Speaker 1: Hey, Betrayal fans, I have exciting news to share. Season
Speaker 1: three of Betrayal is now a docu series on Hulu.
Speaker 1: It's the gripping story of Stacy Tyler and the doctor
Speaker 1: who betrayed them. See the voices You've come to know
Speaker 1: in Betrayal Under His Eye, streaming now on Hulu.
Speaker 2: The state trooper traced two of the wallets, one to Shanghai,
Speaker 2: one to Nigeria, and she said the building was as
Speaker 2: big as a casino, full of tables and computers and
Speaker 2: people scamming.
Speaker 1: I'm Andrea Gunning and this is Betrayal, a show about
Speaker 1: the people we trust the most and the deceptions that
Speaker 1: change everything.
Speaker 2: I've always been an advocate for the underdog. I would
Speaker 2: give anything to help people, and I always stick up
Speaker 2: for people as well.
Speaker 1: That's Jackie Crenshaw. She's a mimographer in new Haven, Connecticut.
Speaker 1: That means she administers breast cancer screenings and she's been
Speaker 1: doing that for over thirty years. She was the first
Speaker 1: black woman to manage the imaging center at Yale New
Speaker 1: Haven Hospital.
Speaker 2: And when I go to conferences around the country, they
Speaker 2: might be like, all right, I've heard your name.
Speaker 1: It's more than a career for her. She's passionate about
Speaker 1: addressing racial disparities in breast cancer detection.
Speaker 2: Statistically, African American women are diagnosed later as the breast
Speaker 2: cancer has progressed. I am the outreach coordinator, so I
Speaker 2: teach people how to examine their breast. Some people just
Speaker 2: do well when they see someone like themselves. I actually do.
Speaker 2: They're called beauty shop chats, so we go to beauty
Speaker 2: shops and I teach breast cancer prevention.
Speaker 1: She's the one calling her four older sisters checking to
Speaker 1: see if they've had their annual breast exam.
Speaker 2: I have to say I'm not bossy, but I've always
Speaker 2: taken the lead, even as the fifth of five girls.
Speaker 2: A rainy day back then, there was no computers or
Speaker 2: any of that stuff, so I was the teacher as
Speaker 2: the youngest.
Speaker 1: Jackie never had kids of her own, but I have
Speaker 1: raised many.
Speaker 2: I probably have fifty sixty nieces and great nieces and nephews,
Speaker 2: so a lot of checks to college, you name it,
Speaker 2: I did it.
Speaker 1: She always put her career and her friendships over romantic relationships.
Speaker 2: The last serious relationship I had was about fifteen years ago.
Speaker 2: It was a ten year relationship she.
Speaker 1: Ended it because he seemed threatened by her independence. Her
Speaker 1: whole life, Jackie's been the breadwinner and she's had a
Speaker 1: hard time finding a partner who was comfortable with that.
Speaker 2: Most of my people around me would say, Oh, people
Speaker 2: are intimidated by you because of my career and you know,
Speaker 2: wit and everything.
Speaker 1: And Jackie was comfortable on her own.
Speaker 2: At that time. Say, in May of twenty twenty three,
Speaker 2: I had everything I needed. I owned my condo, had
Speaker 2: a nice car, good job. I basically was at a
Speaker 2: place where I could have gotten anything I wanted, and
Speaker 2: I had everything I want as far as material things.
Speaker 1: Around that time, Jackie started thinking about what she wanted
Speaker 1: the last chapter of her life to look like. She'd
Speaker 1: been saving for retirement for decades.
Speaker 2: I would put extra away, just putting away a nice
Speaker 2: amount every two weeks and stacking things up. I thought,
Speaker 2: I would, you know, retire First I thought about six
Speaker 2: to it, and I'm like, nah, I'm sixty five.
Speaker 1: She wanted to travel and take it slow in retirement,
Speaker 1: and the more she thought about it, she realized.
Speaker 2: I didn't feel like I was desperate or lonely or
Speaker 2: any of those things, but I was ready for some companionship.
Speaker 1: She'd never been on social media, much less on a
Speaker 1: dating app, and then.
Speaker 2: A friend of mine suggested this website, which specialized in
Speaker 2: African American dating.
Speaker 1: So Jackie gave herself a pep talk.
Speaker 2: I was like, Okay, jack maybe try this site because
Speaker 2: again she helped me set up my profile because I
Speaker 2: didn't know anything.
Speaker 1: She picked her photos and set her preferences for a
Speaker 1: potential match. She wanted someone self sufficient, someone who had
Speaker 1: their own thing going, but she also wanted someone fun
Speaker 1: to experience the next stage of her life.
Speaker 2: With, someone who like to take care of themselves, you know,
Speaker 2: they didn't have to be a musclehead or anything like that,
Speaker 2: and someone who liked to travel.
Speaker 1: Within a few days, she got a match that piqued
Speaker 1: her interest. She opened his message.
Speaker 2: All right, Jacquelyn, my name is Brandon and you're beautiful,
Speaker 2: blah blah blah.
Speaker 1: When she looked at his photos, one thing immediately stood.
Speaker 2: Out the eyes, his blue eyes.
