
Appearances
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of Scam Factory early and ad free. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Just a note, this episode contains detailed descriptions of self-harm and references to suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, we have included resources at the end of the episode and in our show notes.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
But it was a promise Charlie had no idea how to keep. And while Yuki believed Charlie would make good on what she said, another recruit would call total bullshit. On Scam Factory, we expose the masterminds, victims, and unlikely players caught in webs of deception. But what happens when someone turns a scam into their own survival strategy? Priscilla Barbosa came to the U.S.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
from Brazil, lured by an internet friend with the promise of making a living as a rideshare driver. But when she arrived, she was completely alone, with just $117 in her pocket. Desperate to make ends meet, she started renting someone else's Uber account under the table. That was just the beginning.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
Within a year, Barbosa had built an underground empire, creating thousands of fake accounts for Uber, Lyft, Instacart, and DoorDash. She became a legend in the gig economy underworld, a modern-day Brazilian Robin Hood, scamming the system to stay afloat. But how did she do it? And how did it all come crashing down?
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
The days were starting to blur together. Clock in, dick pics, clock out. And once again, it was time to clock out. Jela and her co-workers stood up from their desks, collected their personal phones, and slowly filed out of their office. As the group walked up the stairs back to their dorms, they made small talk.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
It was the best part of Jela's day. dreaming about getting out of here.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
She was the catfishing model who would sext horny strangers and get them hot and bothered enough to take it to video chat.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
Jella was exhausted. For the last week, she'd been clocking 14 hours of nonstop dick pics from strangers. She had 10 hours to rest and collect herself before it started all over again. She felt hopeless and deeply depressed. She stepped into the cramped room she shared with seven other roommates and headed to her sad little bunk bed.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
She'd hung up a small towel as a makeshift curtain of sorts to try to give herself a little bit of privacy and dignity. Jella looked down at her phone and a flash of anger came over her. It was Charlie. What the hell did she want?
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
She couldn't believe what she was reading. Don't forget to tell me what concerns you have. This was rich. Jella was sitting in Myanmar, her passport confiscated, unable to leave, being forced to sextort strangers around the world. And Charlie, the woman who sent her here, the woman who had talked her across that bridge, wanted to know if she had any concerns?
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
Charlie had sworn up and down that Jella wasn't going to Myanmar, that this job was legit, that this place was safe. How bold of this woman to act like she cared about Jella's concerns after lying to her face. What game was she playing here? I feel so angry. I did not respond. Jella left her on read. She did not, and would not, trust Charlie again. I was lied to.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
This woman had ruined her life knowingly. But Jella was not going to let Charlie and her recruiters win. She would find a way to get herself out. A week later, Jella finally had a day off. She pulled the little makeshift curtain on her bunk bed closed. This was the closest to alone time she was going to get. Then she pulled out her phone and texted her big sister.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
Good Lord. Not only did she hate doing this, She was also kind of bad at it.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
They had all been supportive of her when she told them about this job. She had been so happy. A job in Thailand? It was in my bucket list. After quitting her last job, Jella had started a travel vlog, posting about little day trips and hikes she did around the Philippines. She'd been surprised to see the view counts on her videos climb.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
so she thought it would be great to work abroad so she could both earn some money and explore new places for her vlog. She had a whole list of things she wanted to do in Thailand.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
A Bangkok restaurant where buff men wearing skimpy dresses body rolled off customers while they ate. And then pataya and then where there is an elephant. But there would be no elephants or macho dancing waiters. She was stuck in a claustrophobic room with seven other drained roommates, barely even allowed to leave her building.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
In the short updates she sent her family, she'd been trying to keep up the act that everything was going according to plan. Things were just really busy with her new customer service role. I just want them to think that I'm in good conditions. But as she lay in her bunk bed talking with her oldest sister, she was finding it increasingly hard to lie. Her sister was 15 years older.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
They were very close. At home, she'd always told her sister everything. And then, Jella's sister brought up their father. And then she said, At the mention of her father, tears welled up in Jella's eyes. She hadn't wanted to tell him the truth because he had high blood pressure. She was worried how he would react. But she really missed him.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
Jella could feel the lump rising in her throat. Would she even get out of this place to see her family again? She put her phone down and took a deep breath. She couldn't hold it together any longer.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
She didn't have any practice with the dirty talk or any prep in general for all the eggplants coming her way. But none of that mattered to her bosses because she had a quota to meet. She had better turn some guys on. You need to have at least two clients a day to have a video call. Two clients a day who would agree to video chat.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
Jella texted her sister about everything. She spared her the graphic details of all the dick pics, but told her about the scamming she was expected to do. how stressed she was about meeting a quota every day, how she hated lying and tricking people, and how no one could leave without paying a huge ransom of $4,000. She said that, you will live there. We will find a way.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
Jella hadn't wanted it to come down to this. If anything, she'd hoped to send money home from this new job.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
She told her sister she'd let her know the next step. And then, she went straight to her bosses and asked to leave immediately.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
They told her no. $4,000 or not, she would not be allowed to leave. They needed her.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
A feeling of dread came over Jella. If the ransom money wasn't going to get her out, what the hell could? Would she just be trapped here forever? 1,500 miles away, The woman who'd so easily lied to Sanjala to this fate was starting to face her own karma. Charlie checked her phone. It was a message from a recruit that was traveling to the compound.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
Charlie was on call to make sure everything went smoothly. And things were not going smoothly today. One immigration officer stopped her. She said that, can you just go back? I just need to ask you some questions. The recruit had just been stopped at immigration. Charlie immediately messaged the recruit, asking about what happened.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
But before the recruit could respond, notifications on Charlie's phone started snowballing. You have been removed from Thailand War 3.0. You have been removed from Thailand War 3.0. Charlie was getting kicked out of group chats. What the hell was going on? Charlie quickly texted a co-worker to ask. The woman was being detained and questioned at the airport.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
Turns out, immigration officers had been closely watching travel itineraries that came from a certain travel agency. One that seemed to always be sending people on vacations to Bangkok that no one ever came back from. And this recruit had a travel itinerary from that exact agency. Charlie's agency. Word was rapidly spreading around the company. Charlie had been compromised.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
