MFM Minisode 498

This is exactly right. But the millionaire duo are concealing a dark past and dastardly intentions. From USG Audio, Blanchard House, and Exactly Right Media, this is Royal Swindle. New episodes drop every Thursday. Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. We know so much more about our skin than we used to. And we know how important it is to take care of it. Take care of it with CeraVe. CeraVe facial cleansers don't strip the skin. They strengthen the skin barrier from day one. I've always used CeraVe. They have little samples at my dermatologist as I'm leaving. And they don't do that with just anything. CeraVe is the number one dermatologist-recommended cleanser brand and offers a range of facial cleansers for all skin types. Find yours. Goodbye. Technology is getting so smart. Coffee makers are about two weeks away from sending emails. And home security shouldn't be any different. That's where SimpliSafe comes in. Unlike traditional. Security systems that alert you after a break-in starts, SimpliSafe is designed to help stop intruders before they get inside. SimpliSafe smart outdoor cameras can detect suspicious activity around your home. If something looks wrong, live agents can assess the situation in real time. It's a more proactive approach to home security, helping prevent a break-in instead of just responding to one. Can I tell you this morning, Vince found a chicken wing bong in our backyard, which makes zero sense. The fact that we can use our cameras to be like, what the hell? Where did this come from? Is it an intruder that was hungry or is it some kind of animal is like huge. Right now, you can get 50% off a new SimpliSafe system. Go to SimpliSafe.com slash MFM. That's SimpliSafe.com slash MFM for 50% off. And when you order, please write in my favorite murder in the how did you hear about us survey to let them know we sent you. Don't forget, there's no safe like SimpliSafe. Bye. Hello and welcome to my favorite to my favorite murder, the mini sode. And this week, we have a very special themed episode for you. We're celebrating Exactly Right's brand new limited series podcast, Royal Swindle. It premiered on Thursday, July 23rd. And Royal Swindle tells the story of two fabulously wealthy Australian women. Who charmed their way into British high societies in the 1990s. But behind all the glamour and country houses, these women are hiding a dark past, some very bad intentions and a truly wild con. So in honor of our new show, Royal Swindle, we are going to be reading all scammer emails. I love this. This is my favorite theme. Let's just change the mini sodes to all scammers because I couldn't stop laughing. There are many podcasts that would have a problem with that. That's true. We really got into that. Do you want to go first? Sure. Do it. Okay. Here's a hotel scam story from the employee perspective. Hi. I'll admit I'm not a day one listener, but I have been listening for a long time. To the point where my husband mentioned my love of That Murder podcast in our wedding vows. Oh, my God. And have been waiting for the day I'd have something to write in. I just listened to the recent episode about Anna Delvey and cackled at the part where you mentioned all of the hotel staff fighting to take care of her. Because she tipped so well. Because me and my fellow employees did that once with a woman who turned out to be scamming the hotel. Yes. Well, not the hotel directly, but I'll explain. About 10 years ago, I was working at a restaurant that was attached to a hotel. One day, this lady started calling in for room service and tipped at least 20 bucks every time he brought her something, regardless of how much or how little you brought. We all noticed because we were money hungry little monsters and people started fighting over who got to take care of her. Like to the point people would stand by. The room service phone just waiting for her to call. Smart. I mean, and also, have you ever stayed at a hotel where it felt like someone was standing directly by the room service phone? Like, oh, I didn't think you. I wasn't ready to order my waffles. I don't know what I want. Day two or three of her stay, her daughter came with her kids to stay with her. They told us the daughter got rich recently when she, quote, fell into a job selling private airplanes. I know. I know. It's ridiculous. I can't believe we fell for it. But anyways. Just really quick. Yeah. Because there's a lot of people. There's a lot of people who fly on private airplanes. Yeah. So they don't own the planes. But it seems like the daughter sold those planes to the rich people. Yes. I'm just saying hard job because there's not that many who can actually be like, no, no, no. We don't just want to rent the plane for this one trip for an egregious amount of money. No. It's a very specialized field probably. Yeah. Right? By day six or seven, one of the restaurant managers got suspicious and told the hotel manager they should run her credit card and make sure it was valid. Smart. I assume this is normal practice when someone hits a certain dollar point. Yeah. I don't know. They ran the card and it went through. But my manager had a bad feeling and said the hotel manager should call the credit card company to have them reach out to the person who held the account to make sure it was the lady putting charges on the card. So not shockingly, it was a gender neutral name. So we hadn't questioned it. Turns out this lady had met a man at a bar across the street and they decided they wanted to do a little horizontal tangoing and got a hotel room. The next morning the guy left, but he never checked. He never checked out of the hotel as a walk-in. There was no checkout date on file, so the room just kept charging the card. I walk out all the time. I didn't know you had a checkout. I mean, these days you usually don't. Right. Like, they're going to kick you out at 11 no matter what. Yeah, that's right. And you can't charge anything after the time you're kicked out, you know. I bet you could. I