For organisations
The episodes are free to screen, free to embed, and free to hand out. There is no sponsorship inside them, nothing to sign up for, and nothing to buy. If your members are being targeted, take this and use it.
Scam Autopsy takes one scam apart per episode: how it hooks a person, where the money physically goes, and the three tells that would have stopped it. Written for people aged 50 to 75 watching on a television, and for the adult children who send it to them.
Why you can point your members at this
You are putting your name next to whatever you recommend. So here is exactly what the work is built on, in enough detail to check.
- 01
Adjudicated cases only
Every episode is built around a case that has already been through a federal court or an official process. Episode one is U.S. v. Shan Hanes · Heartland Tri-State Bank, Elkhart, Kansas. Episode two is U.S. v. Ingram et al., 21cr2216-CAB (S.D. Cal.). Episode three is U.S. v. Bai, Hu & Shi — the “Magic Lamp” case (C.D. Cal.). No person or company is accused of anything outside those records.
- 02
Every claim mapped to a primary source
26 source citations run under the three published episodes — Department of Justice releases, FDIC and Federal Reserve OIG reports, FTC data spotlights, FBI IC3 annual reports, FinCEN alerts. Each one is listed with the issuing body, the document title and a direct link, and each episode is chaptered so you can find the moment a claim is made.
- 03
Paced for a 50 to 75 audience on a television
Plain language, short sentences, no internet slang and no true-crime theatrics. Episodes run between 18:45 and 21:12, which fits a session with time left for questions. Every page on this site has a text-size control in the header.
- 04
Every episode ends with three tells
Not a summary — three concrete things a person can recognise in the moment. They are held on screen long enough to photograph, and they are printed on a one-page card you can hand out. Nobody is told they were foolish. The house line is that they were up against a production line.
Disclosure, printed on every page
Narration uses a synthetic AI voice; some illustrations on the evidence board are AI-generated and are visibly illustrations. Disclosed per EU AI Act Article 50. Every factual claim is sourced from public court records and official releases.
What you can do with it
Written plainly so nobody has to ask a lawyer. If what you want to do is not on this list, write to orgs@scamautopsy.org and the answer is usually yes.
Screen it in a session or a workshop
Play any episode in a senior centre, a library room, a branch lobby, a caregiver support group or a staff training. In person or on a video call. No permission form, no attendance cap, no fee.
Embed it on your own website
Put the player on a resource page, a scam-alert page or an event listing using the code below. The embed loads from YouTube's privacy-enhanced host and only starts when a visitor presses play.
Link it in a newsletter or a mailing
Link to an episode page on this site or to the video itself. Print newsletters can carry the plain address of the page. Nothing behind the link asks the reader for an email address or a payment.
Print the Three Tells card and hand it out
The Three Tells page has a print layout made for a single sheet in black and white. Print as many as you need for a table, a mailing or a home visit.
Use a still or a quotation with attribution
Stills and quoted lines may be used in your own newsletter, slide deck or article. Credit Scam Autopsy and, where there is room, the address of the episode page.
The three limits
- Do not re-upload the videos to another channel or platform. Link or embed instead — the view count is the only thing keeping this work in front of new people.
- Do not edit an episode in a way that changes its meaning. Clips are fine for teaching; a cut that reverses or softens a finding is not.
- Do not present the work as your own, and do not describe Scam Autopsy as a partner, sponsor or endorser of your organisation. We do not endorse organisations, and we do not claim any organisation endorses us.
Embed code
The Pig Butchering Scam That Killed a Bank — runs 21:12. The player stays 16:9 at any width, loads only when the page reaches it, and uses the privacy-enhanced host.
<div style="position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;max-width:100%">
<iframe
src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/vVoOraJX4_o"
title="The Pig Butchering Scam That Killed a Bank — Scam Autopsy"
style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0"
loading="lazy"
allow="accelerometer; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share"
allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div>Run a session
Everything here already exists. There is no workbook, no slide deck and no facilitator certificate — three steps, a printed card and the right phone numbers in the room.
- 1
Choose the episode that matches what you are seeing
Pick one. Do not screen two in a session — the tells stop landing. Each runs short enough to leave room for questions.
- 2
Put the three tells on the handout
The three tells from the episode you chose are the whole takeaway. People forget the story within a week; they keep the card. The printable version is one sheet, black on white.
- Tell 1 · The wrong number
No stranger who texts you “by accident” stays to chat.
- Tell 2 · The platform nobody has heard of
Real investments do not live in apps that are not in the app store.
- Tell 3 · The withdrawal that works
If they let you take out $500 easily, that is not proof. That is the bait.
Shown: the three tells from episode 01. Each episode has its own set.
- Tell 1 · The wrong number
- 3
Have the reporting numbers in the room
Somebody in the room will recognise themselves. Read these out at the end and leave them on the table, so nobody has to ask for them in front of everyone else.
- United StatesNational Elder Fraud Hotline (U.S. Department of Justice)Trained case managers who walk you — or your parent — through exactly what to do next.1-833-372-8311
- United StatesFBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3)File a report on any internet-enabled fraud. Reporting quickly raises the odds of recovery.ic3.gov
- United StatesFTC — ReportFraudThe federal consumer-protection record. Feeds the Consumer Sentinel database.reportfraud.ftc.gov
- United StatesAARP Fraud Watch Network HelplineFree helpline, open to anyone — you do not need to be a member.877-908-3360
- United KingdomAction FraudThe UK's national reporting centre for fraud and cybercrime.0300 123 2040
- CanadaCanadian Anti-Fraud CentreNational fraud reporting and intake.1-888-495-8501
- AustraliaScamwatch / National Anti-Scam CentreReport a scam and check current alerts.scamwatch.gov.au
These are public reporting lines. Listing them is not a claim of any relationship with the bodies that run them.
For press
We can provide the full source list behind any claim in any episode, and background on how that episode was sourced — which records were used, and how a claim was checked before it went on screen. Write to press@scamautopsy.org and say which episode and which claim.
Licensing for banks, credit unions and telecoms
If you want this material inside a customer-education programme, on internal training, or on a screen in a branch, that conversation is open. Write to licensing@scamautopsy.org with what you have in mind. Nothing in an episode is ever for sale to the people watching it.
Write to a person
There is no form and no ticket number. One address, read by a human, answered in plain English.
What to put in the message
- Who you serve — a senior centre, a library, a state consumer division, an Area Agency on Aging, a Senior Medicare Patrol project, a credit union.
- Roughly how many people you reach, so we know whether you need one screening or a hundred printed cards.
- What scam you are actually seeing right now in your area. That is the most useful thing anyone sends us, and it shapes what gets made next.
Scam Autopsy is independent. It does not endorse organisations and does not claim endorsement from any organisation named on this page.