Case 0121:12Is pig butchering real?
The Pig Butchering Scam That Killed a Bank
A Kansas bank CEO wired $47.1 million to scammers in under six weeks. The bank collapsed. He is serving 24 years.
Open the file
Court records onlySources on screenOne case per episode
One scam.Taken aparton the table.
Every episode takes one scam apart: how it hooks you, where your money physically goes, and the three tells that would have saved the victim.
- Every claim mapped to a primary source
- No reenacted hysteria
- Three tells, every episode
- Built to be watched with your parents
The latest autopsy
Case 03 — Is paying with gift cards a scam?
The Gift Card Scam Is a Money Laundry
Thirteen minutes after the victim paid, strangers were spending the cards — per evidence at a federal trial.
- 13 min
from purchase to spent
- $2.5M
laundered through gift cards
- 3
convicted at federal trial
- Runtime
- 18:45
- Published
- Sources
- 8 documents
The format
How an autopsy works
Every episode runs a cold open and the same five acts, in the same order. Once you have watched one, you already know how to read the next one.
Cold open
The Case
The facts, stated flat. One named case, one sum of money, one court record. No music sting, no reenacted screaming.
1 of 6.Act one
The Hook
The first text, the first call, the first minute. Exactly how contact was made, in the scam's own words.
2 of 6.Act two
The Machine
Who is really on the other end. Not one person having a bad idea, but an operation with shifts, scripts and a payroll.
3 of 6.Act three
The Money
Where the money physically travels after it leaves the victim's hands, and who is holding it at each stop.
4 of 6.Act four
The Autopsy
Why it worked. Not because anyone was careless, but because the pressure was engineered to work on anyone.
5 of 6.Act five
The Three Tells
Three plain sentences that would have stopped it. Written to be screenshotted, printed, and stuck on a fridge.
6 of 6.
The evidence standard
Nothing goes on screen without a document behind it
Every figure, date and quotation in an episode is written into a source log before it is written into the script. Each line records the claim, the document it came from, and a locator — the page, paragraph or press release it sits in. If a claim cannot be matched to a primary document, it does not get narrated. It gets cut.
The documents are the ordinary public record: Department of Justice releases, federal indictments and sentencings, FDIC and FTC publications, IC3 reports, FinCEN alerts. We cover adjudicated cases, which means the allegations have already been through a court. We do not accuse anyone of anything a court has not already decided.
The source list for each case is published on that episode’s page, in full, with working links. You are meant to check it.
Claim — Case 01
$47.1M wired in ten transfers
Primary source
U.S. Department of JusticeFormer executive pleads guilty after losing bank's $47.1 million in crypto scheme
Verified
Claim — Case 02
8 defendants charged under RICO
Primary source
U.S. Department of JusticeEight indicted in nationwide grandparent fraud scam
Verified
Claim — Case 03
13 min from purchase to spent
Primary source
U.S. Department of JusticeLos Angeles County trio found guilty of laundering Target gift cards
Verified
Three rows from the log. Every episode page carries its own in full.
The case files
Every episode so far
- Case 0121:12
Case 0219:46Is the grandchild-in-jail phone call a scam?
“Grandma, I Need Bail Money.” Anatomy of a $2M Scam
One 87-year-old widow. Nine days. $108,000. The first elder-fraud network in American history charged under RICO.
Open the file
Case 0318:45Is paying with gift cards a scam?
The Gift Card Scam Is a Money Laundry
Thirteen minutes after the victim paid, strangers were spending the cards — per evidence at a federal trial.
Open the file
The takeaway
Three tells at the end of every episode
Each case closes the same way: three plain sentences, in ordinary language, that would have stopped it. They are written to be screenshotted, sent to a parent, or printed and stuck on a fridge door. Every tell from every episode is collected on one page.
You were not foolish. You were up against a production line.
The payment is the verdict
Nobody legitimate is ever paid in gift cards.
No government agency, no bank, no tech company, no court. The FTC says it in one line: whenever someone demands to be paid with a gift card, that is a scam. Gift cards are for gifts, not for payments. The moment a caller says gift card, you do not need to hear the rest of the story.
If it is happening right now
Three things to do in the next ten minutes
If money has already moved, this is not the moment for shame. It is the moment for speed. Do these three things in order, and do them today.
Stop sending money
Send nothing else. Not a top-up, not a fee, not one last payment to release the rest. Every request after the first one is part of the same script.
Keep everything
Do not delete the messages, the call log, the receipts, the gift cards or the tracking numbers. They are evidence, and they are how money is traced.
Report it today
Call your bank or card issuer first and ask them to stop or recall the payment. Then report it. Reporting quickly raises the odds of recovery.
United States — national hotline
National Elder Fraud Hotline (U.S. Department of Justice)
1-833-372-8311Trained case managers who walk you — or your parent — through exactly what to do next.
For organisations
Free to screen. Free to hand out.
Senior centres, public libraries, credit unions and consumer protection offices are welcome to screen these episodes in a room, embed them on a website, or print the three tells as a one-page handout. There is no fee and no permission form. The sources are published so your staff can check the work before they put their name next to it.
Screening
Play any episode in a room, at no cost.
Embedding
Put the player on your own website.
Handouts
Print the three tells on one page.
Sourcing
Every claim links to its primary document.