[00:00:00] On June 7th, inspired by the unbelievable true story of a fake hitman, comes the new movie, Hitman.
[00:00:07] From Academy Award nominee Richard Linklater, at 96% certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, critics are calling Hitman a smart sexy crime thriller with surprises at every turn.
[00:00:18] Starring Glenn Powell and Audria Arjona, Hitman now playing in select theaters and on Netflix June 7th, Rated R.
[00:00:26] Before we get started, I want to tell you about a scam that went down after this episode was recorded.
[00:00:35] It seems somebody tried to steal Graceland, Elvis Presley's former home.
[00:00:40] The story has some wonderful twists and turns that I just couldn't resist sharing with you.
[00:00:45] It started when an investment company sought to take control of the property.
[00:00:49] The company sent it loan money to the Presley estate and had not been repaid.
[00:00:54] As a result, it wanted the property to be auctioned so it could get its money.
[00:00:59] The Associated Press said Promenade Trust, which controls the Graceland Museum, owed $3.8 million after failing to repay a 2018 loan.
[00:01:09] Riley Keough, an actress and Elvis Presley's granddaughter, inherited the trust and ownership of the home after her mother, Lisa Marie Presley died in 2023.
[00:01:20] Vanity Fair says the property is likely worth about $500 million.
[00:01:25] While a court put the gabosh on that, Keough filed a lawsuit in Shelby County to block the sale of the estate.
[00:01:31] Being no fool, the judge blocked the auction.
[00:01:35] But along the way some interesting things popped up.
[00:01:38] In 2023, a Los Angeles judge was asked to decide the validity of her late daughter, Lisa Marie's will.
[00:01:46] The legal action disputed a 2016 amendment to Lisa Marie's will that removed Priscilla as a trustee of the estate.
[00:01:54] Presley's attorney said she only became aware of the purported 2016 amendment after Lisa Marie's death.
[00:02:01] The amendment removed Priscilla and Lisa Marie's former business manager, Barry Siegel, and replaced them with Lisa Marie's eldest children, Riley and Benjamin Keough.
[00:02:11] Benjamin died in 2020.
[00:02:14] So here's where we are.
[00:02:16] An investment company tried to shake down the Presley estate for millions of dollars.
[00:02:21] A judge blocked that attempt years before that and turned control of the property over to Riley and Benjamin Keough.
[00:02:28] When Keough died, Riley was in charge.
[00:02:31] Hang on now, there's more of the scam to come.
[00:02:35] As part of the Los Angeles settlement, Riley got control over the sub trusts of her half sisters.
[00:02:41] Priscilla Presley was named a special advisor to the trust and received a monthly payment for her role.
[00:02:47] The deal also allowed Priscilla Presley to be buried at Graceland.
[00:02:51] Priscilla now lives in New York City.
[00:02:54] Elvis is buried at Graceland, as are his parents, paternal grandmother, and grandson.
[00:03:00] The investment company dropped its claim for the deed saying since it involved multiple states, the process would be too expensive and too complicated.
[00:03:09] NBC tried to locate the investment company and found no proof that it exists.
[00:03:15] So who owns Graceland?
[00:03:17] The Los Angeles court ruled it belongs to the Presley Trust, but it's unclear whether a deed on the property exists.
[00:03:24] The trust supposedly has a title to the property, but the deed is simply a legal document that reinforces the title.
[00:03:32] Legal sources say if an owner has the title, no deed may be necessary unless the owner seeks a loan or wants to transfer the property.
[00:03:40] We now come to this fictitious lender and ask who's behind it.
[00:03:45] Scripps Howard News does the honors.
[00:03:47] The man who claims to be behind the whole scheme emailed media outlets to actually explain himself.
[00:03:52] The writer said he was an identity thief with a team on the dark web of people placed across the United States.
[00:03:59] In an email to the New York Times, he said his crime ring preyed on the families of people who have passed away, the unsuspecting and the elderly, especially people from Florida and California.
[00:04:09] And that this group uses birth certificates and other documents to discover people's personal information and helps the group steal money.
[00:04:17] The alleged scammer responded to multiple media outlets emails in a letter to the New York Times.
[00:04:22] He says, quote, we figure out how to steal.
[00:04:24] That's what we do to CNN.
[00:04:26] He replied, quote, I didn't win this one.
[00:04:28] I've stole many identities and received monies.
[00:04:30] We don't win them all.
[00:04:32] And to the Memphis paper, the commercial appeal, the scammer said to all the press, I am the Yahoo ringleader of Nigeria that is all made up and a hoax.
[00:04:40] We sit and laugh at you idiots and watch you make fools of yourself.
[00:04:44] End quote.
[00:04:45] Now on with the news.
[00:04:47] This is Scams and Cons News with Jim Grinstead.
[00:04:58] In this week's news, an Alabama woman admits to faking her own kidnapping and a scammer tricks Instagram into banning influencers.
[00:05:06] But we begin the story about Drew Barrymore, where people have been posing as representatives of the show offering to pay guests.
[00:05:14] Variety broke the story.
[00:05:16] The publication said some vendors of the show have been solicited for invoices and personal banking information.