Speaker 1: Brandon worked in construction, and he looked like a family man.
Speaker 2: There's pictures of him with the kids, pictures of him
Speaker 2: at work.
Speaker 1: Brandon was also a little cheeky. She hovered over one
Speaker 1: photo in particular, it's like a.
Speaker 2: Picture beautiful face and you could like see his bum
Speaker 2: a little bit, just lay it in the bed. I
Speaker 2: was like, oh my god, you're showing your assets.
Speaker 1: His messages kept coming.
Speaker 2: The first three times, it might have been twice a
Speaker 2: day or something like that, but it became very regular.
Speaker 1: Brandon wanted to start talking on the phone, so a
Speaker 1: few days later he gave her a call.
Speaker 2: He did have a deep, deep voice, but it was
Speaker 2: just very calm and soft spoken.
Speaker 1: They started talking on the phone almost every night, sharing
Speaker 1: their life stories.
Speaker 2: He's like, oh, you know, I just went back to
Speaker 2: work two years after losing my wife.
Speaker 1: His wife had died in a car accident right at
Speaker 1: the beginning of COVID, leaving him as a single parent
Speaker 1: to their two sons. He had kids later in life
Speaker 1: after starting a successful career. Now Brandon was fifty and
Speaker 1: ready to date again. He trusted Jackie with really personal challenges.
Speaker 2: He told me one of his sons had like stopped
Speaker 2: talking when the wife died, but he said, oh, but
Speaker 2: we'll have enough money to who you know, gave him
Speaker 2: special help and all these different things.
Speaker 1: Brandon lived in New York City, a two and a
Speaker 1: half hour drive from New Haven, and after a few
Speaker 1: weeks of talking, they set a date to meet in Connecticut.
Speaker 2: He made reservations at a really nice seafood restaurant, which
Speaker 2: I'm like, not as.
Speaker 1: He know, he'd clearly done his research and picked a
Speaker 1: place that would really impress. It would be his first
Speaker 1: date after his wife's death, so this was a big deal,
Speaker 1: and he knew Jackie was nervous too, so we offered
Speaker 1: to get her a gift in advance, a new date
Speaker 1: night outfit, something she would feel beautiful in. He sent
Speaker 1: her a few hundred dollars and she got an expensive dress.
Speaker 1: But as the date approached, Jackie started to get cold feet,
Speaker 1: so she asked her older sister for advice.
Speaker 2: She's like, no, don't go. You gotta get kidnapped or something.
Speaker 2: So I didn't go to the restaurant.
Speaker 1: She sent him a text to let him know. Brandon
Speaker 1: said he underst stood they were both new to online dating.
Speaker 1: He could see why she'd be cautious, so they decided
Speaker 1: to slow things down and get to know each other more.
Speaker 1: Brandon started wooing her from afar.
Speaker 2: So he's like, oh, what's your address. I'm going to
Speaker 2: send you something and he did.
Speaker 1: It was a bouquet of flowers and balloons. It made
Speaker 1: her smile. And from there he started sending little deliveries, like.
Speaker 2: If I got home late and you know, I worked
Speaker 2: a ten to twelve hour day or something like that,
Speaker 2: and I'm like, I'm just gonna eat both cereal, then
Speaker 2: it'd be food delivered. And that was like every same
Speaker 2: a weekend.
Speaker 1: He asked about her favorite restaurants. Whenever she had a
Speaker 1: long day, he started sending her food that would be
Speaker 1: waiting for her at her front door.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, he must really care about me that
Speaker 2: he was feeding me and just looking out for me.
Speaker 1: Whenever he saw an opportunity to make her feel special,
Speaker 1: he took it.
Speaker 2: Oh they were love songs poems, you know, very touching,
Speaker 2: and it's like, oh, I haven't had this in a while.
Speaker 1: They looked at the calendar to see if there was
Speaker 1: another weekend they could meet in person, a redo of
Speaker 1: their first date when Jackie got spooped. But Brandon traveled
Speaker 1: a lot for work. If he was on a work contract,
Speaker 1: he could be tied up for weeks, if not months.
Speaker 1: Plus being a single dad made it even more difficult
Speaker 1: to find time. But he wanted Jackie to know he
Speaker 1: was serious about her.
Speaker 2: He's like, I feel like we have a connection and
Speaker 2: we should get off the site. That's when we really
Speaker 2: started talking quite a bit, like maybe three four times
Speaker 2: a day. It felt good.
Speaker 1: After that they were official.
Speaker 2: He was the best, like perfect boyfriend that you could
Speaker 2: think of. He just kept saying, I'm here for you.
Speaker 2: I'm going to take care of you.
Speaker 1: Jackie told her friends and family about Brandon.
Speaker 2: They were almost relieved. I think they were generally happy
Speaker 2: for me, you know, oh, she's found somebody finally.
Speaker 1: He was a good match, someone who grounded her when
Speaker 1: she got overwhelmed.
Speaker 2: He'd always say to me, come down, come down, come down.
Speaker 1: A few months in, they started saying those three words.
