CON-gressman George Santos w/ Brittany Luse [Re-Release]

Summary

Scam Goddess Podcast Summary: "CON-gressman George Santos (w/ Brittany Luce)" [Re-Release]

Introduction

In this re-released episode of Scam Goddess, host Laci Mosley, also known as the Scam Goddess, delves deep into the intricate web of frauds and scams that permeate both modern society and historical contexts. Joined by the insightful and humorous guest Brittany Luce, the duo navigates through personal anecdotes, societal observations, and a detailed exposé on the controversial figure Congressman George Santos.

Guest Introduction: Brittany Luce

Starting at approximately [02:03], Laci warmly welcomes Brittany Luce, an award-winning journalist, NPR host of "It's Been a Minute," and a respected culture critic. Brittany brings a wealth of experience from her previous roles, including hosting "The Nod" and "For Colored Nerds" alongside Eric Eddings. Her expertise adds depth to the discussions, especially concerning fraud and deception in public figures.

Personal Experiences with Scams

Brittany shares her minimal direct experiences with scams, humorously noting, “I have never really, blessedly, other than, like, any man that I've dated. I haven't been scammed.” ([03:10]). She recounts a minor incident from twelve years ago where someone attempted to copy her card at a KFC, only to be thwarted by her low account balance.

Laci echoes similar sentiments, expressing her affinity for the lighter side of fraud, distinguishing it from the darker aspects of true crime which she finds distressing.

Discussion on True Crime vs. Scams

The conversation shifts towards the societal fascination with true crime and scams. Laci remarks, “I just personally don't want to talk about some nice white lady getting murdered on her walk home.” ([06:42]), highlighting her preference for exploring fraud without the associated violence. Brittany adds, “Deal with True crime. Because it makes me think I'm going to get, you know…” ([06:54]), emphasizing the psychological impact of true crime narratives.

They discuss how scams offer a form of true crime that is engaging yet less morally taxing, providing listeners with cautionary tales without the gruesome details of homicides.

Main Discussion: Congressman George Santos

The centerpiece of the episode revolves around the fraudulent activities of Congressman George Santos. Beginning at [26:47], Laci introduces Santos as both a groundbreaking figure and a perpetrator of significant deceit within American politics.

• Background and Personal Fabrications

  Laci details Santos’ fabricated personal history, stating, “George Santos was born on July 22. Not a Cancer man.” ([36:03]), highlighting discrepancies in his claimed astrological sign. Brittany points out the inconsistencies in Santos' heritage claims, such as his assertions of being a black Jew and Latino, which lack credible evidence.

• Educational and Professional Lies

  Santos falsely professed degrees from Baruch College and New York University, which both institutions have no records of him attending. Laci mocks the ease with which Santos distorts his academic and professional credentials, saying, “If you're gonna lie at this level, why not Google?” ([39:35]).

• Fabricated Charitable Work

  The Scam Goddess exposes Santos’ creation of "Friends of Pets United," a charity that never obtained tax-exempt status nor genuinely supported any beneficiaries. The hosts critique his minimal fundraising efforts, which failed to deliver any assistance to intended recipients.

• Financial Deceptions and Campaign Fraud

  Santos’ financial disclosures reveal dubious income claims, including nonexistent roles at Citigroup and involvement in a defunct hospitality technology company, Met Global. Laci highlights his suspicious campaign donations, noting, “$700,000 to Himself.” ([64:27]). They discuss how Santos manipulated campaign funds for personal use, circumvented disclosure requirements, and orchestrated a façade of financial success that lacks substantiation.

• Legal and Ethical Implications

  The hosts touch upon the ongoing investigations by various ethics committees and legal bodies, underscoring the gravity of Santos’ actions and their implications for political accountability.

Scammer of the Week: Jeffrey Washington

Transitioning to Scammer of the Week at around [75:07], Laci and Brittany spotlight Jeffrey Washington, a 35-year-old man arrested for impersonating Chance the Rapper to defraud victims. Washington exploited the trust associated with the celebrity's name to solicit tens of thousands of dollars from unsuspecting individuals.

• Modus Operandi

  Washington approached victims outside banks, offering to pay their cell phone bills and mortgages through a supposed partnership between the Community and Economic Development Association (CEDA) of Cook County and Chance the Rapper. He manipulated victims by gaining their trust and convincing them to donate further funds under false pretenses.

• Legal Consequences

  Identified as Demarco Franklin, Washington faces multiple felony charges, including theft by deception and wire fraud. The Scam Goddess emphasizes the sophistication of his scam and the importance of vigilance against such impersonations.

Conclusion

As the episode wraps up, Laci and Brittany reflect on the pervasive nature of fraud in both personal and political spheres. They underscore the importance of skepticism, thorough verification of information, and the role of public awareness in combating scams.

Laci closes with a call to action, encouraging listeners to stay informed and vigilant, while Brittany promotes her own platforms, including her NPR show "It's Been a Minute." The hosts reiterate their commitment to exposing fraud with humor and insight, inviting listeners to join the "Con-gregation" of Scam Goddess.

