The Greedy Mofos Podcast
Greedy Mofos and true crimes dealing with the greed for money resulting in these stupid, greedy mofos (muthaf*#kers) getting caught.
Listen for their entertaining way of breaking down the most notorious financial crimes, scams and exposing the worst Greedy Mofos.
The Greedy Mofos Podcast
The "Pig Butchered" Widower
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In this episode we trace how a single “wrong number” text spiraled into months of text messages— then ended with a $1M IRA retirement account drained and a painful tax hit. We unpack the anatomy of a pig butchering scam, where this "Greedy Mofo" patiently “fattens” trust through Whats App chats, love-bombs, and polished screenshots of crypto profits.
We break down the emotional playbook and the red flags people ignore when lonely or grieving. But.... this can happen to anyone.
Cold Snap And Catching Up
SPEAKER_04Greedy mofo. Catch your coins while the world burn slow. Greedy mofo. Still soul for a send show. Greedy mofo. Every promise that you make, we know. Greedy mofo. Greedy mofo.
SPEAKER_02Welcome back, greedy mofo fans. This is this is Pippa. Hey Aston, how are you?
SPEAKER_00Hi, Pippa. I'm doing okay. How are you?
SPEAKER_02I'm great. Great, great, great.
SPEAKER_00Awesome.
SPEAKER_02More football?
SPEAKER_00Say that again. How was your week? It was freezing.
SPEAKER_01It was freezing. It was so cold.
SPEAKER_00We got caught up in this whole freeze that's blanketing most of the country. And I'm telling you, being 21 degrees in southeast Texas is not something that we're prepared for. Greedy Moffal.
SPEAKER_02Yep, and I'm I'm in central, well, not quite southeast where I live, a little a little west and the start of the hill country. So um yeah, it was a little cold there too. Um, but you know, overall, we we ended up not having a lot of problems. They fixed our grid and um didn't lose power, stayed warm, stayed cozy.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that was the best part. Not losing power. I'm fine. I could care less if it's cold. As long as I don't lose power, I'm happy.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00I didn't like not having water for a while, but I was prepared for that too. So I'm happy. Actually, I got to watch a few movies and things, so you know, I'm still binge TV when there's nothing else to do, had work still, you know.
Introducing Pig Butchering Scams
SPEAKER_00So and I prep for today's episode.
SPEAKER_02I am so excited to hear about this case. I have no idea what you have for us, and I am so ready to jump into it.
SPEAKER_00Well, let me ask you this. Do you know what a pig butchering scam is?
SPEAKER_02Um, I can't say that I do, but I can I I'm having thoughts. So I'm please tell me.
SPEAKER_00No, tell me what your thought would be if when I say pig butchering. It's a pig butchering scam, it's very popular.
SPEAKER_02Well, I I'm thinking of like Hannibal Lecter and Gary Oldman and um the mafia. I literally have no idea. I'm just thinking gruesome thoughts about pigs being butchered. So I have no idea. I have no idea how a scam is involved, but I can't believe it.
SPEAKER_00That's that's definitely definitely not it. So butchering is a scam where the person that's scamming, or let's call them a fraudster. We're gonna call them greedy mofos because as greedy mofos, we're talking about greedy motherfuckers that do anything because of their greed for money, and it can be anything from murder, scams, fraud, extortion, bribery, anything, right? So big butchering has gotten really, really, really popular because of social media, because of text messaging, and the internet, online scams, and things like that. And so it's about scammers who gain the trust of their victims over time. Okay, most of the ways they do this can be fake online dating profiles.
SPEAKER_01Okay, okay.
SPEAKER_00Also, what's the what's the internet one that they call?
SPEAKER_02Like um phishing, uh that kind of stuff. The email, there's um there's a name for the dating one. I can't remember what it's called though, but there's been there's been a lot of dating scam one time. Yeah, so um so basically I just basically this is
How Scammers Build Trust Online
SPEAKER_02metaphorical, it's not a literal pig bush butchering.