[00:05:22] The I.T. and legal affairs folks at Paramount Globe have become involved.
[00:05:27] Reel Show representatives scrambled to let agents of legitimate guests learn about the scam.
[00:05:33] In New Jersey, $39 million was scammed from people who were taken in by a financial scam.
[00:05:39] The U.S. Attorney's Office issued a 29-count indictment against a former New Jersey resident with 14 counts of wire fraud,
[00:05:47] three counts of aggravated identity theft, nine counts of money laundering,
[00:05:52] and one count each of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, securities fraud, and engaging in unlawful money transactions.
[00:05:59] The feds say the man owned dozens of businesses under an umbrella corporation called Vulcan Capital Corporation from 2012 to 2013.
[00:06:08] As the CEO of the companies, he claimed to be a successful investor and collected money from people who expected the man to invest their money.
[00:06:17] One of the victims lost $2 million.
[00:06:20] The money, of course, went toward a lavish lifestyle.
[00:06:24] Officials said the man was accused of running a separate scam from 2017 to 2018 that involved accessing credit card numbers and charging the cards without the customer's authorization.
[00:06:35] He was also alleged to be operating an email scheme that persuaded victims to send him and his conspirators about $6 million in payments.
[00:06:45] The fraudulent emails tricked people to reroute their scheduled payments to real vendors.
[00:06:50] One person lost a payment of $650,000.
[00:06:54] Wouldn't it be great if someone offered to remodel your home for free?
[00:06:58] And those people were from the television show Extreme Makeovers.
[00:07:02] One woman believed it, a single mom who applied online in hopes of getting help.
[00:07:08] She got no response until one day she got a notification on Facebook.
[00:07:13] The scammer said the show was coming back and in communications used logos and other visuals that suggest the person was legit.
[00:07:20] I didn't know how I was going to make it.
[00:07:22] Like, I don't know how I'm going to make all this happen and make this house come back together.
[00:07:28] The scammer, pretending to be with the HGTV program, began asking lots of personal questions, gathering information.
[00:07:36] Fortunately, the potential victim got wise and stopped the communication.
[00:07:41] Looking back, I probably should have been like, if this was a nationwide TV show,
[00:07:46] I would have thought they would have picked up the phone and given me a call or had some legal docs or something like that.
[00:07:51] If you get a text about an unpaid parking ticket in Kingston, Ontario, don't panic.
[00:07:57] The Canadian city does not send out texts to notify people of tickets, nor do they accept payments that way.
[00:08:03] It's a phishing scam designed to get your personal information.
[00:08:07] This is Scams and Cons News.
[00:08:11] Okay, I'm busted.
[00:08:17] I'm not out on the porch enjoying the wonderful warm weather here in Nashville.
[00:08:21] The cicadas are driving me indoors.
[00:08:24] I have limited grill time because I don't like cicadas landing on me.
[00:08:28] No outside dining at restaurants I frequent.
[00:08:31] But that doesn't mean I don't crave summer food.
[00:08:34] Fortunately, Factor has my back.
[00:08:37] I can cook fresh foods in two minutes, then go hide in my recording studio for peace and quiet.
[00:08:43] And it's great food.
[00:08:45] Now I'm a carnivore, but if I wanted keto, calorie-smarter protein plus, I could do it.
[00:08:51] They have 35 different meals from which to choose.
[00:08:55] That's right. You choose the meals.
[00:08:57] You're not stuck with whatever is delivered to your door.
[00:09:00] It's summer.
[00:09:01] So one of my go-to's is the tomato pork chop.
[00:09:04] On rainy days, the Parmesan chicken is satisfying.
[00:09:08] And there's something else.
[00:09:10] I'm not the only one in Nashville that loves Factor.
[00:09:13] I regularly see Factor trucks on the streets delivering fresh food to my neighbors.
[00:09:18] Clearly, my neighbors are smarter than I thought.
[00:09:21] If you're in a cicada-infested area, you may not be able to sit outside.
[00:09:26] But you can still eat great food.
[00:09:28] And I've got a great deal that can go toward suntan lotion when these damn bugs go away.
[00:09:33] Head to factormeals.com slash scamsandcons50 and use code scamsandcons50
[00:09:40] to get 50% off your first box plus 20% off your next box.
[00:09:45] That's scamsandcons50 at factormeals.com slash scamsandcons50
[00:09:52] to get 50% off your first box plus 20% off your next box while your subscription is active.
[00:09:58] If you look out the window of the restaurant you're in
[00:10:08] and see your car being towed away, it's not the CalExico police department in California.
[00:10:13] It's a scammer.
[00:10:15] It takes about eight seconds for the car to be hooked up and taken away.
[00:10:19] Too little time to stop it.
[00:10:21] KYMA reported the story and shared video of the vehicle theft.
[00:10:25] CalExico police say the victim is still trying to find his vehicle.
[00:10:29] The victim was obviously upset.
[00:10:31] In fact, the victim even thought that maybe there was something wrong.
[00:10:34] Contact at the finance company verified everything was okay.
[00:10:37] There was no order to repossess this vehicle.