Speaker 1: He said it first, but she felt it too. Brandon
Speaker 1: opened up more about his two sons. The laws of
Speaker 1: their mother caused both the kids to shut down. It
Speaker 1: sounded like the whole family was just coming out of
Speaker 1: a very dark period.
Speaker 2: He was like, oh, I thought about taking my own life,
Speaker 2: you know, I leave these kids with no parents.
Speaker 1: On the phone at night, Brandon would sometimes cry. Jackie
Speaker 1: had helped her siblings raise their kids, and she knew
Speaker 1: how exhausting it could be to be a single parent.
Speaker 1: Brandon also traveled for work, which meant that the kids
Speaker 1: mostly stayed with the nanny.
Speaker 2: He's just me like, can't wait to get back with
Speaker 2: the boys after this job.
Speaker 1: Faith had been a huge part of Brandon's life and
Speaker 1: had helped him through the grieving process. So on the
Speaker 1: phone one night, Brandon asked if they could pray together.
Speaker 1: It became something they did every night, and it.
Speaker 2: Was like, Oh, pray that the kids, and then this
Speaker 2: and then that, and it's just now sure tern No,
Speaker 2: it's my turn, you know, back and forth.
Speaker 1: Jackie's a spiritual person, but praying together with a partner
Speaker 1: was new to her. It took her spiritual practice to
Speaker 1: another level.
Speaker 2: I started praying not like I ever had before.
Speaker 1: Jackie was about to turn sixty, and for the first
Speaker 1: time in her life she had a true partner, someone
Speaker 1: who would take care of her.
Speaker 2: All that I've given to my community and taking care
Speaker 2: of everyone. I said, Oh, it's finally my turn for
Speaker 2: someone to take care of me, like God's answered my prayers.
Speaker 1: Jackie met her new boyfriend, Brandon Miller, on a dating
Speaker 1: site for black singles. Within a few months, he was
Speaker 1: saying things to her like.
Speaker 2: Oh, you seem like someone I want to settle down with.
Speaker 2: You're the one I want you to raise my kids.
Speaker 2: We're going to be together. I used to call mister Miller.
Speaker 2: I'll be like, hey, mister Miller.
Speaker 1: And he had his own pet names for her.
Speaker 2: He would always say Queen, my queen, be you know
Speaker 2: missus Miller. Yeah, like perfect.
Speaker 1: It was easy to envision a future together. She wasn't
Speaker 1: intimidated by the idea of helping him raise his sons.
Speaker 2: I've been taking care of children my entire adult life,
Speaker 2: so it wasn't like, oh my god, I'd be overwhelmed
Speaker 2: by children and at my age, how are you going
Speaker 2: to meet someone who does not have children.
Speaker 1: Plus, he could afford a full time nanny for the kids,
Speaker 1: and he continued to send Jackie gifts.
Speaker 2: He even sent me a necklace that had my picture
Speaker 2: on one side and his on the other.
Speaker 1: When she would send him pictures of her day, he
Speaker 1: noticed she wasn't wearing the necklace.
Speaker 2: He's like, oh, you're not wearing a necklace. I said, no,
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna wear until you get here.
Speaker 1: They hadn't met in person yet, but it was always
Speaker 1: just around the corner. The next time he finished a
Speaker 1: work contract and had time available, he promised to come
Speaker 1: visit her.
Speaker 2: Come, I'm going to see you. We're going to be together.
Speaker 1: One of Brandon's side hobbies was investing. He had invested
Speaker 1: the payout from his wife's life insurance, which helped him
Speaker 1: to stay afloat during COVID.
Speaker 2: He used that money to invest and get all this
Speaker 2: money to be able to invest more and just keep
Speaker 2: investing because that's all he had to do during COVID
Speaker 2: with the kids at home. Was learning all about investing.
Speaker 1: And he wanted to help Jackie learn how to do
Speaker 1: the same.
Speaker 2: He said, oh, have you heard of crypto? I said, ah,
Speaker 2: I've heard about it, but most people, you know, like
Speaker 2: getting And he's like, oh, I've really got to read
Speaker 2: up on it, and you know, I know a lot
Speaker 2: about it. Let me know if you think you want
Speaker 2: to invest.
Speaker 1: He sent her screenshots of his returns.
Speaker 2: So then he starts to send me these statements which
Speaker 2: he had I think at that time, I don't know
Speaker 2: invested two million and had four million.
Speaker 1: Jackie thought about her own accounts and what it would
Speaker 1: mean to double that number. Doubling her retirement fund would
Speaker 1: mean being able to travel more. Maybe she could buy
Speaker 1: a vacation home and bring her family there too.
Speaker 2: I'm like, I really want to retire, all right, So okay,
Speaker 2: I'm going to do it.
Speaker 1: She decided to start small, with forty thousand dollars from
Speaker 1: her four oh one K. The account would be in
Speaker 1: her name and she would be the only one with
Speaker 1: access to it, but Brandon would help her set it up.
Speaker 1: He put her in touch with a friend of his
Speaker 1: who could broke her the deal.
Speaker 2: This second person whose name is Mike. He has like
Speaker 2: an English accent. He calls me and he's going to
Speaker 2: help me set up the account, show me how to
Speaker 2: buy bitcoin.