Then she would pass them off to her team leader and they would record them masturbating on camera, unknowingly. The footage would then be used to blackmail them.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
Everyone needed to distance themselves from Charlie and her agency. This is why she was getting dropped from all the group chats.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
No one wanted a digital trail associated with Charlie's agency that could lead back to them.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
And on top of that, no one wanted to send anyone through Charlie anymore, which to Charlie seemed like it might just be a blessing in disguise.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
It felt like a massive weight had been lifted. No more bullshitting to a long list of Yuki's and Jella's. No more recruits turned recruiters breathing down her neck. No more earnest promises she didn't know how to keep. But that relief soon turned to panic because her brothers were not doing well. Being inside the scam factory was taking its toll on both Max and Josh.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
Josh, her tough, tatted up brother, who had volunteered to protect Max inside, was wracked with guilt over scamming people. Max was losing it too.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
There was so much pressure. Anytime Charlie had asked for anything for her brothers, like say the extra salary Dev had promised to pay out of his own pocket, Dev just made up an excuse.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
Dev had also quietly walked back the special treatment he offered Charlie when she first confronted him. Max found out that promise of getting out of his contract after six months was just another lie. He asked his team leader and then his team leader, no, that's not going to happen.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
In other words, Jella's job was extortion. She was working 13 14-hour days. She hadn't had a single day off since she'd arrived. She hadn't told her family where she really was or what she was being made to do. She was too ashamed. Oh my God, what is this kind of job? Besides, there wasn't anything they could do to help her. She was stuck here. And she knew exactly who she blamed for it.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
Charlie had been running around telling her brothers and herself that she had everything under control, that she'd get them out. But the truth was, her whole house of cards had already started to collapse. because that immigration flag, that was serious. Her travel agency was suspected of human trafficking. It was an offense that came with jail time. She needed to act fast.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
Now she had to try to save herself and her brothers. She had one option left, a man in Bangkok who had the keys to an escape. someone who might actually be able to save her brothers. But choosing this route had one major downside. Charlie would have to come clean about everything she had done.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
That's on the next episode of Scam Factory. Follow Scam Factory on the Wondery app, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge all episodes early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at wondery.com.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
If you have a tip about a story you think we should investigate, please write to us at wondery.com. If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline can be reached at 988. And the National Alliance on Mental Illness is available at 1-800-950-6264.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
From Wondery, this is episode three of six of Scam Factory, a story about a brother, his sister, and the big business of lies. Scam Factory is written, reported, and hosted by me, Denise Chan. Our story editor is Lou Okowski. Senior producer is Claire Chambers. Associate producer is Evangeline Baras. Reporting by Weijitra Duangdi. Additional reporting by John Vic Mateo.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
Additional production assistance from Emily Locke, Malachi Wade, and Mariah Dennis. Audio assistance by Daniel William Gonzalez. Sound design and mixing by Marcelino Villapando. Original score by Tangelene Bolton. Music supervisor is Scott Velasquez for Friesan Sync. Senior managing producer is Lata Pandya. Managing producer is Heather Beloga. Senior Development Editor is Rachel B. Doyle.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
Fact-checking by Jacqueline Colletti. Executive Producers are Julia Lowry Henderson, George Lavender, Marshall Louie, and Jen Sargent for Wondery. On Scam Factory, we uncover stories where people are deceived, manipulated, and sometimes left with life-altering scars. But what happens after the harm is done? Is justice enough? Or is there another path to healing?
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
In a special limited-run series, This Is Actually Happening presents a world beyond revenge. These are five real stories of people forever changed by acts of violence, injustice, and loss. Some who were harmed, and others who caused harm. Through the process of restorative justice, they meet face-to-face with the person on the other side of their trauma. The result?
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
A journey towards answers, accountability, and in some cases, even forgiveness. From victims of violent crimes to those wrongfully accused, each story reveals the power of confronting the past in ways no one ever expected. Listen to This Is Actually Happening, A World Beyond Revenge, now on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
From Wondery, I'm Denise Chan, and this is Scam Factory. This is episode three, The Butcher's Block. Busy shoppers pass by the windows of a Starbucks nestled inside a mall. Charlie watched them go in and out of the guest store across the way. But Charlie hadn't driven several hours just for some people watching in an iced caramel macchiato. She was here at Dev's request.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
Dev had two recruits who had been stopped at immigration twice already. He said that, can you help them to get out? Dev needed to get these recruits through immigration. And Charlie needed to stay in Dev's good graces. In the three months Charlie had been working for him, Dev had only kept upping the ante on the assignments he gave her. Now, Charlie had her own travel agency.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
Dev had asked her to open it so he could save some money. He didn't want to use a third-party travel agency and pay their markups anymore. And she was making, well, mall calls. He asked me to meet them in person. Which is how she found herself sitting in front of a woman named Yuki and her friend. Yuki was in her early 30s and had two young children.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
A group of women were hunched over their phones in the office, giggling. The glare of the fluorescent lights buzzed while bad music blared in the background. In the weeks since Jella had arrived, having been coaxed across that bridge by Charlie and her recruiters, this had become her new norm.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
She and her friend had been looking for work abroad, where pay would be better than what they could find at home.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
Yuki couldn't pack her bags fast enough. But the first time they tried to leave the country for this job, they were stopped by immigration. They tried again, but they were stopped that time too. That's when Dev introduced Yuki to his star employee. Dev gave me Charlie's information.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
Charlie, an angel sent by Dev to help them get out of the Philippines and over to Thailand.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
The way she talks, the way she texts. Yuki was thrilled to have this person helping them. She didn't hold anything back about her recruitment.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
And Charlie doubled down on doing her job. She did some Googling and found a potential fix. If Yuki had a family member with good travel history, they could be a sponsor. Yuki's uncle agreed to help. And a couple days later, Charlie's solution worked. Yuki and her friend got through immigration.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
Ate, because to Yuki, Charlie seemed like a big sister who was looking out for her.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
But still... Charlie didn't say anything to Yuki about where she was really headed. Not when Yuki texted her about the scary journey to a strange hotel or the terrifying boat ride across the river. It wasn't until Yuki reached out in a panic after she arrived and found out what her real job was that Charlie acknowledged it at all.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
where she spent most hours of the day sitting in front of her computer, listening to her co-workers cackle.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
She stayed in touch with Yuki, checked in on her, gave her assurances that she was safe, that she'd be okay. And she offered Yuki one other thing. Two of the first people she sent to that place. her brothers.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