guess you could, though. Well. I don't know. Yeah, maybe not. I thought we had solved this problem. I thought we were done with this, and that's why I'm reading this one. Yeah. Apparently, this lady waited around for checkout. And when no one came, knocking, she decided to stay. She is a scammer. She got a week-long, all-expenses-paid vacay on this guy's dime, and he didn't have a clue until the credit card company called him. She ended up racking around $4,000 between the room, food, and booze, and they wouldn't reverse the charges because they made it clear when he checked in that he would also need a checkout. Yes. Anyways, turns out the lady had a warrant for her arrest for check fraud, so the cops asked the hotel manager to keep it quiet until they got there. But they could arrest her. She invited her daughter and grandchildren. Like, her daughter, who sold planes. She said, you've got to get over here. I have a free fucking room. Let's have a vacation. Do you think the daughter really does sell planes, though, or do you think they were making up jobs to sound rich? I think they were, like, trying to sound rich. And then she's like, I don't know. What do rich people do? Sell fucking private planes? You know how rich people fly on private planes? I sell those private planes. Someone's got to sell them. We watched from the parking lot as they took her away, and I've got to say, a lot of us were feeling bad for her. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. The guy had to press charges and would need to take her to court to get his money back. But don't feel bad for him. He told the hotel he wanted to handle it privately. All caps. Because he was married. Because he didn't want to have to tell his wife. He should have to. I know. So the moral of the story is don't cheat on your wife and always make sure you check out of your hotel room. Dang. My best friend and I were at your Chicago show in November and had an amazing time. We met a bunch of girls at the show who were freaking awesome, and we ended up going out to a couple of bars with them after. We were bonding over the love of all things true crime. Love you all so much. Thank you for all the laughs and comfort you've brought every one of us listeners. Laura. Thanks, Laura. Thank you, Laura. That was a great story. That is like, you just never know what someone else is fucking up to. Yes. You know? Also, I think all those ways that we can, like, close and lock the door behind us technologically is like, yes, why don't I take three minutes and check out of a hotel? We're very spoiled. Starting a business can feel like one giant challenge. A giant project made up of approximately 4,000 smaller projects. Make your work 4,000 times easier with Shopify. Shopify powers millions of businesses worldwide, from major household names to small businesses just getting started. Their templates and tools get you a stunning site up and running fast, no coding needed. Everything you need is in one place. You can manage your store, checkout, and other parts of your business from one platform. Shopify checkout makes buying easy, and returning customers can check out in just one click. Shopify is built in assistance. A consistent sidekick is there to help when you have questions, need to troubleshoot, or aren't sure what to do next. Because Shopify handles the setup and checkout, you have more time to focus on growing your business and the tools to do it. Don't wait for the right time to launch, create it. Start managing all aspects of your business with Shopify. If you're ready to hear the of your first sale today, head over to shopify.com slash murder to start your free trial today. That's right. Start your free trial at shopify.com slash murder. That's shopify.com slash murder. Goodbye. Okay. Here's my first one. The subject line is 19-year-old fake doctor. And it's not our guy. A lot of these scammers are people like, this is what I did. It's not like other people scamming. It's so good. They're like, they're confessing on themselves. Yes. And it's fun because it's like, listen, everybody, I think when you're young, you like tell yourself I'm bad if you do a bad thing. It's like everyone's bad and everyone's good. Everybody gets it. into these situations like, I'm not saying please don't steal money from people please steal money from people and lie I mean like it's just the opposite though it's like you when you're young you have your experiences with that and then you feel the extreme self-revulsion after you do it like oh I guess I'm I guess I'm a bad person that just means you're human and that's it's a good sign if you are like a little bit guilty that you did something shitty yeah that's a good sign but yeah pay people back and say sorry right somebody calls in Karen stole $20 out of my purse okay but she said sorry but she said sorry 50 years later hi Karen of Georgia and all the amazing people at exactly right heart shape heart emoji sorry heart shaped emoji it's shaped like a heart I've been a day one listener since February of 2020 oh the dark days when I discovered your show and immediately went back to listen from the very beginning it took me about six months to catch up and during the time you were with me through COVID buying my first house getting divorced and selling that same house meeting the love of my life and having our son who somehow is already two years old wow that's quite an arc thank you for being there through so many of the biggest moments of my life all the highs and lows in between I'm from Denmark and English is not my first language so please excuse any errors grammar well there's the first one errors grammar did you highlight you should highlight and circle that we'll send it back to her in red errors grammar okay it says more specifically they're from a town in the suburbs of Copenhagen called you got it but look at the way it's spelled h v yeah that sounds right oh yeah I'm got it this story I'm about to tell you is a true hometown story for me in the summer of 2019 a 19 year old man walked