Speaker 1: So Jackie invested forty thousand dollars. It was pretty easy,
Speaker 1: and the next month.
Speaker 2: They sent me a state and I was like, what
Speaker 2: is this one hundred thousand dollars one hundred and something.
Speaker 1: This didn't make sense. No returns could be that high.
Speaker 1: This must be someone else's money, and that meant someone
Speaker 1: else had access to her account.
Speaker 2: She called Brandon and I said to him, you told
Speaker 2: me nobody would have access, and I even have an
Speaker 2: email that I said, and I said, I want my
Speaker 2: money back. Because I was told that this was only
Speaker 2: going to be my account. He said, no, no, no, I
Speaker 2: wanted to put this in so you could grow your
Speaker 2: money faster.
Speaker 1: Brandon had invested some of his own funds as a
Speaker 1: gift to increase her returns, and he also wanted to
Speaker 1: open up a shared account, one where they could both
Speaker 1: invest in their future.
Speaker 2: So then he's like, you know, I'm going to send
Speaker 2: you one hundred thousand dollars and we'll invest it, you
Speaker 2: know more.
Speaker 1: They started painting the picture of what their life to
Speaker 1: get could look like, what this money could buy them.
Speaker 1: They also started planning for the moment they'd finally meet
Speaker 1: in person.
Speaker 2: So the holidays come and he's not able to come again.
Speaker 2: But it's like, look, i'm gonna make this up to you.
Speaker 2: Your sixtieth birthday's coming, and I said, well, you know,
Speaker 2: I had a fiftieth birthday party on a yacht.
Speaker 1: If a yacht is what she wanted, Brandon can make
Speaker 1: it happen. He offered to pay for Jackie's sixtieth birthday party.
Speaker 1: He wanted it to be the celebration of a lifetime
Speaker 1: because she deserved it. This party was especially meaningful because
Speaker 1: Brandon would be there to meet all of Jackie's family
Speaker 1: and friends.
Speaker 2: And I was like, well, what's the budget? He says,
Speaker 2: blank check, blank.
Speaker 1: Jack blank check is the kind of phrase that does
Speaker 1: something to your body. She'd never been worried about money,
Speaker 1: but this was the first time in her life she'd
Speaker 1: gotten to play with money.
Speaker 2: Now I know how to plan a party, So I
Speaker 2: find this boat. I start making all these plans. I
Speaker 2: mean I had a photo booth, a cigar bar, sparkles, DJ,
Speaker 2: everything you could think of, to the tune of eighty grand. Now,
Speaker 2: if I was retiring, there's no way in hell I
Speaker 2: would have paid that much for a party. My other
Speaker 2: party ten years before it might have been twenty thousand.
Speaker 2: But you know, my birthdays in July, and I always
Speaker 2: want to give my friends and family and experience that
Speaker 2: they would never have.
Speaker 1: When it came time for Brandon to pay.
Speaker 2: He sends sixteen thousand back my way through wire transferred
Speaker 2: to my account. I get a cashier's check and I
Speaker 2: pay the vendors.
Speaker 1: Her confidence in him and their relationship started to deepen.
Speaker 1: Whenever he said he would do something, he was good
Speaker 1: for it. When Jackie's niece joined the party, planning. Brandon
Speaker 1: was happy to connect with her.
Speaker 2: My niece and I went to see the boat and
Speaker 2: he called and he was talking to myself and my niece.
Speaker 1: Plus Jackie was already seeing returns from her initial investment,
Speaker 1: so she decided to invest more with Brandon's broker.
Speaker 2: And I showed several people and I was like, They're like, oh, wow,
Speaker 2: you're making all this money.
Speaker 1: That's when Jackie got a letter about a shareholder opportunity.
Speaker 1: It was from one of Brandon's connections in the finance world.
Speaker 2: This letter was addressed to both of us.
Speaker 1: It was an opportunity to get in on the ground
Speaker 1: floor of a new crypto company.
Speaker 2: It was a million dollar buy in.
Speaker 1: Brandon agreed to split it with her. At this point,
Speaker 1: Jackie was all in. She cashed out one of her
Speaker 1: retirement accounts, which.
Speaker 2: Was four hundred and nineteen thousand after taxes, and she
Speaker 2: made the transfer bought bitcoin transfer to the wallet.
Speaker 1: Their party was still a few months away. The relationship
Speaker 1: felt strong, and the returns on their investment were even stronger.
Speaker 2: By now, I think he has like ten million in
Speaker 2: his gont you know, and I think mine may have
Speaker 2: reached two million.
Speaker 1: Jackie was counting down the days until her party. She'd
Speaker 1: booked the vendors and sent out the invites.
Speaker 2: So all the build up for my sixtieth birthday party
Speaker 2: was going to be Everyone was so excited to meet branded.
Speaker 2: They were going to meet Brandon and the kids. And
Speaker 2: this is a person who I was going to spend
Speaker 2: my life with. And I think everyone was knowing I
Speaker 2: deserved a partner to spend the rest of my life with,
Speaker 2: Knowing how I've dedicated my life to my family and
Speaker 2: all my coworkers and the hospital, I've been loyalty to
Speaker 2: a fault. So they were really, you know, looking forward
Speaker 2: to it.