Notable Quotes

• “Have you been scammed? Have you ever run a scam that's past the statute of limitations?” — Laci Mosley ([03:10])

• “I just personally don't want to talk about some nice white lady getting murdered on her walk home.” — Laci Mosley ([06:42])

• “George Santos was born on July 22. Not a Cancer man.” — Laci Mosley ([36:03])

• “If you're gonna lie at this level, why not Google?” — Laci Mosley ([39:35])

• “$700,000 to Himself.” — Laci Mosley ([64:27])

• “Jeopardizing trust for financial gain.” — Scam Goddess Host (Paraphrased)

Final Thoughts

This episode of Scam Goddess offers a comprehensive exploration of deceit in various forms, from personal scams to high-level political fraud. Through engaging dialogue and sharp analysis, Laci Mosley and Brittany Luce provide listeners with both entertainment and invaluable insights into the mechanics of scams, emphasizing the importance of awareness and critical thinking in everyday interactions.

Stay tuned to Scam Goddess every Tuesday for fresh episodes, and revisit classic tales every Friday. Don’t forget to watch the upcoming Scam Goddess TV show premiering on Freeform and Hulu on January 15th!

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Note: All timestamps correspond to moments within the provided transcript and are indicative of when specific topics or quotes appear.

Transcript

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[Lacey Moseley]

And fraud scam CA robbery and fraud Scam Goddess what's Poppin Congregation we're back with another installment of Scam Goddess, the podcast all about robbery, fraud and those who practice it. Sometimes we love them, sometimes we hate them. We will see. I'm your host Lacey Moseley, ak AKA Scam Goddess and I'm very. What? Yes. Excited.

[Britti Luce]

Come on.

[Lacey Moseley]

Wasn't that intro fire? No, you didn't speed it up. I'm just talking fast. But y'all, I am extremely excited for this guest today. Today we have an award winning journalist. Honey, y'all know I'm not a journalist, but we got a journalist on the show. Okay. On air host and culture critic. She previously hosted the podcast the Nod and for Colored Nerds with friend of the show, Eric Eddings. Y'all know the episode was popping. She is the current host of NPR's It's Been a Minute, taking over from another friend of the show, Sam Sanders.

[Britti Luce]

Yes.

[Lacey Moseley]

Congregation, please give a warm welcome to Britti Luce Hi Brittani.

[Britti Luce]

Hello Lacey. I'm so happy to be here. You don't even know. I feel so blessed.

[Lacey Moseley]

I have you. We were just chit chatting before we started. I was like oh, I guess we got to start doing work because we could sit here all damn day.

[Britti Luce]

I was like, and another thing, I'm so excited. Honestly, once you told me who this episode's going to Be about. I just feel so fucking highly favored right now.

[Lacey Moseley]

Yeah, listen, I feel highly favored as well, because I'm so glad that we have you for this episode. Y'all have. You know what? I guess y'all be able to tell from the title, but y'all have been tagging me in this. Listen, the congregation don't play. They don't play. They got testimonies. They sending ravens, carrier pigeons with little backpacks. They're like, if you don't do this episode. And we're doing it. See, I still didn't say it. Look at me. But, Brittany, before we even get into the things, the exciting things, this is also exciting. But we always ask on the show, what is your relationship with scams? Have you been scammed? Have you ever run a scam that's past the statute of limitations? Do you love them? Do you hate them? It could literally be anything.

[Britti Luce]

I have never really, blessedly, other than, like, any man that I've dated. I haven't been scammed. Every man is like, I've never been scammed. And then I was like, oh, never mind. Yeah, no, other than that, I haven't really been scammed. And like, even one time somebody tried to. To this, maybe 12 years ago, somebody tried to lift, you know, like, you know how, like, they'll have those card readers or whatever at, like, a fast food place, and they'll, like, take your info and try to, like, buy stuff with it?

[Lacey Moseley]

Yeah, they'll. Copier card or the info.

[Britti Luce]

Yes. Somebody tried to copy my card at a KFC about 12 years ago and laughs on them because I only had $6 in my account. So they tried to buy gas.

[Lacey Moseley]

Gas.

[Britti Luce]

So you were in a gallon? I wasn't even buying gas. Why did you think you were gonna buy gas? Like, what?

[Lacey Moseley]

I'm trying to buy petroleum. Oh, they wild.

[Britti Luce]

I know. I'm like, what do you think this is, Eggs? Like, you think I'm rich, right?

[Lacey Moseley]

You going to Gucci? Gucci Gas? No, we don't pay for that.

[Britti Luce]

Yeah. So I haven't really been scammed and I haven't really run scams. I mean, aside from, like, lying at, like, different office jobs. Like, if I had a boring office job, sometimes I would just tell my boss, like, oh, I need to go to. I'd say Walgreens to buy, like, pantyhose or something like that, or tampons or something else that I knew that he didn't want to hear about or ask about. And then I would, like, go on a date. I go Hang out with my friends. Not a work date, middle of the day. Actually, one time I went with Eric, I think a long time ago to get, like, he was picking up an engagement ring, and I was like, oh, I'll meet you in the diamond district. Like, absolutely no problem. I can be gone for two hours. Like, say no more. But that's not really a scam. That's just being strategic, I think, and, like, using time management.