into Vitro for a hospital just outside Copenhagen where now I'm mispronouncing Copenhagen wearing a white lab coat and claiming to be a medical student for about a month he moved between hospital departments examined patients wrote medical records and even prescribed medication despite having no medical training at all doctors nurses patients and families all believed he belonged there yeah why tall white blonde one of his patients that's all they have in Copenhagen that's true that's the only flavor then is it what's the where's the privilege where's the prejudice one of his patients was a six-month-old baby girl he examined him and he said he was a examined her, prescribed medication, and sent her home. When she didn't improve, her parents returned to the hospital a few days later, where a real doctor diagnosed her with pneumonia and treated her successfully. Things got even weirder. One day, he walked up to an ambulance parked outside the hospital and told the EMTs, we have to leave right now. There's been a hanging. As you can imagine, that's never how an ambulance is sent to an emergency. The doctor runs down with a note. Let's go. That always comes through the emergency dispatch center. When the EMTs didn't react to the guy's orders, he walked off. The EMTs went in and sounded the alarm. And the next time the guy showed up at the hospital, he was arrested for suspicion of fraud. He went on to be investigated, tried, and later convicted. During the trial, it was revealed how he was not a medical student. In fact, he had not made it into med school that year. He just really badly wanted to be a doctor. It had been his lifelong dream. My lifelong dream, but not enough. Not enough to try harder. Not enough to study well enough to pass tests or be a good doctor. I just want to do it. And I don't care how good or bad I am at it. I feel like that way about podcasting. Yeah. Just get it done. And if people die, they die. He was convicted of impersonating a medical professional and practicing medicine without authorization because he received a relatively short sentence. Danish media have never published his identity due to a court-ordered reporting restriction. And Danish press ethics surrounding criminal cases with short sentences. They're so fair there. I mean, they're doing it right. So boring. His sentence, you ask, 30 days of suspended imprisonment and 40 hours of community service. He walked out of court a free man. What's that community service? Shopping. Stay away from the blood drive. And that's somehow not the craziest part of the story. We're not there yet. The following year, he was admitted to medical school. Oh, no. Really? Like fair and square. Today, he isn't pretending anymore. He's actually studying medicine and could eventually graduate and work as a physician in Denmark. Well, guess what? And maybe this is I'm saying this from the luxury of being in America and not in Denmark. He really wanted it. He's going to be a better doctor. He's either going to be the best doctor ever or the worst one. And we won't know because they didn't give his name. I feel like in an impersonation case, we should have the name of the impersonator for future reference. I mean, at least could the hospital administrator. Have the name of the impersonator just so they know where they're standing. Totally. Is it that did he go back to the same? Well, let me finish. I won't guess. I'll just read. Danish universities do not require applicants to submit a criminal record certificate. By the time he applies for employment as a doctor, the conviction may no longer appear on his criminal record, depending on the applicable disclosure rules and how much time has passed. That means the families he deceived, including the parents of that baby, could theoretically one day meet him again, this time with him. wearing the white coat legally. That's crazy. The whole story has sparked years of debate here in Denmark, not only about his actions, but about hospital security, accountability, rehabilitation, and whether some professions should have stricter background checks than they currently do. Yeah, because also, like, if he had been an actual doctor and had been, like, lying about what he knew, he would have been disbarred. But instead, he's allowed to go on to be a doctor. Like, it just feels like he's a scammer. He should be. He that that would be so wrong of him to do as a doctor. That he would not be able to be a lawyer. Right. Because he's disbarred. No, I know what you mean. Disbarred. From being a doctor. From medicine. Whatever. No, you're completely right. And also, it's the ethical thing of, like, do you want a person that's working on you that's like, well, if I can cheat and scam my way through whatever we're doing, let's do it that way. It should be their choice. The person, the patient's choice. The lawyer's choice. The lawyer doctor. Okay. It says, it's one of these stories that sounds like Catch Me If You Can until you realize it happened in a pediatric ward. Thank you for an amazing show and for being some really cool older sisters, cousins, aunties, sharing important stories with me and all your listeners. What you do is important and significant to all of us. Oh, my God. And that's someone in Denmark. Wow. They don't like anybody. SSDGM. Just kidding. I don't know what they do in Denmark. SSDGM, Yasmin or Yasmin, NPS, if you ever come to Denmark. Please let me know. I'd love to go to a show or be your tour guide. All right. Love it. And we go to that hospital first and we all wear different white coats and see who can get the furthest into the staff. It's you. Like, I don't even have to. Could I do it? I'll get far into the cafeteria and get a bunch of free food. You could be a lunch lady with all your past. Here's me as a doctor. Yes. I'll take the temperature. I'm having a new kind of hot flash. That's my scalp is hot flashing only. Loving it. Can we get the air? Can we get two hats, please? Some air. Look what I have for my purse. Two hats. Can I get a beanie? Girl. A small