SPEAKER_00No, you're not killing pigs. Okay. But they're calling they're calling the fraudsters or the scammers butchers. Okay. They have to build trust with their victims, and it can be over weeks or months through social media, dating apps, and it's called fattening the pig, the victim. Oh, and in the end, the whole goal is to convince the pig to invest in some fraudulent scheme, and they steal their money. Yes, it's global people should know right offhand that it's a scam. I'm sorry, but it's a scam because it always either happens through like wrong numbers or or like somebody calls you and they say, Oh, it's so-and-so home, and they say, No, they don't live here, and then they start a friendly conversation, and then something happens, or it can be a dating app or anything. And so it basically goes from like just a stranger, you meet a friend, and then the friend it becomes romantic, and then you learn to trust the person, and then next thing you know, you're getting scammed. Okay. Now, I am not gonna call this particular victim or pig in the pig. Okay, I'm not gonna call him stupid. Okay, I'm not going to call this particular case stupid, but I will say that I'm sorry, but there were so many warning signs.
SPEAKER_02Okay, yes, all right, there typically are there in hindsight, in hindsight, mostly.
SPEAKER_00In this day and age, to me, the warning signs are really right up front, right? Oh, okay. Maybe that's just me because I'm a skeptic and I don't trust it, takes a lot for me to trust someone. Okay. So this was in the mag I can I say their names? I mean, this was an actual case.
SPEAKER_02Um we did type of yeah, okay. We did last week, so I I I think they're they're they've become a public, a public person.
SPEAKER_00So all the news, it's been everywhere. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Okay, so I think we're safe. I don't think we need to get legal involved.
SPEAKER_00Okay, all right. So, and and you'll let me know if you've heard of this one or not. So there was this retired businessman in Northern California. Okay, and this happened not too long ago, actually. All right, he was he was a widower, he lost his wife, okay, and he was scammed out of a million dollars. Oh, that hurts. Mm-hmm. Now, what happened is is his name was Larry Sorensen. Okay, and he was probably still grieving the loss of his wife because when you're married to somebody for 35 years, it takes you a while to get over it, right? Sure, sure. Okay, so he received a text one
Larry’s Story Begins With A “Wrong Number”
SPEAKER_00day, and it was someone named Tina, and she made a text and was like, Hey Caitlin, I'm back from my trip to Napa Valley. Can I drop my dog off tomorrow afternoon?
SPEAKER_02Oh no, she used a dog.
SPEAKER_00She used a dog. I knew you would get a kick out of that one since you're a dumb person, so am I. And so he replied in the text. So so they're exchanging text messages, and he was like, No, you have the wrong person. And then she's like, Oh, are you are you Caitlin, the owner of the pet store? And he's like, No, and then it was like, I'm sorry, maybe they she gave me the wrong number. Hope I didn't disturb you. He was like, Okay, fine. Okay. So then she replied, Thank you, so kind. You're you're really, you know, thank you. You're so kind, you're really nice. I'm from LA. Are you a dog lover? Okay. So they started a conversation. You know, the first one was just very generic. Oh, I like dogs, but I don't have one. And then she was just going on about how nice he was and all this other kind of stuff. So then she kept texting him. Okay. So, like, I think it was like the next day or like soon after, she just was excited and texted him. And she was like, I just wanted to let you know that you were so nice and all this other kind of stuff. So they started texting back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. So he told her about losing his wife, and she was very sympathetic and all this. And then, and to me, this is a big red flag. Anything that tells me to connect over WhatsApp, I immediately delete their text because I get a lot of okay. So then she suggested, she suggested, let's talk over WhatsApp instead of doing text messages, and he was and he was curious as to why, and maybe I don't know, you know, he's older, he's like in his 70s, and um, she's young, she's like in her 40s, and so she said, Well, it's safer because it's encrypted, and she talks to all her real good friends on WhatsApp, and so they continued to communicate over a few weeks and everything, and then they exchanged photos and and all this kind of stuff, and then because she was younger, she started encouraging him to go to the gym, and she he she wants him to be healthy and take care of his health, and she would text him every morning and just say, Good morning, my friend, you know, and ask questions like, Did you smile at yourself in the mirror this morning? And you know, and I'm going to the gym to exercise. Have you out walking? Have you been out walking? Have you been exercising and all this other kind of stuff? And he was telling her how great she looks, and she was like, I know nothing's the same after losing a loved one, and they just kept texting back and forth. And that's my phone, sorry. Let me put it on silent, and they just kept texting back and forth and getting to know each other, right? Yeah, so I guess without ever seeing her, except for whatever picture she sent him, and then all the conversations, even though she's in her mid-40s and he's 71, he was starting to fall in love with her. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Okay, before you go any further, I have a question. And this it may answer itself along the way, but I'm just thinking, did she target him specifically, or is this one of those random texts and she just got lucky getting a response?