Speaker 1: Brandon planned to come in a few days in advance
Speaker 1: to finally meet her and help with last minute preparations,
Speaker 1: and in the weeks leading up to it, they were
Speaker 1: constantly in touch.
Speaker 2: So we're planning the party, I'm buying dresses and sending
Speaker 2: in pictures. Oh that's beautiful again, the beautiful.
Speaker 1: That blank check Brandon mentioned he followed through Jackie got
Speaker 1: a check for one hundred thousand dollars.
Speaker 2: So eventually the check did come and I'm like, I
Speaker 2: told my girlfriend.
Speaker 1: Jackie's friend was excited for her, but she was also
Speaker 1: a little skeptical. One hundred thousand dollars was a huge
Speaker 1: amount of money to receive in the mail, and there
Speaker 1: was something else about this check that didn't seem right.
Speaker 1: Brandon's name wasn't on it. Instead, it was a woman's name,
Speaker 1: a woman Jackie had never heard of. When she asked
Speaker 1: Brandon about it.
Speaker 2: He told me that she was one of his clients
Speaker 2: and she owed him money.
Speaker 1: I'm okay, but Jackie's friend wasn't convinced. She encouraged Jackie
Speaker 1: to go to the police to make sure the check
Speaker 1: was safe to cash.
Speaker 2: I go to the police and I say, I got
Speaker 2: this check. I don't know if it's fraud or it's
Speaker 2: bake or whatever. But they just blew me off, took
Speaker 2: down my statement and just said, oh see if it clears.
Speaker 1: The check cleared. If the cops weren't worried about it.
Speaker 1: Jackie wasn't either. Brandon had one more surprise the day
Speaker 1: after the party. He wanted to take her on a trip.
Speaker 2: We were going to Santorini.
Speaker 1: That trip would be the beginning of their life together,
Speaker 1: finally in the same place.
Speaker 2: So he wanted to move to Connecticut. I was like,
Speaker 2: you know, the weather's like here, and he's like yeah,
Speaker 2: he you know, had been in New York and Virginia.
Speaker 2: And that's when he started sending me along with these statements,
Speaker 2: he's sending me real estate listings of a million dollar
Speaker 2: homes in affluent parts of Connecticut.
Speaker 1: They were strategizing about which town and neighborhood would be
Speaker 1: best for his kids.
Speaker 2: And he's like, Oh, what are the schools like around there?
Speaker 2: And I'm telling them about the country day schools and
Speaker 2: where they are.
Speaker 1: The date of the party was growing closer. Brandon was
Speaker 1: finishing up a work contract across the country.
Speaker 2: And he's still He's coming, He's coming, he's coming. He's
Speaker 2: wrapping up the job in California.
Speaker 1: About a week before the party, I get.
Speaker 2: A call on my cell phone and I said East
Speaker 2: Haven Police. I'm like, God, what the hell do they want?
Speaker 2: She picked up and it's a detective trand he says this,
Speaker 2: Jacquelin Crinchhaw. I say yes, he said, Jacquelin, we got
Speaker 2: a call, an anonymous call from a gentleman with a
Speaker 2: thick Indian accent, stating you were being scammed and they
Speaker 2: felt sorry for you.
Speaker 1: After planning a blank chech sixtieth birthday party, scheduling a
Speaker 1: trip to Santorini and going in on million dollar investments.
Speaker 1: Jackie still hadn't met Brandon. That's when she got a
Speaker 1: call from a detective.
Speaker 2: He says, this, Jacqueline Crine, Shall I say yes? He said, Jacqueline,
Speaker 2: we got a call, an anonymous call from a gentleman
Speaker 2: with a thick Indian accent, stating you were being scammed
Speaker 2: and they felt sorry for you. I think I like
Speaker 2: blanked out, maybe had a little seizure or or just
Speaker 2: that gut punch. He was like hello, I said, uh.
Speaker 2: He said, are you being scammed? And I said, uh no,
Speaker 2: like very doubtful, like oh so I hung.
Speaker 1: Up Immediately, Jackie tried to sign into her online account
Speaker 1: where she managed all of her investments, but the website
Speaker 1: was down. She was locked out. In that moment, everything
Speaker 1: clicked for Jackie, the doubts she pushed away about Brandon,
Speaker 1: about that one hundred thousand dollars check. She wasn't ready
Speaker 1: to admit it out loud, but she knew the truth.
Speaker 2: My head exploded, like I said, oh my god, oh
Speaker 2: my god, oh my god, oh my god. I sat
Speaker 2: for probably two hours numb, very numb, thinking oh my god,
Speaker 2: oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, and
Speaker 2: just trying to tally up all the losses.
Speaker 1: The loss was massive. She'd cashed out all of her
Speaker 1: retirement accounts, hundreds of thousands. She'd even borrowed against the
Speaker 1: value of her home. While she was reeling, she knew
Speaker 1: one thing. She couldn't let Brandon know that she had
Speaker 1: been tipped off.
Speaker 2: So the next day Brandon called, I said, oh, I'm
Speaker 2: not feeling well. You know, I've got to sign his headache.