[00:10:40] It was obviously stolen.
[00:10:42] Tell me how this tow truck looks so residents here in CalExico know what to look for.
[00:10:46] You know, it appears to be a full-size white pickup.
[00:10:50] I can't really tell if it's a Chevy or a Ford,
[00:10:52] but just the fact that it's a tow truck with no markings on it is kind of unusual
[00:10:56] and should capture somebody's attention.
[00:10:58] CalExico police say the law requires a tow truck to have markings
[00:11:02] such as the name and the number of the towing company.
[00:11:06] Christian Murphy was minding his own business at home
[00:11:09] when he got a call from someone saying they were going to steal his Instagram account.
[00:11:14] Christine is an influencer, so that account is very important.
[00:11:18] ProPublica, which originated the story,
[00:11:21] said that scammers are part of a prolific and notorious booming underground community of hackers
[00:11:26] who shut down profiles on the social network
[00:11:29] and then demand payment to reactivate them.
[00:11:32] They also target TikTok and other platforms.
[00:11:35] The group convinced Meta, which owns Instagram and Facebook,
[00:11:39] to ban an array of influencers and entertainment figures.
[00:11:43] ProPublica believes the person who calls himself OBN
[00:11:47] dubbed himself the Logout King because
[00:11:50] ProPublica said Meta is aware of this scammer,
[00:11:53] but hasn't done much to help those who own the IDs.
[00:11:56] Until OBN came along,
[00:11:59] Murphy said he was earning between $15,000 and $20,000 a month from his Instagram account.
[00:12:04] It was filled with pictures of him with rappers
[00:12:07] and well-known figures from the Miami nightlife.
[00:12:10] Murphy's Instagram account is a copy of the original account
[00:12:14] that was used by OBN to sell his Instagram account.
[00:12:18] He also quoted as saying,
[00:12:21] People pay me all the time to post promos for music and crypto.
[00:12:25] I can make five, ten grand by accident if I needed to.
[00:12:29] The money's crazy.
[00:12:31] An Alabama woman has admitted to faking her own disappearance
[00:12:35] after claiming earlier that she'd been kidnapped.
[00:12:38] NBC News tells the story of what happened after a call to 911.
[00:12:42] And she told authorities that she had seen this toddler
[00:12:45] walking along the highway near Birmingham.
[00:12:48] And then she reappeared two days later claiming that she had been kidnapped
[00:12:52] and taken in a vehicle.
[00:12:54] It led to an outcry, complete panic, people searching for her.
[00:12:58] But very quickly her story fell apart
[00:13:01] and it became clear that she had falsely reported this crime.
[00:13:04] Today in court she stood up and it was an emotional day.
[00:13:08] She had reversed previously, pled not guilty, but today acknowledging her guilt
[00:13:12] and saying that she was sorry to her community, her church, her family,
[00:13:15] and of course to the people who spent time and resources looking for her.
[00:13:20] If you're wondering though, she's not going to spend time behind bars.
[00:13:24] The judge felt that that wasn't a good use of resources.
[00:13:27] Instead she's going to have to pay restitution about $17,000
[00:13:31] and do about 100 hours of community service while under probation.
[00:13:36] A man fell into a romance scammers trap.
[00:13:39] Now he's trying to recover the half million dollars he lost.
[00:13:42] The man has a daughter and is a widower.
[00:13:45] It's been devastating for me.
[00:13:47] My wife had an insurance payout
[00:13:50] and I just feel like I've let her down, I've let my daughter down.
[00:13:54] It's a pig butchering scam where marks are encouraged
[00:13:58] to put their money into cryptocurrency in hopes of big returns.
[00:14:02] Paul knew he was at fault but told the Australian broadcasting company
[00:14:06] he also blames the bank, ING, for not doing more to protect him.
[00:14:10] Yeah, they could have been a bit more responsible
[00:14:13] and just said to me straight out,
[00:14:14] no we're not transferring it because we think it's a scam
[00:14:17] and you'll lose your money.
[00:14:20] This is Scams & Cons News.
[00:14:24] Scams & Cons is a member of the Evergreen Podcast Network.
[00:14:29] Did you guys hear about that couple that went on vacation
[00:14:37] and one spouse murdered the other?
[00:14:39] In fact, the entire vacation was planned
[00:14:42] just so that they could make the murder look like an accident.
[00:14:45] Ah, so like a slaycation.
[00:14:47] Oh boy, sounds like a fun new true crime podcast to me.
[00:14:51] On every episode of Slaycation,
[00:14:56] we'll examine true cases of people who were killed while on vacation.
[00:15:01] Was it murder?
[00:15:03] Or just a horrible accident?
[00:15:05] That's up to you and the law to decide.
[00:15:08] But either way, if you leave for your vacation in the plane
[00:15:13] and come home under the plane
[00:15:16] you've definitely gone on a slaycation.
[00:15:18] Join us every week for a fascinating new episode.
[00:15:21] 911, what's your emergency?
[00:15:23] But make sure to pack your body bags
[00:15:25] because getting away can be murder.
[00:15:28] This is Slaycation.