Charlie revealed to Yuki that her two brothers were working at the same company. By now, Yuki could probably put two and two together. Charlie had known all along that she was going to a scam factory. But Charlie's own brothers were there and seemingly okay. And if they were going to look out for her, it felt a little less scary.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
And not only did she meet Josh, she learned they were on the same team. They'd be in the same office, working the same scam.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
Charlie's brother took Yuki under his wing. He became a mentor and a friend, a protector of sorts in this strange new world. But neither Charlie nor Josh could protect Yuki from what was coming. On Yuki's third day at work, she was sitting in front of her computer. Tears streamed down her cheeks. Oh, my God. I still remember that first customer that I scammed.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
She'd been training the last couple of days. Now it was time for Yuki to start scamming. Like Max and Jane, she offered jobs reviewing hotels. Her first customer was a university student in the UK.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
The university student had picked up the job to make some extra cash. Yuki followed the script and guided her through the process. Of course, the university student made money right away. But shortly after, a negative balance appeared, which could only be cleared if the student paid it off. Yuki regurgitated what was in the script.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
But every time she paid it off, she'd be prompted to pay again. Yuki would promise over and over that it would be the last time. She even offered to lend the student money to cover some of the balance. Each time, Yuki hoped that the student would just stop adding money. But the student believed Yuki. She kept finding the money.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
And eventually, the student started using her tuition money, believing that it was just temporary, that she'd make it all back very soon, because that's what Yuki told her.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
The amount she needed to deposit had gone up again. The student was at a loss. There was no more money.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
Yuki raced outside the office to the smoking area to try and catch her breath. After a few minutes, Yuki's team leader came outside looking for her.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
The team leader didn't seem to be tormented by any of these questions. He was more concerned by the amount of money on the line. That $12,000? He would likely get a cut of somewhere around 10% of that. He ordered Yuki back inside. When she sat down at her desk, Yuki saw that he had already responded to the student.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
Jella couldn't even bring herself to say the word penis out loud. But she didn't really have a choice, because looking at customers' dicks was her job now. Obviously, not the customer service representative role she had applied for.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
Yuki's heart broke when she saw the university student's response.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
But Yuki couldn't just go home. She would wake up the next day and do this again and again and again with no end in sight. She was here now and she didn't really know who to turn to except for Charlie.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
She had trusted Charlie that it would be safe to come here. And the thing was, in spite of it all, she still kind of did trust Charlie. That she would help her.
Scam Factory
The Butcher’s Block | 3
It was an earnest promise from someone who had fully enmeshed herself in the world of scammers. Someone who had gotten very good at the playbook. Pitch, handle objections, make promises earnestly. It was the same earnest promise Charlie had made to her brothers. To herself.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of Scam Factory early and ad-free. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. A new side hustle has just landed in your lap. Like literally landed in your lap. All you had to do was respond to a random Facebook post and boom.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
They were all too busy working to talk. It was awkward, like how first days at work usually are. Max sat down at his new desk and was given some training materials. He was told to read the script. There would be a test. Max did what he was told, watching his coworkers' screens so he could follow what they were doing. But he was starting to get confused.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
The training material had nothing to do with online gambling. He looked around. No one had a slot machine or blackjack or anything that looked like gambling on their screens. And the script on his screen was all about recruiting people for a new part-time gig. They were offering people jobs to review hotels. Finally, one of his co-workers looked up from their screen.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
Max told her that his sister had toured this company before. He was supposed to be working for an online gambling company. He asked his co-worker, where's the gambling? How could this be? He then asked his co-worker, what exactly were they doing then?
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
Max went up to his team leader. He told him this couldn't be right. This wasn't what he had signed up for. His team leader told him this was his job now and he should be careful because if he tried to escape this place and someone caught him... It's a shoot-to-kill order. It's a shoot-to-kill order.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
I'm Denise Chan, host of Scam Factory, and I have a brand new vintage of podcast for you, fresh off the grapevine. Blood Vines is a full-bodied podcast that uncorks the never-before-told story of the Lachardy family, one of the most powerful wine dynasties in California's history.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
Jack Lachardy was a patriarch of one of the country's biggest grape suppliers for America's most popular wine, White Zinfandel. But things turned sour when the government began to investigate the business for multimillion-dollar wine grape fraud. The case spilled over into a bloody battle for succession for the family business that almost brought down the entire industry and ended in murder.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
If you loved Succession, then Blood Vines is the series for you. Grab a glass of your favorite wine and dive into a story that has notes of fraud and betrayal capped off with a big finish, murder. Listen to Blood Vines exclusively on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
There's just a man on the other side of the world using stolen Instagram photos to make you believe Luna's real. A man armed with a fake profile and a script with exactly what to say to earn your trust, to butter you up so that you'll eventually give him your own money. You're being fattened like a pig before the slaughter.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
Charlie was working away in her office, which was really a room on the first floor of her family's home in the Philippines. The room had Wi-Fi and clean white walls, perfect for Charlie to snap photos of thrifted clothes and post them to her online shop. It was the middle of the night, which was normal for her.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
As she hung the wrinkled shirts on hangers and tried to smooth them out, her phone buzzed. It was Max. He messaged me that this is wrong. Max told her about the scamming.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
Don't complain, because Max was not in a safe place. Whatever they asked him to do, just do it for now. She would figure it out. But Charlie would soon find out it was even worse than she thought. Max wasn't in Thailand. He was actually in Myanmar. That little river with the little boat was a border. The men with sarongs and rifles, they were Burmese, not Thai. Fuck. Fuck.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
There's no law in that place. Myanmar was in the middle of a violent civil war. Some areas were controlled by the military. Other areas were controlled by different rebel groups. And some areas were completely lawless. No government, no law enforcement, no one to help you.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
Max stood outside the office and took another drag of his cigarette. They were only allowed a few minutes a day to get outside for some fresh air, so he savored it, even if it was hot and sticky. As he stared off into space, grateful for a break, he saw someone approaching him with a giant smile spread across her face.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
Her eyes twinkled from beneath a pair of clear-framed glasses, and her short blonde hair bounced around her face. She introduced herself as Jane and asked to bum a cigarette.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