SPEAKER_00Random. I believe it's because it never, it never, I didn't look at the court case if there was a court case or anything. I can't I got the impression it was random. Okay, okay. All right. Um, so for the next three months, they chatted, they talked about wines, cars, books, music, world travel, and all this other kind of stuff. She dropped hints how she was living this lavish lifestyle in Encino and everything, and she was drinking like
WhatsApp Moves And Emotional Bonding
SPEAKER_00four thousand dollar bottles of wine, and she drove a Rolls Royce. So she was like telling him all this about her wealth and everything, and how she earned millions of dollars from guess what?
SPEAKER_02Oh, wait, uh, give me a clue.
SPEAKER_00Everybody bought into it not too long ago.
SPEAKER_02Crypto.
SPEAKER_00There you go. Okay, and but she was smart. This was her skin. Her scam was kind of smart, and she said that she had an aunt that worked at Morgan Stanley. Okay, so her aunt at Morgan Stanley helped her with her crypto investments. So then they kept talking. He was sending himself her like videos of himself playing bass guitar because she loved music. Of course she did, and then over the next, I think it was over the next three months, he kept saying, you know, he declared his love over and over, saying you're so interesting, intelligent, caring. I'm falling in love with you, Tina. Okay, he's a widower, he's vulnerable. Okay, they've only been text messaging on WhatsApp, not talking, right? But text messaging. Okay, yeah, maybe they spoke a few times, but not very much, but you know, they chatted, you know, every every now and then. But she's yeah, so she's in Encino. If she's wealthy and he's in where did I say he was from?
SPEAKER_02Northern, Northern California.
SPEAKER_00Was it California?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you said Northern California.
SPEAKER_00Okay, let me double. Yeah, northern. So if she was encino and he was in Northern California, she had this lavish, this lavish lifestyle and a rose water and drinking four thousand dollar bottles of wine, she couldn't go fly and see him. Of course, of course, she's too busy, she's too busy, and no telling how many other people she could have been doing this to. Exactly.
SPEAKER_02Okay, so here we go. The hammer's about to drop, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so she was she would never meet him in person, and she demanded that he keep their relationship a secret, saying one day they would meet, maybe mid-October. So Larry wanted to look young and fit for the big day, so I guess he was exercising and everything.
SPEAKER_02Okay, wait, so when was when was this? How far before mid-October are we?
SPEAKER_00They were only talking for like three to four months.
SPEAKER_02So let's say April, May, sometime in the summer.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, something like that. Okay, okay. So because he was excited and waiting to meet her come mid-October, he was cutting back on his food, he was working out, and he said he lost 30 pounds. He bought a new suit because the ones he had was outdated. He was getting all excited, you know, wanting to meet him, to meet her. Okay, yeah. So he didn't know it was a trap, she was not really Tina. Tina was technically, technically a crypto scam, of course, but it was an organization out to get his one million dollars, but I don't know how they knew he had one million dollars. Okay, so he basically was falling in love with somebody that's not real, she wasn't even a real person.
SPEAKER_02It's people in like a call center doing this, uh it's a scam. It's organized crime, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yep, yep, that's what it is. So after about three months or before he would meet her, Tina said that she could make him rich. Yeah, of course she did. So she was telling him that she had like $10 million in her crypto account. She showed him a picture,
Lavish Lifestyle Lure And Crypto Claims
SPEAKER_00which can be doctored and can be faked, especially with AI and it's with her fake aunt at Morgan Stanley, that she had traded three million dollars and got a million dollars, and it happened in five like five minutes.
SPEAKER_02Oh my. So wait, she traded one million and got three, or traded three million. What what did you say?