one. Slay all day. Sweat all day. That's so cute and small. Isn't it? Yeah. You want it? Yeah. I really like it. You can have it. This can just be the standing hot flash fan. Yes, absolutely. Just to let people know. And maybe it would start bringing up. Like a graphic that's like hot flash blinking on the bottom. And then you can call in. If we're having a hot flash, you can call the 800 number. And win. And win a bunch of Tiger Balm. And then you can see what it feels like to be a lady. You fuck. You fucking asshole. Oh, there's also rage. There's the rage. And brain fog. Two Aussie lesbian lovers touch down in 1990s London and become the toast of British high society. One of them starts touting an exclusive investment opportunity. And soon their money is rolling in. Rich businessmen and England's horse-loving elite fall under their seductive spell. They even meet Queen Elizabeth. But the duo are concealing a dark past and dastardly intentions. Evil. They were bad. Bad people. As bad as evil? Yes. Definitely. Before long, a small-town detective gets wind of the duo's exploits and vows to stop them. She was a thieving scumbag. Only problem is, these two are exceedingly hard to catch. Decades later, one of them is finally ready to tell all. I sold my soul to the devil. This podcast is brought to you by Squarespace. Every successful small business starts with someone saying, I wonder if people would actually buy this. Squarespace gives you everything you need to find out. From consultations to events and experiences, you can showcase your skills with a customizable website designed to attract clients and grow your business. Squarespace's collection of cutting-edge design tools, anyone can build a beautiful, professional online presence that perfectly fits their brand or business. Get paid on time with professional invoices and online payments. Plus, streamline your workflow with built-in appointment scheduling and email marketing tools. Head to squarespace.com slash murder for a free trial. And when you're ready to launch, use offer code murder to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. Goodbye. A closet can be completely full and somehow totally empty at the same time, much like your parents' refrigerator. It's time to rebuild around pieces you actually want to wear. And that's exactly what you'll find at Quince. Quince makes elevated everyday essentials using premium materials like Mongolian cashmere, organic cotton, and washable silk. Quince brings that same everyday elevation to everything they offer, from hotel-quality bedding and bath to kitchen staples and thoughtfully designed furniture. I love that Quince has added this whole new level with their kitchen. With their kitchen essentials, with their bedding and bath, with their home essentials, because they bring that quality and that affordability to pieces that are really nice. So I know I don't have to do a lot of research on them. I know if Quince is carrying them, they are good quality. I have like three of their 100% mulberry silk pillowcases. I've bought throws from there. I've bought bedding from there. And it is just as great quality as their clothes and super affordable. Find the fall pieces you'll reach for most at Quince. Download the Quince app for app-exclusive offers or go to Quince.com. Get free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada and the UK, too. Q-U-I-N-C-E dot com slash M-F-M. Goodbye. Okay. I am not stupid and neither are you. Red flag alert. So this is a real one. Like a warning one, which is so great. Georgia and Karen. Formal. I am writing to you with tears still in my eyes after being. The victim of, falling victim to. I don't like that at all as it puts the power in the hands of the wrongdoers. So being the unwitting participant of a scam. I hope that by sharing, I can help other people pleasers from going through what I just went through for the last three hours. Oh God, we got, we had one in Italy. A scammer? We, Vince got a text saying, because we drove, we got a car and drove, that he had a ticket and he went to pay it. They don't do it like that. They don't text you about your ticket. No, they won't personally text you. I'm surprised. Vince is not stupid. He just wanted to take care of business and yeah. He's, yeah, he's so. Okay, I received a phone call this afternoon from a police officer who proceeded to spell his name and give me his badge number after I specifically asked regarding my failure to show up to jury selection several months ago. I was given two citation numbers and two separate fines. Being the aforementioned people pleaser, I was terrified of getting in trouble. So I immediately said, oh, I'm so sorry. I must've missed the notice. Now to be clear, I actually did get a notice and I did not. I did not attend the selection pool. Yeah. I know, I know, it's wrong. And I knew it was wrong, but insert excuses here. Alas, here we are. So you might understand that when the officer brought that up, I thought, fuck, I've been caught. Yeah. He proceeded to provide instructions. That's why they do it that way. I know, because one out of every 10 person, I mean, more than that, probably. I would say seven out of 10. Yeah. People, that's all people do is try to get out of jury duty. No one's like us where they're just like, let me get down there. It's so fun. I mean. Yeah. He proceeded to provide instruction that I was not to get off the phone with him. Red flag, number one. A couple of these I read, don't hang up the phone or we're coming for you. Yeah. They said. Yeah. The people that are from jury duty. Right. Don't hang up the phone. This is the most important way we're going to communicate with you. We can't call you back. Yeah. And that if I did, I would have a warrant issued for my arrest for civil disruption. That's fucking scary. Secondly, I must immediately pay $250 per citation cash. And then it says my cheeks start to redden. Yes. Flag number two. Then I must stay online while I drive to the sheriff's office, which I didn't get to because I was