A good scam creates a reality where the mark thinks it makes perfect sense to go along with the con. A great con is when everyone else is fooled and you are the only one to know the truth.The next few episodes are about the longest con of all -- vanishing. These are people who voluntarily disappear. It does not include those who are running for the law or legal obligations. It doesn't include those in witness protection programs. It's about people who want to abandon one life and start again.The mark is everyone in the world, because to be successful, you must never be heard from again.In this episode we talk about why someone would want to disappear and in future episodes, we'll tell you how it is done.Lastly, you'll hear from a woman whose husband vanished and she never saw him again -- even when they were granted a divorce.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
[00:00.000 --> 00:24.000] Welcome to Season 6 of Scams & Cons. We're doing something a little bit different this time around. We're focusing on just one scam, possibly the longest con of all.
[00:24.000 --> 00:37.000] Vanishing. We'll take you on a journey through why people voluntarily disappear, several episodes on how they do it, where they go, and the difficulty of being alone.
[00:37.000 --> 00:47.000] I'm Jim Grinstead, and in this episode we ask, why would anyone want to vanish?
[00:47.000 --> 00:52.000] One day the police said to us, your daughter's case is not the only one we have.
[00:52.000 --> 00:59.000] Do you know how many people disappear in Japan every year? It's 90,000.
[00:59.000 --> 01:06.000] We hope she's still alive, but part of us fears that she may be dead. It never ends.
[01:06.000 --> 01:12.000] Like we're going around in circles. It'll be on our minds for the rest of our lives.
[01:12.000 --> 01:21.000] Long gone are the days when all one needed to create a new identity was the birth certificate of a dead child who would now be roughly your age.
[01:21.000 --> 01:28.000] Today, to become someone else, you need a blank slate upon which you can build a unique personality.
[01:28.000 --> 01:33.000] Disappearing is an unbelievably difficult con to pull off.
[01:33.000 --> 01:50.000] Even if you're in the Witness Protection Program and can obtain authentic Social Security cards, valid passports and other vital documents, you must still get and keep a job, and most importantly, never contact friends or family from your old life.
[01:50.000 --> 02:05.000] It's boring, but you just can't stand out in any way.
[02:05.000 --> 02:11.000] You'll even have to give up whatever hobbies you once had.
[02:11.000 --> 02:19.000] Everything the former you did must never happen again.
[02:19.000 --> 02:40.000] You'll never have to be alone.
[02:40.000 --> 02:44.000] So I ask again, why would anyone want to vanish?
[02:44.000 --> 02:51.000] Fear is a powerful motivator. The fear can be real or imagined. It can be fear for one's life.
[02:51.000 --> 02:55.000] Or simply a confrontation that the person doesn't feel prepared to handle.
[02:55.000 --> 03:04.000] The loss of a business, bankruptcy or losing respect in the eyes of family, friends or community can all be motivators.
[03:04.000 --> 03:09.000] Could be because you've been shunned by the religious community to which you belong.
[03:09.000 --> 03:14.000] Here's A.I. Tamika reading from a University of Alabama posting that talks about fear.
[03:14.000 --> 03:21.000] Because of the very automatic nature of the fear response, we usually experience it in three stages.
[03:21.000 --> 03:28.000] Number one is to freeze. This reaction is rooted in our evolutionary response to keep us hidden from a predator.
[03:28.000 --> 03:36.000] Your initial jump and stop response to triggering stimuli is automatic, meaning if you're truly afraid you can't stop it.
[03:37.000 --> 03:42.000] Number two is to run. Our next instinct is to get away from whatever is causing our fear.
[03:42.000 --> 03:46.000] Adrenaline helps you move quickly away from the trigger.
[03:46.000 --> 03:52.000] Number three is to fight. If you can't get away from what's causing your fear, your response is to fight.
[03:52.000 --> 03:55.000] Adrenaline helps you in this stage as well.
[03:55.000 --> 04:02.000] Of course, these days when we feel fear, we don't often have the need to hide from a predator, flee or fight.
[04:02.000 --> 04:06.000] Still, the physical response we experience is the same.
[04:06.000 --> 04:10.000] The country with the most disappearances is Japan.
[04:10.000 --> 04:13.000] It's the leading country where people just vanish.
[04:13.000 --> 04:20.000] France 24 said that disappearances began to grow in the 90s, but are now increasing greatly.
[04:20.000 --> 04:26.000] Well, first you must remember that after World War II, Japan was a very poor country destroyed by the war.
[04:27.000 --> 04:32.000] In just 45 years, Japan rebuilt itself in an impressive manner.
[04:32.000 --> 04:39.000] So in the 1980s, the economy is booming, people have money, invest in houses and companies,
[04:39.000 --> 04:42.000] but then come the 90s and the economic crisis.
[04:42.000 --> 04:46.000] And many fall into debt, they're even threatened by the Yakuza.
[04:46.000 --> 04:52.000] And so at that point, many feel the only options are suicide or disappearing.
[04:52.000 --> 04:57.000] And it's then that books even came out to explain how to disappear in Japan.