At last, a Marlboro Blue. She grabbed a smoke and explained that she arrived at the compound a few days earlier. Like Max, she was from the Philippines, and she was promised the moon.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
But while your new job is going to cost you hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars, this man's job might just cost him his life. From Wondery, I'm Denise Chan, and this is Scam Factory. One of my first jobs right out of college was doing sales. And man, it was stressful. I had to cold call hundreds of strangers a week to pitch them something they'd never heard of before.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
Jane was told she'd be working for Amazon. Of course, Jane soon learned her recruiters did not work for Amazon. And nor did she. She'd be scamming.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
After that day, the two spent a lot of time together, since they worked for the same company. Their shift would start in the evening, which would be morning time for their customers over in the UK. They would wake up at 3 p.m., have breakfast, then head upstairs to their office. First stop, their boss's desk, where they dropped off their phones.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
Max learned very quickly that whatever he sent to Charlie, he had to delete immediately. They were constantly being monitored.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
Under the watchful eye of security cameras, the two of them sat down at their desks and pulled up their scripts. A word doc with line after line of text messages and screenshots of sample conversations. The work was pretty self-explanatory. Pick up one of their many work iPhones, start chatting, and don't go off script. It would always start off the same.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
Jane reached out with her opening line to some random person in the UK.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
If I were, say, one of Jane's targets in the UK, I'd get a message out of the blue, not from Jane, but from one of her characters.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
Shaina would introduce herself as the HR manager for a hotel company on the search for part-time remote workers. I would then naturally ask her how she got my contact information.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
Oh, a recruiting agency recommended me? Honestly, I'm flattered. Tell me more. What's the job? What's the pay?
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
a couple hundred dollars for a few hours of work? That sounds sweet. Shayna would explain that all I'd have to do was rate and review hotels and earn commission for each review. Easy. I'd go through a quick one-hour training. Then Shayna would show me how to set up an account for my earnings, a crypto account that would link directly to my personal bank account.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
Then she would start assigning me hotels to review. But after working through a dozen or so reviews, racking up commissions, my earnings would suddenly drop. I would freak out because what the fuck happened to all my commissions? Why do I now see a negative number in my account?
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
A bonus? And Shaina would tell me, oh no, don't worry. This is a good thing. You can make even more money by booking hotels too.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
The hotel is willing to pay a big commission if I complete the booking because it makes the online reviews more legitimate.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
Shayna tells me to just pay the negative amount displayed on the screen with my own money.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
At this point, I have doubts. I've never heard of something like this. So I'd ask Shaina, are you sure I need to put my own money in? Are you sure I'll get my money back?
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
Wait, wait, wait, wait. If I don't do it, what would happen to all the money I'd already earned? I've already raided a dozen hotels.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
She's like, pay for the hotel booking, don't pay for the hotel booking. It's up to you. But hey, you'd be leaving money on the table if you quit now. Ugh, I'm conflicted. I don't want to lose the money I made raiding these hotels. That's my money. I did the work. I asked Shaina again, are you sure I'm going to make the money back?
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
With Shaina's full assurance, I decide to go for it. I complete the booking. And just like Shaina said, I get that extra 10% commission. And I can transfer that money to my bank account, like, right away. And, of course, the customer will be happy. And you're going to be happy also. You're going to congratulate the customer.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
Shaina pulled through. The next day, I'd start work again, leaving those reviews while sitting on the couch. But after a few more reviews, that negative number would appear again. I'd be told I have to pay for another booking. Only this time, it was even more expensive. I'd ask Shana, wait, if I deposit this higher amount for this new booking, would that mean I'd get a higher commission?
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
By this point, I trust Shana. If she says do it, I do it. And eventually, I'd see the negative number again. But now, it's so high, I can't pay it with my own money. I tell Shaina, I don't know what to do. I don't have enough money to unlock my earnings.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
Wow. Shana was offering to help me pay the deposit out of her own pocket, just so I could unlock my earnings.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
But that would never happen. Eventually, when any of Jane's customers tried to get their money out, they couldn't.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
The killing day. See, Jane was trained to build trust with her customers, to encourage them to add more and more money. It was all by design. Like pigs before the slaughter, she would fatten them up until the customer had no more money to give, until it was time for the kill. Of course, I'm not proud. I feel embarrassed to myself.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
Especially when Jane had customers who really trusted her, sometimes for months.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
A physical punishment. Like a beating. So Jane just tried her best. Seven days a week with maybe one day of rest a month.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
Max, on the other hand, scraped by, hitting just the minimum to avoid punishment. His biggest scam was about $12,000. But even as they slowly got used to it, the guilt weighed on them. Max would spend his time between shifts trying to get his mind off the job. Drink a beer or two, call his girlfriend, try to erase his day. He didn't want to do any of this.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
But to survive, he had to do what they told him. And all he could do was hope that Charlie would find a way to get him out soon.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
But Charlie was already 10 steps ahead of him. From the moment she'd heard Max was in trouble, she knew she was responsible.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
And there was the added pressure of closing the sale because part of my pay was from commission. No quota, no pay. I had to learn quick. Luckily, the formula to selling is actually quite simple. You start by casting a wide net. It's a numbers game. The goal is just to tell as many people as possible about your offer and see who bites.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
Charlie had created this mess, and she knew she had to find a way to clean it up.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
Factories were created for peak optimization, to scale the output of our labor to its maximum and beyond. We've gone from working alone, to working in small groups, to mega factories of workers laboring day and night to build or package or assemble an incredible volume of product. Amounts that just a generation or two ago would have been unthinkable.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
And in a similar way, scamming has also transformed, from a single scam artist targeting small groups to something much bigger in scale. Now there are scam factories whose output is astronomical, whose revenue rivals some of the biggest companies on the planet. And these factories are built on the backs of regular people.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
Regular people who have been armed with a script, a formula that teaches them to persuade others into terrible situations. Regular people who get pretty good at scamming because the formula works. Because human beings are, by and large, wired to give trust and to earn trust. And once they have someone's trust, they can do almost anything.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
And they will in order to survive until they can find a way out of this hell. This season on Scam Factory...