Speaker 2: And I didn't say anything. I just was trying to
Speaker 2: figure out what the hell I was going to do.
Speaker 1: She went to the police again. This time it wasn't
Speaker 1: a suspicion. She knew something was wrong and she wanted
Speaker 1: her money back.
Speaker 2: I get an appointment with the state police and he's like,
Speaker 2: you know, try to bring you all the information you can.
Speaker 1: And Jackie had the receipts, thousands of them. She went
Speaker 1: to geek squad Best Buy to transfer all of her
Speaker 1: text messages and emails with Brandon to a hard drive.
Speaker 2: It took them six hours. I think there has to
Speaker 2: be over ten thousand. I don't know twenty thousand text
Speaker 2: messages and all this stuff. I made capies and I
Speaker 2: have a suitcase full of these text messages. So I
Speaker 2: went dramatically to the State Police, dragging a suitcase in
Speaker 2: this sea drive.
Speaker 1: The investigation would take some time, and the cops wanted
Speaker 1: to get as much out of Brandon as they could.
Speaker 2: When I went to the State Police, they tried to
Speaker 2: get me to still talk to him, but I just
Speaker 2: couldn't fake it any longer.
Speaker 1: She needed to confront Brandon about all the money he
Speaker 1: had stolen from her.
Speaker 2: I said, you ruined my life, you know. He denied it.
Speaker 2: He's like, oh, where's this coming from? And I was like,
Speaker 2: I can't even believe this, and he just like, no,
Speaker 2: let me talk to my broker. I'm going to get
Speaker 2: this straightened out.
Speaker 1: This confrontation, and it wouldn't be without consequence.
Speaker 2: I was getting all these rejection letters from credit unions,
Speaker 2: Christian credit unions, credit card companies, all all. I'm like,
Speaker 2: what is this? I did not apply for any of this.
Speaker 1: Since Brandon knew Jackie was on to him, he made
Speaker 1: a last ditch effort to squeeze her for all she
Speaker 1: was worth. Suddenly, Jackie was getting notifications from banks and
Speaker 1: credit card companies she'd never heard of.
Speaker 2: How could I owe City Bank one hundred thousand dollars
Speaker 2: when my limit was forty thousand On my credit report
Speaker 2: there is an account from Fifth Third Bank. I do
Speaker 2: not have the Fifth Third account, so if that count
Speaker 2: was open at that bank, they may have used checks
Speaker 2: to make payments to my MasterCard, which were fake checks anyway,
Speaker 2: but they paid them.
Speaker 1: After that, Brandon went MIA. He disappeared from Jackie's life entirely,
Speaker 1: and the police investigation uncovered that the real person in
Speaker 1: Brandon's photos.
Speaker 2: Was a gentleman from Australia.
Speaker 1: The guy in the pictures had no idea who Jackie was.
Speaker 1: He lived in Australia, worked in construction, and unbeknownst to him,
Speaker 1: someone somewhere had been stealing his photos straight from his
Speaker 1: public social media profiles. Jackie was reeling because she'd spoken
Speaker 1: to Brandon's two kids on the phone. All of a sudden,
Speaker 1: she realized those must have been adults, disguising their voices
Speaker 1: and playing the part of children.
Speaker 2: He was controlling it all because it was like texting
Speaker 2: me at the same time, I guess, acting like he
Speaker 2: was the kids.
Speaker 1: It was so intricate. There was no way Brandon could
Speaker 1: have done this alone. The police had been investigating her
Speaker 1: case and they came back with a few answers.
Speaker 2: The state trooper traced two of the crypto wallets bunch
Speaker 2: Shanghai went to Nigeria.
Speaker 1: The investigation led the police across the world to warehouses
Speaker 1: full of computers, and the.
Speaker 2: Police actually investigatively had traveled to Thailand and Cambodia and
Speaker 2: said the building was as big as a casino, full
Speaker 2: of tables and computers and people scamming. So I stepped
Speaker 2: into something huge. I think it is international, and I
Speaker 2: have no idea where this person is.
Speaker 1: As far as that one hundred thousand dollars check Jackie
Speaker 1: got in the mail, the police went back to check
Speaker 1: it out. They found out that it was sent from
Speaker 1: a woman in Florida who was another victim of this
Speaker 1: complex scam.
Speaker 2: I find out later from the state police that she
Speaker 2: sent two people one hundred thousand dollars and she thought
Speaker 2: I was an investor. That's what she was told.
Speaker 1: One thing she doesn't have the answer to is who
Speaker 1: called to tip off the police. She wonders if it
Speaker 1: was Brandon himself disguising his voice or someone else who
Speaker 1: she'd never met.
Speaker 2: My girlfriend thinks that maybe it was him, and she's like,
Speaker 2: I think he's had feelings for you, And I think
Speaker 2: somebody probably if you were talking to me for a year,
Speaker 2: you'd probably get feelings for me too.
Speaker 1: While detectives chased wallets across borders, Jackie had to live
Speaker 1: in the wreckage. At home, there was still the question
Speaker 1: of her party, which was supposed to be the following week.