[04:57.000 --> 05:02.000] Some disappear because of emotional issues, or because they simply can't face the world.
[05:02.000 --> 05:05.000] This is from New Service 101 East.
[05:05.000 --> 05:10.000] In modern-day Japan, there is a system that helps people disappear,
[05:10.000 --> 05:14.000] openly listed as Yonigayas, which means night-moving shops.
[05:14.000 --> 05:19.000] These specialized businesses help people vanish overnight.
[05:20.000 --> 05:25.000] Miho Saita owns one of the most established night-moving companies in Japan,
[05:25.000 --> 05:31.000] but Miho has asked us to hide her identity to protect her clients and herself.
[05:31.000 --> 05:37.000] The jobs she takes on are often those shunned by regular movers.
[05:37.000 --> 05:43.000] Today, she is heading to Shizurka Prefecture 200 kilometers away from Tokyo.
[05:43.000 --> 05:48.000] Each day, Miho receives around 5 to 10 calls for help.
[05:48.000 --> 05:52.000] In a month, she can get up to 300 calls.
[05:52.000 --> 05:57.000] A regular moving job in Japan typically costs about 300 US dollars.
[05:57.000 --> 06:04.000] But Miho charges between 450 to 2,700 US dollars that each move.
[06:04.000 --> 06:11.000] Sometimes, even more, it's a premium some are willing to pay, driven by desperation.
[06:11.000 --> 06:15.000] Miho's newest client contacted her three weeks ago.
[06:15.000 --> 06:19.000] In such cases, where there are children and the elderly involved,
[06:19.000 --> 06:22.000] the escape can get complicated.
[06:23.000 --> 06:28.000] Miho Saita and her staff are helping a client flee her abusive husband.
[06:28.000 --> 06:31.000] The team plans to execute the move the next morning.
[06:31.000 --> 06:37.000] After the client's husband leaves home for work, Miho is determined to get the client out.
[06:37.000 --> 06:40.000] For her, this is not just a job.
[06:40.000 --> 06:42.000] Here's France 24 again.
[06:42.000 --> 06:46.000] The night movers discreetly remove a person's furniture and belongings
[06:46.000 --> 06:50.000] and provide temporary accommodation at a secret location.
[06:50.000 --> 06:52.000] It's all perfectly legal.
[06:52.000 --> 06:57.000] Jake Adelstein is an investigative journalist who's lived in Tokyo for more than 30 years.
[06:57.000 --> 07:02.000] As part of his research, he's come across manuals that explain the basics in how to disappear.
[07:02.000 --> 07:05.000] This is the Bible disappearing.
[07:05.000 --> 07:08.000] This will tell you all the things you need to do.
[07:08.000 --> 07:11.000] Not only to the vanish, but to make sure that no one finds you,
[07:11.000 --> 07:14.000] including the letter that you should write and leave behind
[07:14.000 --> 07:19.000] to tell people that I'm fine, I'm not hurt, I'm not in trouble.
[07:19.000 --> 07:23.000] I just decided that I'm sick of this life and I need to go somewhere else.
[07:23.000 --> 07:25.000] I will come back someday. That's important.
[07:25.000 --> 07:27.000] Because if you write, I will come back someday.
[07:27.000 --> 07:30.000] The police are not going to open a missing person's investigation.
[07:30.000 --> 07:32.000] Japan is not very forgiving.
[07:32.000 --> 07:36.000] Rather than live with shame or debt, people would prefer to choose
[07:36.000 --> 07:39.000] leaving everything behind and vanishing and starting over.
[07:39.000 --> 07:44.000] And some of them do quite well, or they prefer to leave this world behind
[07:44.000 --> 07:46.000] and kill themselves.
[07:46.000 --> 07:50.000] In America, one of the largest group of people who decide to vanish
[07:50.000 --> 07:52.000] are Native American women.
[07:52.000 --> 07:55.000] Time magazine says that in some places,
[07:55.000 --> 07:59.000] they are 10 times more likely to disappear than the general public.
[07:59.000 --> 08:04.000] The National Crime Information Center shows 5,712 reports
[08:04.000 --> 08:07.000] of missing Native American women in 2016,
[08:07.000 --> 08:10.000] but like so many estimates of missing persons,
[08:10.000 --> 08:14.000] it's difficult to get beyond guessing because there's no data
[08:14.000 --> 08:16.000] tracking the issue.
[08:16.000 --> 08:20.000] Washington State is one of the few exceptions where data is gathered.
[08:20.000 --> 08:24.000] Lawmakers now require state police to gather data on the number of missing
[08:24.000 --> 08:26.000] and murdered Native women.
[08:26.000 --> 08:31.000] The law hasn't been in effect long enough to provide solid information.
[08:31.000 --> 08:35.000] Unfortunately, if missing women are found, the results aren't good.
[08:35.000 --> 08:39.000] Often they've been murdered or abused.
[08:39.000 --> 08:44.000] Billy J. Stratton, an expert in Native American studies at the University of Denver,
[08:44.000 --> 08:47.000] told Time that, quote,
[08:47.000 --> 08:51.000] when you're talking about a group of people who's among the lowest socioeconomic class
[08:51.000 --> 08:55.000] in the U.S., they're more susceptible to violence than others.