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
Follow Scam Factory on the Wondery app, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge all episodes early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at wondery.com. If you have a tip about a story you think we should investigate, please write to us at wondery.com.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
From Wondery, this is episode one of six of Scam Factory, a story about a brother, his sister, and the big business of lies. Scam Factory is written, reported, and hosted by me, Denise Chan. Our story editor is Lou Okowski. Senior producer is Claire Chambers. Associate producer is Evangeline Baras. Reporting by Wijitra Duangdi. Additional reporting by John Vic Mateo.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
Additional production assistance from Emily Locke, Malachi Wade, and Mariah Dennis. Audio assistance by Daniel William Gonzalez. Sound design and mixing by Jamie Cooper. Sound supervisor is Marcelino Villapando. Original score by Tangelene Bolton. Music supervisor is Scott Velasquez for Friesan Sync. Senior Managing Producer is Lata Pandya. Managing Producer is Heather Beloga.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
After you get the right person on the phone and deliver your memorized pitch, you hit the next stage, objection handling. You'll get some variation of the question. Is this product too good to be true? What's the catch? Is it worth the money? Now here is where the very good salespeople rise above the others.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
Senior Development Editor is Rachel B. Doyle. Fact-checking by Jacqueline Colletti. Executive Producers are Julia Lowry-Henderson, George Lavender, Marshall Louie, and Jen Sargent for Wondery.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
How you address those concerns will determine whether the person on the other line will choose to trust you. If they trust you, you've already closed the sale. And that's the formula. You pitch, you handle objections, and you make promises earnestly. which is an unlike the formula to scamming. A scam artist does all those same things.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
But the difference, and it's a big one, is that those earnest promises are false. But it makes you think, if you can turn a regular person like me into a salesperson with a little bit of training and a script, couldn't you just as easily turn them into a scam artist? Most people don't want a scam, but what if they didn't have a choice? This is episode one, Shoot to Kill.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
It was a beautiful, warm Sunday, and the atmosphere was atmospheric. It was only November, but the Christmas spirit was in full force at a mall in metropolitan Manila in the Philippines. Cheerful shoppers took pictures in front of a gigantic orange Christmas tree sculpture. A woman in her late 30s with buzzed hair and sunglasses walked past the tree.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
She looked sharp. She was dressed in a men's white T-shirt tucked into gray slacks. And she was here to learn more about a job.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
Luna gets you set up in the company's WhatsApp group called Deal Smashers with a dollar sign eyes emoji and its tongue sticking out. The gig is super easy. Review a few hotels and make a couple hundred bucks.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
It's not a real name. Like almost everyone in this story, their names have been changed for reasons that will become obvious. Anyway, Charlie and her girlfriend were here with Charlie's youngest brother, Max, because he was very interested in a new job opportunity abroad.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
Max was in his late 20s now, with young kids of his own. But to Charlie, he was still her kid brother.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
Charlie knew that Max was worried about money. He was making about $250 a month giving rides to people in their family van. But after the pandemic, business had fallen off. And nowadays, the rising price of gas meant when Max did get a booking, sometimes he wouldn't even make a profit off it. So Charlie understood why Max was interested in this job in Thailand.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
He'd said it was some sort of online casino gig. And more importantly, it paid about $1,000 per month. He just wanted to have a good future for his kids. Charlie had never heard of this company. But she knew working outside of the country could be sketchy.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
And then slippers. The guy with the fanny pack and slippers sat down.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
Dev got down to business. He reiterated the basics of the job. Thailand, online casino, $1,000 a month. And he just said that everything will be for free. Accommodations and food would be provided, and that they'd be staying at a job campus that had everything they needed. Workers wouldn't even have to leave.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
As the others around the table piled pieces of pork and fish onto their plates, Charlie kept focused on Dev, asking question after question. The thing is, this is going to be about my brother. That's why I kept on asking questions. She asked Dev about visas, work permits, and how they get employees out of the country. She asked whether they were licensed and even the logistics of travel.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
After that lunch, Dev even offered Charlie a free plane ticket to go see for herself. She flew to Bangkok and traveled to the place where Max would be working. After three days checking things out, she felt reassured. She flew home and told Max the place was cool. If he wanted to take the job, it seemed safe to do so.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
A week later, Max sat in the back of an SUV on his way to his new job. He had finally landed in Bangkok. He was 1,400 miles away from home, with the South China Sea between him and his family for the next year. But his journey was only just getting started. Beside him sat a woman who was also from the Philippines, heading to the same area.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
Her picture on WhatsApp shows a pretty smiling woman who looks very approachable. She sends you photos of her dog, her meals, shares tidbits about her day, asks how you're doing.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
Max, as you'll hear, is a pretty matter-of-fact kind of guy. He doesn't elaborate much on details. Max just isn't a man of many words. And so, he sat largely in silence in the back of the SUV. The driver turned onto the highway, and Max looked out his window watching the crowded cityscape outside. Colorful billboards with Thai advertisements hung in front of buildings.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
Street vendors lined the sidewalk. Motorbikes darted between cars. An hour passed, then another. They had left the city far behind, and now all Max could see were trees and the occasional gas station and roadside vendor. They tried to ask the driver where they were going, how much longer it would take. But the driver just responded with, no English, and kept driving.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
How far was this campus exactly? The sun had set, and beside him, his travel companion looked antsy. The driver had turned off the big highway, and now they were driving up a mountain.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
The car swayed from side to side as the driver zigzagged on the windy road. The two of them held on to whatever they could grab to steady themselves. Outside, Max could see they were surrounded by trees in the middle of a forest. He looked at his phone. It had been five hours since they'd started driving. There was no cell service.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
Max's companion was getting worried, and he tried to comfort her. He told her, don't worry, I'm here.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
But even Max was getting a little anxious. At 11pm that night, seven hours after they left the airport, the driver turned down an unmarked road and slowed to a stop in front of a hotel. As the two of them got out of the car, it was eerily dark and quiet outside. A wooden sign with the name of the hotel in Thai was nestled between two trees.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
You come to like Luna, to trust her. She uses a lot of emojis. She really likes the smiling one with the blushing cheeks.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
Someone told them, go inside and rest. They'd continue in the morning. Wait, they still weren't there? Max and the woman stepped into their hotel and slept for just a couple hours. By 5 a.m. the next morning, they were back on the road. 25 to 30 minutes of off-road driving. The whole car shook as it sped along an unpaved path. When the car parked, Max and the woman were met by some local men.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
They gestured to follow them. They walked down a dirt path covered in shrubs to the edge of a muddy river. A small metal boat that could fit maybe five people waited for them at the shore. This was the way to the office? Max and his companion were told to climb in and keep quiet. Neither of them knew what was going on, but they obeyed.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