SPEAKER_00Three million and got traded. Well, it said in the article that I read, she showed where she had traded three million dollars and got one million dollars and it happened in five minutes.
SPEAKER_02To me, oh, so sh so her return was one million off of her three million dollar investment.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Okay, got it. Okay. So it was kind of like well, in the because in crypto, crypto is is crypto is like if you trade crypto, and if you want to cash out to cash, you're not gonna get what the actual value of the crypto is. Okay, okay. Um, and then she told him that her aunt and Morgan Stanley would tell him when to trade and what to trade. Okay. All right. So then I guess he believed her, and I guess who knows? Maybe he wanted to make a lot of money so he can be on the same, you know, wavelength as her, money-wise, or something. I don't know. He was in love with her, so he probably would do anything that she said, even though he never met her, and they only saw pictures. Yeah, yeah, and it could have been AI pictures, fake pictures, or some anybody's pictures, right?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Okay, so she guided him to wire money from his bank. Oh, so she helped him along, told him what to do. So guided him to take money from his bank and set up a Coinbase account and then a crypto.com account. And those are platforms that trade crypto, okay? Yes, okay. He said, This is what he said, it was amazing how much money I actually made in such a short amount of time. Supposedly they practice with play money at first and then small amounts of real money, and she would send him screenshots to show how the money was coming in such large amounts. So in his mind, he's thinking he's making all this money, so he kept investing more. He tapped his $1 million IRA account. First, he put in $500,000, saw a profit, then days later, another $500,000. So he basically took out his entire $1 million out of his IRA account. Larry.
SPEAKER_02So shots.
SPEAKER_00Uh-huh. So on the screenshots that she would send him, it would look like his million dollars had grown to $2.4 million. Yeah. So Tina said, put in more money. And he was like, I don't have any more money. And she was like, Well, get money out of your house or get money from your kids, get money in friends, relatives. She said, try to get me up to three million or something, right?
SPEAKER_03This is the pig butchering, yes, yes. Oh, she's butchering him.
SPEAKER_00So he didn't have that kind of money. He went to banks to try to borrow money or lines
The Investment Funnel And Fake Profits
SPEAKER_00of credit. So he finally asked his stepdaughter for money. And she said, Why? Why do you need this money? He said, and he said, I don't have it. And he said, You don't even have a couple of hundred thousand dollars. He said, You can invest, you know, and it can turn into a lot more. And she's like, No, Larry, this isn't no, this is a scam. And so she tried to convince him that it was a scam. And the way he found out it was a scam is that he tried to pull out his money from the crypto account, and there was no money there.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So he had just lost his $1 million, all which was all of his retirement. And worse, he would have to pay $400,000 in taxes from taking the funds from his IRA account.
SPEAKER_02So he wasn't even eligible to for distributions yet. So he must have not been 59 and a half.
SPEAKER_00What do you mean? How old did he? He was 71.
SPEAKER_02Oh, he was 70. Oh, so oh yeah, you do still have to pay taxes when you take it, just add a lower tax bracket. That's right. That's right. Okay, I'm with you.
SPEAKER_00So, yeah. So because he had to pay $400,000 in taxes and he didn't have any money. It means that he may have to sell his house. The house that he built with his wife is why. So he contacted the FBI, he contacted the FTC, he contacted the Secret Service, and no one could help.
SPEAKER_02They said, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yep. They say it's a crime that's so common, this pig butchering scheme, because it's these fake people and these groups that's online hiding behind fake names and everything. They found the pig and then slaughter it.
SPEAKER_03Yep.
SPEAKER_00And to this day, Tina is still trying to get Larry to put more money into his account. So she might text him and say, Good morning, dear. And then he'll say, It's not a good morning. And then he basically just says, I'm 71, 72 years old and can't live in California anymore. My turn my life upside down. I end up with no house. And he's all but given up on getting his money back. There's no way he can get his money back. And he said other seniors and potential victims of the red flags, he just ignored them. A wrong number that starts a relationship, never meeting the person in person, investing in crypto with someone you met online. That's the biggest red flag of all. I agreed. I agreed. Poor guy. I'm sympathetic. I don't know if he was a greedy mofo, kind of, because he took everything he had to try to make more, maybe because he wanted to be, you know, catch this 45-year-old woman and have the kind of money that she claimed that she had. But the minute
The Million-Dollar Loss And Tax Hit
SPEAKER_00somebody says keep this secret and don't let I don't want to meet you in person just yet, but give me a million dollars, that's a red flag as big as it can.