Speaker 2: Why would I cancel if we've already I someone was
Speaker 2: invested like seventy two grand.
Speaker 1: She'd already paid for the party, so she might as
Speaker 1: well enjoy it.
Speaker 2: It was a white party, it was open bar. It
Speaker 2: was unbelievable. Some people will never experience this again in
Speaker 2: their life. You know. It was a beautiful day, so
Speaker 2: you know, we're all just on this sixtieth birthday party
Speaker 2: having a great time.
Speaker 1: But the whole party was built on an illusion, and
Speaker 1: Jackie was one of the only ones that day who
Speaker 1: knew the truth. It was hard enough for Jackie to
Speaker 1: go through with the party. She couldn't bring herself to
Speaker 1: tell her friends and family what really happened.
Speaker 2: So we go on. The party goes on without a hitch.
Speaker 2: You know, They're like, oh, where's the old couldn't you know,
Speaker 2: couldn't make it because I was kind of it was
Speaker 2: kind of dark, and I'm going through with the state
Speaker 2: police and the investigation.
Speaker 1: But after the party, it was time to face the music.
Speaker 2: I'm starting to have to deal with what is happening
Speaker 2: now with all these finances. It seemed like mission impossible.
Speaker 2: With how I was trying to deal with this.
Speaker 1: She had to tell her family and friends what happened.
Speaker 2: I tell my niece, and I tell my best friend,
Speaker 2: my godmother who's in her eighties. I thought she was
Speaker 2: going to have like a heart attack. She was so
Speaker 2: heartbroken that someone would do this to me.
Speaker 1: Even Jackie was having a hard time believing it. Everything
Speaker 1: about Brandon felt so real. They prayed together. He's in
Speaker 1: her meals multiple times a week. He really knew her.
Speaker 1: It made Jackie question the thing she knew to be
Speaker 1: true about herself.
Speaker 2: I thought I was like a sharper tech in the box.
Speaker 2: It seems ridiculous because there was Some of my friends
Speaker 2: are like, jack come on, he can't show his face.
Speaker 2: This is a scam. Only look me. Maybe twice I
Speaker 2: heard this is a scam.
Speaker 1: When she reflects on how this happened, it's.
Speaker 2: A psychological thing where I feel like I got softened
Speaker 2: by that partner being just that great and supportive and
Speaker 2: I'm so proud of you and da da dah, this
Speaker 2: and that, but human and I think that human factor
Speaker 2: got in and he was able to, whether you say,
Speaker 2: manipulate me or just have me trust him.
Speaker 1: The emotional manipulation is the thing that she struggles to
Speaker 1: make sense of. She wasn't desperate for a partner, She
Speaker 1: was just open to connection, and Brandon, whoever he was,
Speaker 1: took advantage of that. It was enough of an opening
Speaker 1: for this scam to work.
Speaker 2: He really sold me like, Yep, we're going to be together.
Speaker 2: So I think just that vulnerability, which I didn't at
Speaker 2: the time think I had, it is so hard to
Speaker 2: stop my brain from just you know, rehash, rehash, rehash.
Speaker 1: Jackie's had to face steep financial consequences. When we asked
Speaker 1: her the total amount she started shuffling through papers.
Speaker 2: Forty thousand, four one hundred and twenty thousand, one hundred
Speaker 2: and eighty nine thousand, plus another one hundred and fifty
Speaker 2: thousand plus one hundred thousand to bank of America thirty
Speaker 2: thousand to Navy Federal Did I say City Bank one
Speaker 2: hundred thousand. It's definitely over a million.
Speaker 1: She'd been wiped out for the first time in decades.
Speaker 1: She had to budget for every dollar.
Speaker 2: I was in my local grocery store and this cheese
Speaker 2: company had some smoke gooda cheese. So I said, oh,
Speaker 2: taystep and I said to him, Oh, how much is this?
Speaker 2: It was eight ninety nine, and I said, shit, I
Speaker 2: can't justify paying almost ten dollars for a little tiny
Speaker 2: ball of cheese.
Speaker 1: Jackie borrowed money from her niece to get an attorney
Speaker 1: to file for Chapter thirteen bankruptcy.
Speaker 2: I owe City Bank one hundred thousand dollars. They want
Speaker 2: twenty five hundred a month. What I try, I had
Speaker 2: to do was negotiate, but it's not working. My credit
Speaker 2: went from seven ninety to now five hundred. I've never
Speaker 2: ever had bad credit. I never missed the payment on anything,
Speaker 2: but now having to see what bad credit does. I
Speaker 2: work hard, I make my money, and it's going right back.
Speaker 1: Out because of this scam. She'll never have the retirement
Speaker 1: she planned and saved her entire life for.
Speaker 2: That part brings a lot of anger and hurt. I
Speaker 2: got a tax bill from the IRS for the four
Speaker 2: h three B I owe fifty five thousand, fifty six
Speaker 2: now and I'll have to make a payment plan.
Speaker 1: And because she borrowed a get is the value of
Speaker 1: her home.
Speaker 2: I'm in a short sale. We got to find you
Speaker 2: somewhere lit. I'm just not sure what the future holds.