A couple minutes later, the boat made its way to the other side. The local men told them to grab their luggage and help them to climb a steep hill up from the riverbank. As soon as they got to the top of the hill, that's when they saw the men with guns. The men in military uniforms told them to get into their pickup truck.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
Another 20 minutes later, the truck drove down an unmarked road alongside a tall cement wall with barbed wire at the top. It looked like a prison. The car slowed down when it reached a gate. Men wearing sarongs with guns slung over their shoulders stood by a hut, manning the entrance. They waved the car through. Max peered out the window. Suddenly, the large patches of farmland were gone.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
Rows of tall buildings with manicured bushes and trees surrounded him. Expensive German cars were parked right on the street. It was like he'd entered a mini pop-up city. Lines of Chinese restaurants, boutique shops selling clothing, stores selling electronic gadgets, basketball courts, a hospital, grocery store, bars, even a casino. His driver dropped him off and a guide came to greet him.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
But you're definitely paying attention to the wrong things about Luna.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
The guide brought him to the store to purchase a mattress and pillow. Then they walked over to the employee canteen to get him sorted with a meal card. After the quick tour, Max's guide brought him back to a block of identical four-story buildings. The rows of boxers, T-shirts, and pants hanging off each balcony were a dead giveaway that these were the dorms.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
His guide showed Max to his room and said he'd be back to bring him to the office at 5 p.m. when his shift started. Max took a look around. He could see a balcony and four bunk beds. It looked decent. Max walked over to his bed and set his things down quietly. His new roommates were asleep, even though it was the middle of the day. Like Max, they were working the night shift. He'd meet them later.
Scam Factory
Shoot to Kill | 1
For now, he was glad to finally rest after the long journey here. At 5 p.m., Max walked into his new office. It was huge. Hundreds of people were sitting in rows and rows of desks, typing away on computers and smartphones. It looked like a typical call center. Max's team leader took him over to his team's section. Max counted 14 co-workers staring blankly at their screens.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of Scam Factory early and ad-free. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Jella kept her eye on the clock, counting down the minutes until 1 a.m. and the end of her shift. She couldn't wait to get to bed. Jella and her teammates began to gather their things to leave. But their team leader told them, not so fast.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
From victims of violent crimes to those wrongfully accused, each story reveals the power of confronting the past in ways no one ever expected. Listen to This Is Actually Happening, A World Beyond Revenge, now on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. Jella sat at her desk. Her screen was full of open chat windows with potential customers.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
All around her sat her coworkers, with the same screens full of chat windows. It looked like a normal day at the scam office. We pretend that we are working. But behind those windows were open browser tabs. In between chats with scam victims, they were desperately scouring the internet for a way out of this hell. The risk of getting caught in a place where everything is monitored was high.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
But Jella and her co-workers felt they had nothing left to lose because they'd been out of their minds with distress since news of the impending transfer had come down. They were looking for any news about Filipinos who had escaped compounds like these.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
And that's when they saw a name that would change everything.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
Colonel Dominador Matalang. A man who had rescued Filipino nationals from compounds just like theirs. They immediately jumped to social media to find him.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
A whole list of Matalongs appeared in the search results. Jel and her group sent out messages to all of them, asking each one if they were Colonel Matalong from the Philippine embassy. Then... They found him. Jela told Colonel about her situation and that she was a part of a group of 10 Filipinos who needed to escape. Like now. Colonel told her to stay calm. He would help the group try to get out.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
But he would need her help. See, the civil war in Myanmar had made things messy. There wasn't a government that the Philippines could negotiate with. There was the military junta that had recently staged a coup and overthrown the democratically elected national government. And then there was a group from that overthrown government who were in exile and said they still had power.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
But it was a patchwork of rebel groups that actually controlled much of the country, including where the compounds were located. And since the Philippine government refused to negotiate with these rebel groups, they didn't have any formal way to step in. But Colonel Toljala, he could help her and her coworkers negotiate a release for themselves. And to do that, you look for the complaint desk.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
Oh, easy. Just go look for the complaint desk. What the fuck? Turns out scam factories have complaint desks. Yeah, for real. These Chinese companies don't actually own the land these compounds are on. They're just tenants leasing the land from groups in Myanmar.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
And because of that, some of these compounds have an office with a complaint desk, a place staffed by local administrators and backed up by a group known as the Border Guard Forces. There are people of Myanmar there. Colonel told Jella, these people are Burmese. They don't work for the people holding you. Your boss is only their tenant.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
And they don't want the aggravation or repercussions of foreign nationals getting hurt on their watch.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
The border guard forces weren't obligated to help anyone. Their loyalty was to themselves and to their own faction. But they made money from their tenants. Good money. As long as things were quiet, they didn't interfere. The complaint desks were their way to make sure that their tenants held up their side of the bargain.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
Workers could come and file a complaint if they were treated unfairly and wanted to leave. The trick was, one, you had to know there was a complaint desk.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
All Colonel could tell Jello was that the complaint desk for her compound was by a bamboo hut called a kabo. He advised Jello's group to find this kabo, go to the complaint desk, and lodge a complaint against their company. Then, they'd have to face their bosses and negotiate. And hopefully, in the end, the bosses would agree to let them out and give them back their passports.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
There were no guarantees that they'd be let out. And if their bosses found out they were trying to escape, they might try to hurt them. But Jella didn't waver. They told Colonel they would work one last shift and leave the next day. And then, shit hit the fan. Toward the end of their shift, the translator who helped the Chinese bosses deliver orders to their Filipino workers dropped a bomb.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
Not good. They had to act fast. If the translator told the boss before they found the complaint desk, it would be over for them. So they decided to leave immediately. As soon as their shift ended, Jella rushed back to the dorm. It was one in the morning and she was in full panic mode. She threw all of her most important items into a black plastic garbage bag as fast as she could.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
Jella stuffed the only cash she had in her bra and socks and typed a quick message to her sister. Colonel had told Jella that the group could have their phones confiscated by their bosses, who would in turn contact her family members to extort them for more money. Jella warned her sister not to pick up if she saw her calling after this message.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
She imagined herself being brutally beaten by a golf club, shocked with an electric baton. But she didn't share that with her sister. She sent one last text back, told her sister she was leaving now and turning off her phone.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