instructed to pull over and complete the transaction over the phone. Yes. A flag. To sign a document noting that I agreed to pay the fee. So you pay the fee and then they're like, but go to the sheriff's office. That seems legit, right? They're sending you to the place where they would never want you to be to talk about what's actually happening. Totally. Now you ask, why did I not run away? Why did I not hang up? And then it says in all caps, why did I pay them from the cash app? Then my Apple pay in excess of $1,000 after they couldn't accept the funds. Because, and here's the no surprise kicker, I was scared. Yeah. I am, with the above exception, a law-abiding citizen. I don't think you could call yourself that. But that's how they get you. You're guilty. Yeah. You did bad. You're not one of those people that doesn't care. Right. I have three kids and I teach them right and wrong. And I knew that I had done wrong. These scammers preyed upon that and held me hostage on the phone and I went with it. Too afraid to be arrested in front of my family. Too afraid to have a record. Too afraid to get in trouble. Yes. I was lucky and my bank did alert me to the fraud, which when I said out loud, the officer told me it was because it was the first time I'd used the app and I believed him because it was. I ended up driving to the bank with, the ill-advised intent to transfer funds from them to law enforcement directly. However, when I walked in the doors to the bank, it dawned on me and my husband, with whom I was texting, that this was no real deal. And I said, still on the phone with them, can I speak to the sheriff? She's still on the phone with them. Yeah. Going to transfer funds because none of the other apps worked. They all worked. So it's thousands of dollars. Like Vince, when he put his credit card, none of them would work. The credit cards, they didn't accept that one. Entering information and passwords. He immediately canceled all his cards. I know. And when they put me on hold, I told a bank employee, I think I'm actively being scammed. And they hung up. I write this as someone who listens to you ladies on a weekly basis and has for years. I am a woman of a certain age. Ew. And consider myself. That's them. Ew. Oh, ew? Ew. Oh, I thought she said, I'm a woman of a certain age. Ew. Oh. I mean, I guess we all are. Either way. And consider myself reasonably informed. We watch true crime docuseries featuring regular people, listen to podcasts, et cetera, with people who might have known better. And I'm here to tell you that these scammers are professionals. They know their demographic. They are smart. They have a narrative in place. And though I hope you never find yourself crying at the bank after believing that a law enforcement officer has contacted you and you might be arrested for noncompliance, you are actually all good. These people are relentless. I want to share this scam. This scam, which I'm sure happens all too often, but also remind those that may have participated with regret that you are not at fault. These people are skilled con artists. They know the game and put you in as an unwitting player. I would advise myself and anyone else to tell such a caller, thank you for letting me know. I will be in touch. It is always okay to trust and verify. I hope that you read this and others learn that shit happens to good people. Fuck politeness and always get a callback number, S. Yeah. But even the callback number, right? Even the callback number, but here's the thing that just popped into my head is you can also do the thing. Anytime anyone's rushing you, you know that's an element of it. Rushing is a big thing. But you can just do a thing where you talk as if you're normally talking and hang up on yourself mid-sentence and it looks like you got cut off. Yeah. Then you see what they do because they can't blame you for getting cut off. You didn't, you know, whatever. And then it's like, and then are they calling you back crazy? Is it like, whatever. Also, I think, and I could completely, completely be wrong. So maybe there are people who like work at county offices who know. I think, isn't it when you have to pay stuff like that, it's like check only? Yeah, there's no way it'll ever be cash or like. Never cash only. Cash only or even an app. I can't like. What if they were like cash only or any weed you have? Or just like, this seems fake, but okay. Or McDonald's coupons is fine too. The Christmas book. Oh, yeah. Legend. Okay. That was amazing. And great, great like takeaway for everybody. Yeah. Okay. The subject line of this email is, my grandma helped expose a pyramid scheme in the 80s. Wow. All the things I love. Greetings, MFM gang. My girlfriend has been bugging me to write this email since we went out to dinner with my grandmother several months ago. But now we finally have a free moment to write it. So here you go. My dad's mom, Sylvia, is a very Southern lady. During the 80s, she was about a single mother of five living in Charlotte, North Carolina. Single mother of five. Wow. A living saint. At the time, she was working as the sales manager for the local Sheraton hotel and she was really good at her job. I mean, she was like the top producing sales manager in the whole country. So when the people at the top saw this, they offered her a new position as the national sales manager without a raise. And then in parentheses, it says, fuck you, corporate sexism. Offering you a new position. A higher position. And you can't say no. No raise. Right. Because they're like, you can take the position. Right. What a time in the 80s. Later that month, she was at a social event and was approached by a man named Thomas McColgan who offered her a job at his company that paid way more than she was already making. The company was called IBC Arabian Investments and it was a company that allowed people to purchase Arabian horses in full. So like when the horse was pregnant as stock. Supposedly after the baby horses were born and several years old, they could be sold again as a return