SPEAKER_02Oh my gosh. Okay, so cautionary tell, cautionary. Whenever so we all get texts, we all, every single person gets a random text. Hi, can you talk? And it's like they want you to respond, they want you to say wrong number because they know that's the hook right there. That's the initial hook. Immediately block that to not even engage. And that's the thing so many people do elderly people at nursing homes, they they the part of society who is lonely are going to engage, they're gonna respond instead of just blocking it, and that's what's so heartbreaking. So it seems to me like he he didn't set out to get rich, she enticed him with that, and you know, he thought he could have a better a better end of his life, thinking he would have love, found love again, and more money. Oh my gosh, the poor guy.
SPEAKER_00If he I know, I mean now it's even it's even gotten to the point to where you know instead of just being a stranger meeting somebody and forming a connection, now they're saying because I get these all the time. It's like, are you looking for a re part-time job, remote job at work? I'll send details, let's connect that WhatsApp. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Send me your bank account. Yeah, send me your bank account so we can set up direct deposit.
SPEAKER_00None of them have asked that yet. I don't think they do that at the very beginning.
SPEAKER_02No, that's after you say yes and they you get the job, then you've got to set up direct deposit.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and all that. And I'll I'm just like, I don't do anything through WhatsApp, sorry. And then I use the number and delete it.
SPEAKER_02Or text, yeah. And they they get your social security number, they get your driver's license number, they get your bank account information, and then it's all over. It is all over at that point.
SPEAKER_00Yep, yep. So that's pig, that's pig butchering, and there's so many victims, so so so many victims. And I'm sorry, but if somebody doesn't want to meet you in person, especially if they say they got all this money and they can't fly to meet you, you're in the same state. Then I'm I'm just like, I'm not giving anybody my money.
SPEAKER_02You know, I'm not giving anybody my money, even if they do come and see me, right?
SPEAKER_00And it's like, and I don't want to invest in crypto, I don't know anything about crypto. Crypto is volatile. Maybe he doesn't know anything at all about crypto interesting. Yeah, I mean, yeah, I'm just like, man, and it's gonna get worse with AI.
SPEAKER_02Well, people just need to hear these types of things, they need to know that these things are happening and that there are really bad people out there, aka greedy mofos, and you know, there's a special place below us
Reporting To Authorities And Hitting Dead Ends
SPEAKER_02for those that attack the elderly and take their their their golden years away from them, their retirement years.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, um, and it's not just the elderly, I mean, it can be anybody.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah, yeah. But this guy, he's beyond the ability to work again. And and younger people, I mean, yes, it happens to them, but they they've got a chance to build that back up. Where when you're 71, you don't. He worked his whole life to get that retirement account and and lost it in a matter of like seconds. I'm mad. I am so mad that this happens and that I mean, there are so many smart cyber people out there committing these type of fraudulent crimes, how can there not be smart cyber people that can reverse engineer this and solve this? I mean, there's gotta there's gotta be a way to trace where they're coming from. I mean, I'm the speech.
SPEAKER_00And when he said, yeah, and then when he said that, you know, the CIA couldn't help, and the and and who else did he report it to? Um the FBI, the I mean and nobody could help, and I'm just kind of like, no, it's just raw. They just they don't want to put the resources in, yeah. The FBI, the Federal Trade Commission, I guess that's the FTC, and the Secret Service say no one could help. I think they just didn't want to help. They don't want to help because right now, excuse me, right now they don't have the resources, yeah. I'm wondering if right now a lot of these scams could be coming right here in the good old United States of America with some of these people that are gritty mofos, and they're saying, Oh, people are getting by with this, let's try it.