[08:55.000 --> 09:00.000] Poverty is the main driver, dispossession, lack of empowerment.
[09:00.000 --> 09:04.000] Isolation and other social problems, I think, flow from that.
[09:04.000 --> 09:08.000] End quote.
[09:16.000 --> 09:19.000] The National Institute of Justice keeps a list of the number of missing,
[09:19.000 --> 09:23.000] unidentified, or unclaimed cases in 48 states and territories.
[09:23.000 --> 09:27.000] It's a broad collection of data, and there's no way to tell
[09:27.000 --> 09:31.000] how many people on the list voluntarily disappear.
[09:34.000 --> 09:38.000] What is known is which states have the highest disappearance rate.
[09:38.000 --> 09:45.000] As of June 2023, the top 10 states are Texas, California, Arkansas,
[09:45.000 --> 09:54.000] Louisiana, Tennessee, Florida, Connecticut, Oklahoma, North Carolina, and Arizona.
[09:58.000 --> 10:03.000] The agency says that Florida is one of the top states because it's overpopulated,
[10:03.000 --> 10:07.000] and with greater population comes more disappearances.
[10:14.000 --> 10:18.000] Then there are the alligators in Python, who victims may never be found.
[10:18.000 --> 10:32.000] Outside the U.S., the BBC says Mexico is a country with one of the highest rates of disappearance,
[10:32.000 --> 10:35.000] and much of it is linked to crime.
[10:35.000 --> 10:40.000] I know my son is not alive, and I don't know if I'm going to find him,
[10:40.000 --> 10:42.000] but I look for everyone.
[10:42.000 --> 10:49.000] If I find one, I think I recover a little piece of mine, my son.
[10:50.000 --> 10:56.000] Charlene Unger has been searching for her son, Carlos Antonio, since 2019.
[10:56.000 --> 11:01.000] A victim of Mexico's unending drug war, Carlos Antonio was a recovering addict,
[11:01.000 --> 11:04.000] who was abducted from a rehab meeting.
[11:04.000 --> 11:08.000] He is just one of nearly 100,000 disappeared people in Mexico.
[11:08.000 --> 11:13.000] Since that day, I haven't heard anything.
[11:13.000 --> 11:20.000] The government says 80% of the remains are identified, but families say the rates much lower.
[11:20.000 --> 11:28.000] Mexican government data going back to 1964 shows that almost all the disappearances have occurred since 2007,
[11:28.000 --> 11:33.000] when then-President Felipe Calderon launched his war on drugs.
[11:34.000 --> 11:40.000] Many of the missing are victims of organized crime, and hardly any of those responsible are punished.
[11:40.000 --> 11:46.000] The latest update to the National Registry of Missing People, kept by Mexico's Attorney General's office,
[11:46.000 --> 11:53.000] shows the number of disappeared has risen from 73,000 to more than 100,000.
[11:53.000 --> 11:56.000] So we're back to our original question.
[11:56.000 --> 11:59.000] Why do people voluntarily disappear?
[12:04.000 --> 12:07.000] There's no one reason.
[12:09.000 --> 12:13.000] Location and culture have a lot to do with it.
[12:16.000 --> 12:19.000] Then there are those who just want to start a new life.
[12:19.000 --> 12:24.000] Their current life no longer provides satisfaction if it ever did.
[12:24.000 --> 12:29.000] We should also ask if we should look for these people.
[12:30.000 --> 12:38.000] If they're escaping an abusive relationship, finding them may put their lives and the lives of their children in danger.
[12:38.000 --> 12:43.000] It's a huge price for them to pay, but one they feel is necessary.
[12:46.000 --> 12:50.000] For those unsatisfied with their lives, they've done nothing illegal.
[12:50.000 --> 12:58.000] We can ask whether what they did was immoral or unethical, but those are our opinions and don't take into account the missing person's feelings.
[12:59.000 --> 13:04.000] If we knew why, our ethical and moral judgment just might change.
[13:04.000 --> 13:09.000] And it's important to note that our judgments aren't of primary importance.
[13:09.000 --> 13:16.000] The important choice is made by the person who disappeared, and that decision, if voluntary, should be respected.
[13:16.000 --> 13:22.000] Then there is Japan, which has a long cultural history that impacts the decision to disappear.
[13:23.000 --> 13:30.000] It may not make sense to those living outside Japan, but the impact of not disappearing is powerful.
[13:30.000 --> 13:39.000] Whether one is in Japan or elsewhere, forcing people back into their own lives may make us feel better, but make their lives worse.
[13:39.000 --> 13:45.000] They can always choose to return, perhaps we should respect the choice they made.
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[14:01.000 --> 14:09.000] And don't forget to head over to our Facebook group, where I'll post more stories about scams and you can chat with other fans.
[14:10.000 --> 14:16.000] Just search Facebook for scams and cons, and be sure to select the group rather than the page.
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[14:21.000 --> 14:25.000] I look forward to hearing what you have to say. Thanks for listening.
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