to the market. The selling point to this idea was that people invested in small groups, about 10 people. So a share of the money was only one-tenth of the price. So it's like a. What are they called? Time. Timeshares. Timeshares, yeah. Well, a horse timeshare. Okay. Sounds legit. I want the hair on his. I want his mane. This scheme was largely targeting middle-class people who would not normally invest in something like Arabian horses. No, among us. I mean. So my grandmother agreed to work for him and over the course of a year traveled all around the western United States. She stayed in condos in Las Vegas, went to exotic horse auctions in Flagstaff, Arizona, and even once flew with my dad and aunt to California on company money. Thomas McColgan had been paying Price Waterhouse to do the corporate taxes for IBC Arabian. When he presented the business plan to the potential investors, he had to show them the financials of his business so the investors could see what they were getting into. Once while she was in Las Vegas shooting a commercial for IBC with Wayne Newton and then. Just a bunch of question marks and exclamation points. My grandma received a call from her co-worker back in Charlotte. Her co-worker had said that Thomas asked her to go all around Charlotte and look for a typeface font that matched that of Price Waterhouse. Thomas McColgan was forging financial documents to show to his investors to get money. It was later found out that he actually used money from investors to buy more horses. Very illegal because that money is not supposed to be touched for years. Yes, that's the classic Ponzi scheme. When my grandma found out about all of this, she immediately left the video shoot with Wayne Newton. Peace, Wayne. This is bullshit. You know it. Even you, Wayne Newton, can't keep me here. Shame on you, Wayne. This is. God, how much were they paying Wayne Newton? I mean, just to come on and be like, that guy was amazing. Yeah. Anytime he showed up. I want to see that commercial, although I guess it didn't get filmed. Do you like Arabian horses? Or maybe I'm thinking of. Who's the guy from The Morning Show? I'm thinking of Regis Philbin. I'm so sorry. Okay. So she flew back to North Carolina on her own money, so Thomas did not see that she bought a plane ticket back. Very smart. She called Pricewaterhouse and set up a discreet meeting in a hotel lobby in Charlotte. When she told the person she met with about what she heard, they said that Thomas was about to get in big trouble. My grandma did not testify in court because she was only involved in the sales part of the business. Thomas McColgan was found guilty of securities fraud, and my grandma has not heard from him since. She described him as an egomaniac and a stupid, greedy man. My grandma went on to work for the state of North Carolina, fighting for women's rights and even helping write new legislation on sexual assault laws. Wow. Needless to say, my grandmother is a badass, powerful, caring woman, and I love her and all of her stories so much. I mean, incredible. Stay sexy and don't invest in horses because it's probably a pyramid scheme. Burt. Okay, but what happened to the Arabian ponies? They're just trotting around looking for investors. Oh. So sad. So sad. Wayne Newton's just like, what are we doing? One little foal has a PowerPoint presentation. Come on. Believe in us. Invest. One of them starts touting an exclusive investment opportunity and soon their money is rolling in. Evil. They were bad. Bad people. As bad as evil? Yes. Definitely. She was a thief. From USG Audio, Blanchard House and Exactly Right Media, this is Royal Swindle. Buying furniture is a lot of pressure. It has to look good, feel good, and hold up to everyday life. Take it from me, a bad couch can ruin your life. That's why Article focuses on stylish, high-quality pieces designed to last. Article makes it effortless to create a stylish, long-lasting home at an unbeatable price. They take great care in curating their collection, focusing on pieces that stand the test of time. There's no filler. Every item is chosen for its craftsmanship, design, and lasting value. And with Article's 30-day satisfaction guarantee, you can shop with confidence, knowing that if you're not completely in love with your new furniture, you can easily return it. Man, there was nothing I loved more than when I was broke and I could still buy a furniture that I needed at Article. It wasn't cheap-looking. It's like I was investing in these pieces that were comparatively inexpensive and I was, like, finishing rooms. I was, like, getting the kitchen table that was, like, bringing the whole thing together. And it was, like, it was such an incredible thing because I never got to do that before. I love that about Article. Article is offering our listeners $50 off your first purchase of $100 or more. To claim, visit article.com slash murder and the discount will be automatically applied at checkout. That's article.com slash murder for $50 off your first purchase of $100 or more. Goodbye. Discover Pandora Talisman, a new collection designed to help you express every side of who you are. Because the most powerful statement you can make is being yourself. Featuring meaningful zodiac symbols, and personalized jewelry pieces, each design tells a story that's uniquely yours. Your style is one of the first ways you tell the world who you are before you even say a word. Style isn't about following trends. It's about choosing pieces that feel true to you and tell your story. A reflection of what you stand for, what you believe, and how you choose to show up every day. Whether you're celebrating where you've been or who you're becoming, let a beautiful piece from Pandora reflect this chapter of your story. Their pieces will become part of how you express yourself every day. Pandora Talisman, a new language of self-love, self-expression, because every version of you deserves to be seen. Shop new styles in-store or online at pandora.net. Goodbye. Okay, here's my last one. I was a pre-teen