Jella put her phone in her trash bag and then she walked out with her roommate. It was quiet outside of her dorm. Jela and her coworkers tried to play it cool. Jela pointed to the plastic bag in her hand and told the compound guard they were just throwing out some trash. Instead of stopping in front of the trash area, Jela and her companions kept walking.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
But if you were like Jella, this was terrible news. Jella was awful at scamming, like truly awful. She'd never gotten good at the dirty talk. She'd only gotten three clients to take it to video chat. But none of them were successfully blackmailed. She'd been moved over to another group with a new assignment. Scam people into buying things from a fake Amazon store. That hadn't gone any better.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
They were leaving their dorms in small groups to draw less attention. They met up in front of the store. They still didn't know where the complaint desk was. But they decided to start walking in the direction of the entrance. The mood was tense.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
The group of 10 approached the gate. Immediately, guards stopped them.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
The guards insisted that they needed to know which compound they were from. One of the group quickly texted Colonel to ask for help. He told them it was okay to share the information, but he warned them.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
Whatever happens, don't let anyone talk you into going back to the compound. Colonel told them that they were only safe at the complaint desk in the presence of the border guard forces. Their bosses would try every trick in the book to draw them away from there. And if they left the safety of the complaint desk, their bosses could and probably would retaliate. They would be in serious danger.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
And just like Colonel had warned them, the bosses started showing up.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
The Filipinos huddled together and stood their ground. They weren't going back.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
Could they be compelled to stay at the compound with a pizza party? Uh, no. They could have all the damn pizza they wanted once they were free. Okay, well, how about a rest day?
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
By the time the sun started creeping up into the sky, the group still hadn't budged.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
The group revealed that the embassy was now involved, that they'd been talking to the police attache. And then, finally, the boss relented.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
Over the next few days, Jella and her group were split up by how they'd gotten to the compound. The seven who had crossed illegally from Thailand in a boat were sent back through Massat. But Jella and two others, who had come over the bridge with valid work visas to enter Myanmar, were able to go back to Manila through Yangon.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
They were tired and had almost no money, but at least they were out of the compound. Angela wasn't done yet because now that she was out of that place, she wanted justice to make sure no one else ended up like her. As soon as she reached the authorities, she would tell them everything, including the names of the people who sent her there, including Charlie.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
So she'd been sent to yet another group. This time, someone else was doing the scamming. Jella just served as a warm body on camera for video calls. Her coworkers would tell her what to say. And using an AI filter to alter her face, Jella would deliver her lines to the target. She didn't like doing this either.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
That's on the next episode of Scam Factory. Follow Scam Factory on the Wondery app, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge all episodes early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at wondery.com.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
If you have a tip about a story you think we should investigate, please write to us at wondery.com. From Wondery, this is episode four of six of Scam Factory, a story about a brother, his sister, and the big business of lies. Scam Factory is written, reported, and hosted by me, Denise Chan. Our story editor is Lou Okowski. Senior producer is Claire Chambers.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
Associate producer is Evangeline Baras. Reporting by Weijitrad Wangdi. Additional reporting by John Vic Mateo. Additional production assistance from Emily Locke, Malachi Wade, and Mariah Dennis. Audio assistance by Daniel William Gonzalez. Sound design and mixing by Marcelino Villapando. Original score by Tangelene Bolton. Music supervisor is Scott Velasquez for Frison Sync.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
Senior Managing Producer is Lata Pandya. Managing Producer is Heather Beloga. Senior Development Editor is Rachel B. Doyle. Fact-checking by Jacqueline Coletti. Executive Producers are Julia Lowry-Henderson, George Lavender, Marshall Louie, and Jen Sargent for Wondery. I'm Denise Chan, host of Scam Factory, and I have a brand new vintage of podcast for you, fresh off the grapevine.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
Blood Vines is a full-bodied podcast that uncorks the never-before-told story of the Lachardi family, one of the most powerful wine dynasties in California's history. Jack Lachardy was a patriarch of one of the country's biggest grape suppliers for America's most popular wine, White Zinfandel.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
But things turned sour when the government began to investigate the business for multimillion-dollar wine grape fraud. The case spilled over into a bloody battle for succession for the family business that almost brought down the entire industry and ended in murder. If you loved Succession, then Blood Vines is the series for you.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
Grab a glass of your favorite wine and dive into a story that has notes of fraud and betrayal, capped off with a big finish, murder. Listen to Blood Vines exclusively on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
And now, she was being told that her already meager salary would be tied to her poor performance. Jella's anxiety shot through the roof. But that wasn't all. Her team leaders told them there would be harsher consequences for not meeting quota.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
Duck walking, where grown adults are forced to squat and walk across the field while everyone watched. It was humiliating. She did not want to do this. All Jella could think about was how much she fucking hated this place. How angry she was at Charlie. How desperately she wanted to get out. And then, one more update.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
A different compound? Jella was in a full-on panic now as her bosses explained that they were being transferred to another company. This new company operated out of a compound next door.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
Jella was freaking out. She'd heard rumors about this other compound.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
Jella had heard they beat their workers with electric batons and paddles to punish those that didn't meet quota. With her track record, Jella knew she was doomed.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
The one Charlie helped put her in. Before it cost her her life. From Wondery, I'm Denise Chan, and this is Scam Factory. This is episode four. This will be my last message. Charlie stood on the balcony of a studio apartment in Bangkok. She looked down at the 7-Eleven and the street vendors setting up shop below. It wasn't even 9 in the morning, and it was already almost 90 degrees.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
A humid 90 degrees. She took another drag of her cigarette.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
This was her Hail Mary last-ditch effort to get herself and her brothers out of this mess with Dev and the syndicate. And this person she was about to chat with had her smoking like a chimney. That was nervous. That was nervous. Charlie was trying to work up the courage to send a message to someone she'd heard about from a coworker. I don't know what's in her mind, really.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
On the corporate ladder of the syndicate, Charlie and this coworker sat on the same rung. This woman was the right-hand person to one of Dev's colleagues. So she said, like, out of nowhere, she just sent me a message like that. The coworker sent Charlie a message telling her about a guy from the embassy. He'd sent a list of Filipinos he knew were inside the compound.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
He was trying to get them out on behalf of the Philippine government. Charlie didn't know why this woman was telling her this information or if she could trust it, but she knew this could be crucial.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
So she took the risk and casually tried to draw out as much detail as she could, which is how she got the contact information for Colonel Dominador Matalam, police attache for the Philippine embassy in Bangkok. This colonel knew about the compounds, but how much did he know about who was in them and how they'd gotten there?