SPEAKER_02Of course they are, yeah. I mean, yeah, let's it it's like you know, an education for these people. They watch these scammers get rich, and they just like you said, they're like, I can do that too, and you try it a few times, you you try it, you reach out to a hundred people, and if you get lucky one time, there you go, you know.
SPEAKER_00Yep, and some of these companies they can come from Cambodia, they can come from Russia, they can come from anywhere, and yeah, and it's kind of like, well, no, we can't trace it. Well, with the technology we're supposedly supposed to have, and advanced technology and cybercrime units and all this other kind of stuff, there has to be a way to trace this. There has to be.
SPEAKER_02And I know there's jurisdictional issues because if it if it initiates overseas, that's where the crime is. So who can actually prosecute these people? We can't, the uh the US can't because it initiated from another country, and probably I don't know how extradition works in this case for cybercrimes, but you know, you can't go extradite someone for a cybercrime.
Why Victims Fall And How To Spot Red Flags
SPEAKER_00Um we should start, we should start a GMI greedy mofo's investigations. Oh, yeah, that would be fun. Let's do it. Yeah, let's call. Let's call um um Larry and say, all right, FBI wouldn't help, Secret Service wouldn't help, GMI investigations, greedy mo calls investigations. We're on it. Well, you know, though, first that's not a bad idea.
SPEAKER_02First, we would have to pick butcher someone to get the resources and get the capital to do our to get our investigation company up and running. So um, yeah, I I don't think we can. We don't have the resources.
SPEAKER_00We'll find the resources. Okay, this is the difference between this is the difference between you and me. Anytime I have an idea, you have all the reasons we can't do it, and I can come up with all the reasons we can't do it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, uh well, well, uh, there's that little there's that that green thing called money that um yeah, uh it takes a lot of to have an investigation company overseas.
SPEAKER_00So we still can have greedy mofo's investigations. I'm gonna make up a t-shirt that's gonna say that. Like all right, you greedy mofo fans. If you want some merchandise and you want to be part of Greedy Mofo's investigations, you know, let us know.
SPEAKER_02It would be fun, it would be very fun. I would love to investigate people. I would too. And I would love to beyond investigating them, I would love to watch them being handcuffed and taken to jail and never seeing the light of day again.
SPEAKER_00Yes, ma'am, that would be awesome. That would be so awesome. Well, that was my episode for today. And so is the fake Tina and whatever companies behind her scam that's doing the pig butchering, those are the groups.
SPEAKER_02Yes, and there's plenty of well, I I can't really say I enjoyed this story because I'm heartbroken for Larry and the rest of his life, and hopefully he finds a way to keep his house, and hopefully he he gets back on his feet, and I don't know. I mean, I my heart breaks for him, so yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00I'm I'm I'm not gonna call him stupid or anything. I'm I'm sympathetic to his case, and I'm sorry that it happened. But there were so many reasons. You know, yeah, maybe we should start posting uh what red flags people need to watch
Broader Cybercrime Frustrations And Jurisdiction
SPEAKER_00out for because I'm sorry, some of these scams are so obvious, and people are still falling for them.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, well, to us they're obvious, absolutely. Um, but somebody in his state of mind is you know, he's so lonely and grieving, and you know, that just came at the wrong time for him, you know. Any other time he may not have been so vulnerable. And yeah, you know, that's so sad. It's so sad.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Well, next week I will have a case that I will try to top this one. Sounds like a plan. Okay, well, have a great day. And to our Greedy Mofo listeners, thank you so much for listening. We really appreciate it. And again, email us if you have any questions, comments, feedback, ideas. One e oene21fo.com. Uh sorry, info at one21.com. And we hope to hear from you.
SPEAKER_00Right, and our Facebook page is ONE O-N-E 211121. That's our Facebook page. And it's been a black view. I'm having fun looking up a lot of these pages that we've got.
SPEAKER_01And hopefully we can help someone from making the same mistakes that he's picked up. Fell afraid to.
SPEAKER_00Yes, correct. Alright. That was the sad story of butchering and but in the end, we've all learned something, and we are gonna start with posting out red flags for people to watch for so that they don't fall for these greedy motherfuckers.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Well, Afton, I will talk to you later. I will talk to you later, Pippa. Have a good evening. You too.