con artist. Hey ladies, this story has everything. A trash mom, a mystery, an inappropriate joke. So let's get started. Hell yes. The year is 1996 and my mother decided the perfect family vacation for my brother, 10, and me, 12. would be a trip to Vegas. I've been there as a child. But why, you might ask? Well, her live-in boyfriend at the time loved to gamble. Wayne Newton? The movie Casino had just come out and he was obsessed to the point that he had bought a roll-out craps table to play at home. Oh. Red flag, everybody. He likes, he likes Robert De Niro. He's teaching these children how to gamble. Casino is an amazing movie though because Don Rickles plays a pretty big part in it. Yeah. And it's so good. It's so good. Great outtakes. So yeah, my mom booked her boyfriend's dream vacation and dragged my brother and I along. Oh, single mom's boyfriends. You just don't really get over it. Yeah, because your mom's forced into a bit of a pick-me situation that like you just subconsciously understand but don't factually understand. I remember every single one. Update, this relationship did not stand the test of time. No. What? I still see the trip to Vegas through my jerk 12-year-old eyes. I get it so much more now that I have a 12-year-old daughter of my own but I have to admit we had a good time. My mom did a great job of finding a kid-friendly fun Vegas had to offer plus we ate at buffets and got to swim a ton. A kid's dream. That's all that matters. It really was a fun place to be when you were a kid. It's like, this is sketchy as fuck and I love it. And you just meet all these fucking like free-range kids whose parents are like also abandoned. Las Vegas parents. That's right. I mean, what a mix. It was pretty great. One of my favorite memories is when my mother let my brother and I walk the strip alone at night while they gambled. The 90s, man. Jesus. Well, they had each other. I think I've heard that before. Stick with each other. They're getting those sex pamphlets from the guys at Randy and Moe. We definitely got those. No, thank you. So my mother had scheduled for my brother and I to fly back a few days early so she could have alone time with her boyfriend. Ew. I mean, letting us wander the city streets while she gambled in the casino had to have been stressful. One would hope. Anyway, so my brother and I flew on our own with the plan being that my dad would pick us up at the airport back home. The flight was pretty uneventful until we landed. While we were sitting and waiting to get off the plane, I checked to make sure that the $23 I had left from my trip spending money was still in my purse, only to find it was dun-dun-dun, missing. That amount of money might not seem like a big deal, but that's $44.32 in today's moolah. Well done. Well done. And I was 12. It might as well have been $44,000. So I proceeded to lose my shit. Sobbing, snotting, hyperventilating. But the worst part? I refused to get off the plane until the money was found. The stewardesses were literally begging me to do plane and I just simply would not. Yes. That was until the pilot came out to see what was going on. Once he heard the story, he pulled out a crisp $20 bill and put it in my psychotic little tween hand. I magically calmed after that and made my way off the plane. Pilot's like, I'll give you 20 bucks to get the hell out. We're trying to fucking go home to our families. We have 52 more flights today. From there, we were escorted by the airport employee over to my dad waiting for us outside the terminal. The employee looked at me and asked, is this your dad? Well, apparently I was riding high on the mayhem I had just caused on the plane because I looked at her and dryly joked, I've never seen this man before in my life. She's got a cigarette. She's picked it up in Vegas. And then she's got the 20 tucked behind her ear on the other side. She looked shocked. My dad looked pissed. And I just stood there laughing hysterically. I've never seen this man a day in my life. Also, punish the dad for letting him let the mother take you to Vegas. To all of it. Eventually, the whole thing was sorted out and we headed off home with my still fuming dad. You might wonder what happened to that $23 that somehow went missing. Well, on the drive back from the airport, I thought to unzip the little inside pocket of my Esprit. Only to find my not-so-missing money safely hidden inside. That's right. I conned that pilot out of a fresh $20 and almost doubled my money. Jackpot. Question mark, question mark, question mark. They really absorbed something in Las Vegas. They knew how to do it. Well, keep doing what you're doing in every way. As a thoroughly medicated and therapized person, I appreciate all of the light you shine on mental health. Without help, I might still be throwing bits on planes. We can't have that. Maybe I'll write in some stories about my mom next. She may have been a 90s trash mom, but she was also a criminal attorney for 40 years. Is that how she met this gambling boyfriend? Yeah, really. I could have sworn the boyfriend stole the money out of the little kid's purse. I was like, that's kind of the dirtbaggiest way to end it. Right. That's kind of fun. Gail has seen some shit. Love to you all. Stay sexy. And what happens on a plane from Vegas doesn't count. Kate with a C. Incredible, Kate. God damn. Someone will give me $20. That's such a big sister move, too, isn't it? Yeah. Although I could see a little sister doing that, too. I mean, it's just gutsy. And then she got her money. She did. Kind of similar. The subject line of this email is the devil's child. And it says, hey, badass bitches and Steven. When I was five years old, a jiffy mart opened in our tiny town not far from our house. And it created quite the impression on me. If you're not familiar with them, a jiffy mart. It's just a convenience store, so not really that exciting. But to a five-year-old candy-obsessed me, it was everything. We only went one time to check it out. And my mom let me purchase a package of Sixlets, little round