Speaker 1: She held out a hope for a few months that
Speaker 1: the police could recover her assets, but because crypto transactions
Speaker 1: use the blockchain and not traditional banks, that money can't
Speaker 1: be traced back to individuals. The police hit a dead end.
Speaker 2: I know I'm not going to get a dime of
Speaker 2: that money back, but they are keeping the case open.
Speaker 1: The police were so worried about Jackie's mental health that
Speaker 1: they sent a social worker to do a wellness check.
Speaker 2: Maybe because I do have a gun permit and I
Speaker 2: have a gun, that they might look like, uh oh,
Speaker 2: because people have taken their lives or harmed themselves with
Speaker 2: all of this going on, and with just the pure
Speaker 2: magnitude of how much money I lost, But that was
Speaker 2: never a thought, ever a thought.
Speaker 1: Jackie's resilient.
Speaker 2: She kept going, I don't let it consume me, because
Speaker 2: that would paralyze me. I'm like, I gotta go to work.
Speaker 2: I gotta face these people, and that right was one
Speaker 2: of the hardest things I had to do at that time,
Speaker 2: was put a smile on my face and continue on.
Speaker 2: There's a ignition in me that is gonna prevail with this.
Speaker 2: She says.
Speaker 1: Her line of work puts loss in perspective.
Speaker 2: Working at a cancer hospital. You know, I like stuff,
Speaker 2: I like nice things, but you can't take any of
Speaker 2: it with you.
Speaker 1: Her knee stepped up and started a fundraising campaign, which
Speaker 1: helped Jackie cover a few bills.
Speaker 2: Maybe like four thousand. People gave what they could, but
Speaker 2: I was overwhelmed with people just being generous.
Speaker 1: Unfortunately, this type of crime is prevalent in older demographics,
Speaker 1: and Jackie's story, while devastating, is not unique. AARP, a
Speaker 1: nonprofit organization that provides resources related to aging, reached out
Speaker 1: to Jackie. They wanted to work with her to help
Speaker 1: educate others about these types of scams.
Speaker 2: I was a spotl like speaker for April and one
Speaker 2: woman you know, confessed that she was scammed and she's like,
Speaker 2: you know, how do you move on? I said, One
Speaker 2: day at a time. There's times I want to beat
Speaker 2: myself up, but nope, I just educate people, and I
Speaker 2: always say, don't do what I did. That's what is
Speaker 2: motivating me to fight.
Speaker 1: Jackie wants to help prevent this kind of scam from
Speaker 1: happening to other people, to show how sophisticated these scams
Speaker 1: can be. Jackie didn't trust Brandon based on his online
Speaker 1: messages alone. He invested real money into her life, and
Speaker 1: she saw the payoff. Her favorite meals were delivered to
Speaker 1: her door. Expensive jewelry arrived in the mail, Her bank
Speaker 1: accounts grew. It was more than just a promise of luxury.
Speaker 1: It was the true taste of it for many months.
Speaker 1: Scammers like Jackies are willing to spend one hundred thousand
Speaker 1: dollars on their victims if it means they will eventually
Speaker 1: get a million back. These scams don't happen in the
Speaker 1: blink of an eye. The scammers invest money, emotion, and
Speaker 1: time into their victims for months before pulling their rug
Speaker 1: out from under them. We end every weekly episode with
Speaker 1: the same question, why do you want to share your story?
Speaker 2: I have to tell myself every day I'm a victim.
Speaker 2: Whoever is on these websites scamming people. Their entire job
Speaker 2: is to distance me with my money, and I know,
Speaker 2: just talking people, they are plagued with fear and embarrassment,
Speaker 2: and that fight in me said, if you go hide
Speaker 2: and you don't tell your story and you know you're embarrassed,
Speaker 2: you're not going to help anyone.
Speaker 1: On the next episode of Betrayal Weekly.
Speaker 3: Within seconds, I get a Facebook message, is this about
Speaker 3: your dad? And I got like a chill down my back.
Speaker 3: I responded with yes, with like a bunch of dots,
Speaker 3: and he immediately replied with I know this because it
Speaker 3: happened to me too.
Speaker 1: Before we end the episode, I have some exciting news Betrayal.
Speaker 1: We'll be doing our first ever live show as part
Speaker 1: of the Virgin Voyage's True Crime Cruise. We'll be answering
Speaker 1: listener questions and discussing them live on stage with Stacy
Speaker 1: and Tyler from Betrayal season three, as well as Caroline
Speaker 1: from season four. So if you have a question for us,
Speaker 1: please email us at Betrayalpod at gmail dot com with
Speaker 1: the subject line listener question and if you want to
Speaker 1: join us on the Caribbean cruise, there are still spots
Speaker 1: available search virgin voyages dot com, slash true crime. If
Speaker 1: you would like to reach out to the Betrayal team
Speaker 1: or want to tell us your Betrayal story, email us
Speaker 1: at Betrayalpod at gmail dot com, That's Betrayal Pod at
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Speaker 1: You can also connect with me on Instagram at It's
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Speaker 1: Nancy Glass and Jennifer Fason, hosted and produced by Me
Speaker 1: Andrea Gunning, written and produced by Monique Leboard, also produced
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