Sarah Hagi
Appearances
Scam Factory
Factory Tour | 7
One of the things that did really hit me was the idea of feeling so much shame to be a part of a scam and to be scammed. And it's something that we see a lot on our show. And in episode six, you know, Jane said she hadn't told her siblings where she'd been for more than a month after getting out of the scam factory, which was so sad. Yeah.
Scam Factory
Factory Tour | 7
So learning about the scale of these scam compounds and after hearing about, you know, this very harrowing ordeal everyone in the series had to go through just to get out, I think we're really curious to know where are things now since reporting the story and what are the updates you're learning about the whole operation? Yeah.
Scam Factory
Factory Tour | 7
I mean, that's incredible. Like, is this just kind of the first big step for them to be eradicated?
Scam Factory
Factory Tour | 7
I mean, another huge question is, where are the siblings? Like, how are they doing after all of this?
Scam Factory
Factory Tour | 7
I feel like this whole ordeal must be so hard to kind of get through emotionally. And from what you witnessed, what would you say are the lasting effects of the scam factory of all these individuals who escaped? You know, this trauma, this very traumatic experience that they all faced. And I'm sure it's hard to live a normal life after that.
Scam Factory
Factory Tour | 7
You know, you spent so much time working on the story. What do you hope your audience will take away from this? You know, as a listener, I kind of want to know what I can do to help stop this. And are you now like a resident scam narc trying to protect everyone you know?
Scam Factory
Factory Tour | 7
I think that is a perfect note to end on. Thank you so much for joining us, Denise. It has been such a pleasure chatting with you. And I'm so excited for everyone to listen to this.
Scam Factory
Factory Tour | 7
This bonus episode of Scam Factory is hosted by me, Sarah Hagee. And me, Sachi Cole. Senior producer is Claire Chambers. Associate producer is Evangeline Barras. Sound design by Jay Rothman. Sound supervisor is Marcelino Villalpando. Theme song by Tangelene Bolton. Music supervisor is Scott Velasquez for Frees on Sync. Senior managing producer is Lata Pandya. Managing producer is Heather Beloga.
Scam Factory
Factory Tour | 7
And I'm Sarah Hagee, the other host of Scamfluencers. In our show, we tell stories of insidious scammers and con artists who use charm, charisma, and influence to sell a beautiful promise all for personal profit.
Scam Factory
Factory Tour | 7
Yeah, I mean, when I listened to this story, I was shocked. They had these pre-written scripts. They had well-timed emotional manipulation tactics. These carefully curated catfishing photos. It was just so crazy.
Scam Factory
Factory Tour | 7
I'm getting a scam call right now. Are you really? So funny. Yeah, I just had to decline it. Actually, I do want to talk a little bit more about these scams because I feel like most of us know enough to see a weird link and identify it immediately like this is a scam. So we ignore them. And I feel like it gives people the sense that these scams are too silly to actually work.
Scam Factory
Factory Tour | 7
But as you found out, they really do. These companies bring in billions of dollars worldwide. So could you just walk us through why and how do these scams work?
Scam Factory
Factory Tour | 7
You know, mentioning these people knowing personal details about someone's life to know exactly how to target them. How are they finding out if someone is wealthy or if someone's lonely? There's so many of these personal details that I would love to know how they know.
Scam Factory
Factory Tour | 7
I get scam texts like this all the time, and I don't think about them twice. But to learn about the whole cycle of harm behind that and that the bigger victim is likely the person who's texting me, I was really shocked.
Scam Factory
Factory Tour | 7
Wow. I feel like people don't know that they're researching you as a real person and not just getting someone's number. That's crazy. Yeah.
Scam Factory
Factory Tour | 7
Wow. I mean, I guess I'm wondering what you think the reason was for Charlie to agree to work with Dev and the syndicate instead of, you know, just going to law enforcement at the very beginning of finding everything out.
Scam Factory
What To Listen To Next: Scamfluencers
I mean, that's every girl's dream to go to your boyfriend's wedding.
Scam Factory
What To Listen To Next: Scamfluencers
Yeah, it's kind of mysterious. It's super saturated to the point where her skin looks orange. And you just kind of see her from behind wearing a short white dress. And it looks like it's meant to be intriguing. And the caption says, the sky is the limit with an exclamation point, which... Has me wondering, what are you talking about? Yeah, man. I mean, Priscilla is an enigma.
Scam Factory
What To Listen To Next: Scamfluencers
Yeah, but they always lose the plot at some point. Like the line between selfless and selfish is a lot greater than you might think.