candy-coated balls with chocolate. Have you ever had a Sixlet? I can't think I have. I can't picture them. It was like the Hydrox to M&M's Oreo. Got it. So they were round, but they were basically M&M's. And also the package was like a little tube. So it's interesting. Okay. Inferior to M&M's for sure. But again, I was five. Yeah, that's right. Well, after I had that bag of chocolatey-dipped red dye number five treasures, they were all I could think about. How on earth would I ever get the money to get more? And then I had it. The brilliant foolproof plan to go door-to-door in my neighborhood telling people my little brother was sick. And we needed money for his medicine. Oh, my God. It's like a Facebook scam before there's Facebook. Yep. It's a living five-year-old GoFundMe scam. What's wrong with that plan? Nothing. It's a child's mind. I'm going to take this to the neighborhood and see if they want me to have sixlets. Because I think they do. And or my brother to get better. Okay. And then it says, yep, I was a five-year-old grifter. Shockingly, no one was taking the bait. They'd simply look at me strangely and say, go home. Then I came to her house. The weirdo church lady at the end of the block. I didn't know much about her, but I knew church people love to do things for others. So I forged ahead. After my little spiel, she felt so terrible for me. That she cleaned out her change purse and I traipsed home, hands brimming with coins. Feels so good. I wasn't stupid enough to let my mom know what I had done. So I did what any five-year-old would do. I hid behind the chair in the living room to count the money. Almost immediately, my mom was on to me. I guess watching me sneak behind a piece of furniture and the sound of clinking coins was a dead giveaway. Where did you get that? She asked me. I've had it. I said, unconvincingly. Within minutes, she had the whole story out of me. And because we were all so true. Also church people. I was told I had to return the money, apologize, and tell the woman what I had done. Yeah, you do. So my mom drove me to the end of the block and made me get out by myself, all caps. I trembled my way to the door. And when she answered, I blubbered and cried and apologized and admitted my lie. Church lady's eyes flared with anger. And instead of the pat on my head I expected, I was met with this. You little liar. You're the devil's child. And you're going to hell for me. You're going to hell for what you've done. Oh, my God. That's like every nun in my grammar school. And then she slammed the door in my tiny face. Sobbing, I turned to my mother, who was still in the car, and showed her the money and shrugged like, what do I do now? She didn't take the money? No. Okay, it's yours now. She was too busy screaming at her. She yelled at me to leave it on the porch. And when I got back in the car, I told her what the woman said. In shock herself, my mom took me home and got on the phone with my grandmother. To tell her about the escapade. While they laughed and laughed. Confused and traumatized, I tried to find the humor in it, too. Stay sexy and don't scam your neighbors. A, G, her. I was hoping she'd somehow get the six and, what are they called? Sicklets? Sicklets? Like, get sicklets out of it. Like, her mom would feel bad that she got screamed at by a psychotic woman. If it was 2026, they'd get on, like, TikTok. And then sicklets would be like, we're at, don't worry, we got you covered. There'd be a ring doorbell camera, the whole fucking thing. But this, instead, this one's like, maybe I am a devil child and carries that into adulthood. Yeah, becomes a total goth. Yeah. Thank God another goth is made. Well, that was our scam show. Let's read the- To celebrate Royal Swindle. Let's read the ending. Royal Swindle is out now. New episodes will be released weekly on Thursdays. And please follow Royal Swindle now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. From Blanchard House, Exactly Right Media, and USG Audio, it's the rom-com. It's the fun of the summer. It's Royal Swindle. Stay sexy. And don't get murdered. Goodbye. Elvis, do you want a cookie? This has been an Exactly Right production. Our senior producer is Molly Smith, and our associate producer is Tessa Hughes. Our editor is Aristotle Acevedo. This episode was mixed by Liana Squilacci. Email your hometowns to myfavoritemurder at gmail.com. Follow the show on Instagram at myfavoritemurder. Listen to My Favorite Murder on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And now you can watch My Favorite Murder on Netflix. And when you're there, hit the double thumbs up and the Remind Me buttons. That's the best way you can support our show. Goodbye. Bye. One of them tells. It's an exclusive investment opportunity, and soon the money is rolling in. New episode. Technology's getting so smart, coffee makers are about two weeks away from sending emails. Unlike traditional security systems that alert you after a break-in starts, SimpliSafe is designed to help stop intruders before they get inside. If something looks suspicious, you can detect it. Can I tell you this morning, Vince found a chicken wing bone in our backyard, which makes zero sense. The fact that we can use our cameras to be like, what the hell, where did this come from? That's SimpliSafe.com slash MFM. And when you order, please write in my favorite murder in the how did you hear about a survey to let them know we sent you. Bye. Calling all amateur detectives and podcast obsessives. Virgin Voyage's second true crime voyage sets sail March 20th, 2027 for a five night escape to Grand Turk and the beach club at Bimini. As part of the on air at sea collection, this immersive sailing brings together fan favorite podcasts, including Disgraceland, Buried Bones and Wisecrack for live recordings, behind the scenes access, exclusive meet and greets and crime themed programming that you won't find anywhere else. All aboard our award winning kid free ships. Head over to Virgin Voyages dot com slash true crime to secure your spot. Goodbye.