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
He could already be investigating the syndicate and everyone who worked for them. And now that her travel agency had been flagged and she knew her name could be linked to those fake itineraries, Charlie needed to find Colonel before he found her.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
So here she was in a rented apartment in Bangkok, a woman who knew Dev was not to be messed with, who knew the syndicate was dangerous, who had participated in human trafficking, about to text a police colonel.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
This was never good news. Jelena and her nine coworkers made their way outside. The yard was kind of like a quad on a college campus. Except with the guards around, it gave more prison yard vibes. They lined up, five in each row. Jella stood at the front of the line. She looked around. Two-story concrete buildings all painted in a stark shade of white.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
Charlie gamed it all out. She'd send him a text message to start a conversation. She wouldn't tell him too much right away. She wanted to play it safe.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
I said, good morning po. Po, by the way, is a term of respect for someone older or with authority. He said, yes, good morning. Okay, Charlie had his attention. Now she needed to go for it.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
She told him two of her brothers were being held in Masat with many other Filipinos who all wanted to go home.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
And Colonel wanted to know what information this woman with two brothers in the scam factory was sitting on. Charlie sat in the colonel's office on the 28th floor in front of a large wooden desk, waiting. It's this small office. She fidgeted as she looked around the room. Behind the desk was an office chair with a suit jacket draped over.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
Beside the desk was a flag and a banner labeled Office of the Police Attaché Bangkok, Thailand. His assistant told her that the colonel would be right in to see her.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
In stepped a man with a serious face and short hair combed neatly to the side. But Charlie could just call him Colonel, like everyone else. Colonel was dressed in a blue button-up shirt with a tie and jeans. Even with the comfy sandals, Charlie was intimidated.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
Charlie didn't know who she could trust inside Colonel's office. I was paranoid. She'd heard that the syndicate had eyes and ears everywhere, including possibly within the embassy. And if Dev found out she was here talking to the Colonel... I'm dead.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
Charlie may have hoped she could play it cool, but Colonel could read her like an open book. Maybe it was the 26 years of experience under his belt. He took a seat across from Charlie. In his hands was the statement she just gave to his assistant, detailing what happened to her brothers.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
Colonel really wanted this woman to tell him what she knew because he'd gone through her statement. I think she is holding back. There were some things that were not adding up. In her narration, she went to Myanmar twice. She said she'd actually been to the compound. To visit. Not once, but twice. This was highly unusual. These compounds are not the type of place people go and come back from.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
Glaring fluorescent lights pouring out of the windows and doors. On the first floor was where they spent long hours, day and night, scamming. On the second was where they slept in cheap metal bunk beds. The roofs were studded with floodlights that only added to the prison feel. She looked down at the concrete beneath her feet.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
Colonel could tell that this Dev guy worked for the owners of the scam compound and wondered why Charlie seemed to have all these privileges from Dev. The answer to that question was in a last curious detail in her statement.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
Charlie mentioned the name of a travel agency that Colonel recognized, a travel agency that had booked the tickets for previous victims they'd rescued. Colonel asked Charlie about her involvement with this agency.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
For the last year, Colonel had been assisting Filipinos stuck in these compounds. But building a case against the people behind the compounds was hard. It was extremely difficult to gather evidence against these people. Victims who escaped from the compound often never even knew who their recruiters actually were.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
They almost never saw them in real life, and they almost always knew them by aliases. And most of the time, their phones would be wiped when they were at the compound, erasing all evidence about how they'd gotten there in the first place. Charlie, on the other hand, might have all of that if she was part of the operation.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
She could have plenty of identifying evidence to build an even stronger case.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
Charlie had to make a choice. She could clear her conscience or else. It was a huge risk. If she admitted to everything, she would implicate herself. She'd be telling on herself to the authorities with no promise of immunity or anything. There would be no walking back that decision or any of her actions. And Charlie needed to make that decision fast because time was running out.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
Everything she'd done was about to catch up with her. On Scam Factory, we uncover stories where people are deceived, manipulated, and sometimes left with life-altering scars. But what happens after the harm is done? Is justice enough? Or is there another path to healing? In a special limited-run series, This Is Actually Happening presents a world beyond revenge.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
These are five real stories of people forever changed by acts of violence, injustice, and loss. Some who were harmed, and others who caused harm. Through the process of restorative justice, they meet face-to-face with the person on the other side of their trauma. The result? A journey towards answers, accountability, and in some cases, even forgiveness.
Scam Factory
This Will Be My Last Message | 4
Such a sad contrast to the adventures on Thai beaches she thought she'd be having when she first met Charlie. A hush spread through the group as the boss began to speak. Beside him was a team leader and two translators. The boss started with an announcement. They were changing up the payment structure. It would now be tiered based on how much they were able to scam.