[Lacey Moseley]

Yeah. As we all should.

[Britti Luce]

As we all.

[Lacey Moseley]

I love that, though, Britney. I love that you were going up to your boss. You like, hey, so I'm bleeding out of the my. I'm shedding my uteral lion lining right now. He was like, okay, don't tell me.

[Britti Luce]

Anything else, all right?

[Lacey Moseley]

But I'll be back in three hours. I'm going to see Avatar.

[Britti Luce]

Literally. I was like, ava from Abbott Elementary. That was, like, how I acted at so many of my office jobs. But you know what, though? I persevered. And since I've been a journalist, I have actually been very upstanding, and I have the references to prove it. But no, actually, I'm not that big into scammers. My husband loves them.

[Lacey Moseley]

Why are you whispering? He home right now?

[Britti Luce]

He is. He's in the next room over. He's like, great. No, he. He loves them. He's always watching American Greed. He is always listening to Dateline. I had never listened to the Dateline podcast before until we were on a drive back from Massachusetts last summer, and it was this, like, scam after, lie after, cheat after, and I ate it up. But he's gotten me since into, like. He was the first person I knew who was really, like, on the Elizabeth Holmes situation. Like, if there's a new scammer, he knows about it. He knows who they are. He's heard about it, and he usually is the person telling me, Lizzie is a scam superstar.

[Lacey Moseley]

So, okay, I fucks with your husband. I like your husband.

[Britti Luce]

Me too.

[Lacey Moseley]

Tell him to watch Lacon on abc. There's lots of scams, and I'm on it. Keep looking. But no, I love that. I mean, I think that there's a general fascination with scams that's increased right now because, one, everyone loves true crime. But I like that we can do true crime without the murder and the gore, because I just personally don't want to talk about some nice white lady getting murdered on her walk home. I think that's just. It's real. It's people's lives. It's so scary. Even though this is.

[Britti Luce]

Deal with True crime. Because it makes me think I'm going to get, you know, I'm saying, like, bludgeon, murder, stalk beaten. And like, I don't want to think about that. I can't do true crime because it stresses me out.

[Lacey Moseley]

You know, that's the exact opposite for most people. I'll say that there's an interest in true crime too, because when you're watching it, I think we all. I'm gonna whisper, guys, because this is a little secret. I think we all kind of have this thought in true crime that like, when we watch something, we're like, oh, now I'm learning all the things not to do. So this doesn't happen to me. That's what it is.

[Britti Luce]

That's what people say. And for me, I'm like, no. I'm sitting there, I'm like, you know what? My dumb ass would. And so let me not even get caught up. Actually, no, there's a lot of things that, like, I'm not like, horror movie bad, you know where like people in horror movies, we're just like, girl, hello, who is that? It's just like, quit playing. Yeah. No, they're always just completely fucking things up. I'm not that bad.

[Lacey Moseley]

No, we're not investigating. Black people don't investigate. I hear a sound, I'm out.

[Britti Luce]

I don't need to know.

[Lacey Moseley]

I see people running. I'm running with them. I'll figure out why we running when we get there.

[Britti Luce]

Exactly.

[Lacey Moseley]

I'm not going.

[Britti Luce]

Cause I'm gonna get there.

[Lacey Moseley]

Wherever we're going, whatever direction I'm arriving.

[Britti Luce]

Yeah, but yeah, no, I don't like murder and stuff like that. It stresses me out.

[Lacey Moseley]

I have anxiety. Same, same. Yeah, and that's really why I love doing a scam podcast because we get to warn each other, but we also get to laugh. And sometimes there's nasty people, but you know, we get past it. But before we get into our next segment, what's hot and fun? Fraud. We're going to take a quick break for some non scam advertisements scams.

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[Lacey Moseley]

Y'all, we made it. We made it through another holiday season. And personally, I think it's time for us to treat ourselves. And y'all know, when I want to treat myself, then I'm going to Quince because I can treat myself without hurting my poor, poor bank account. All Quint's Items are priced 50 to 80% less than similar brands because they partner directly with top factories to cut the cost and the middleman. And we love that. And of course, they use premium fabrics and finishes for that luxury feel in every single piece. And right now I am obsessed with the organic heavyweight fleece. I just got it in the Concord and in the tan. Like, sometimes I talk about quints like a family member. It's wild because it's so cozy on my body. That is why I love quints. Treat yourself this winter without the luxury price tag. Go to quints.com goddess for 365 day returns plus free shipping on your order. That's Q-U-I-N C E.com goddess to get free shipping and 365 day returns. Quints.com goddess gods. And we're back. And it's time for what's hot and fraud. This is where we warn our listeners about popping scams in the zeitgeist. Or more often than not, we get a letter from you guys. As always, snitch on your friends, your family and your [e-mail]. just make sure your scam is retired so we don't. What? Yes. Fuck up your bag. Amen. Brittany. I just need a fake name from you. It could be anything. We don't care about gender.

[Britti Luce]

A fake name. Selena.

[Lacey Moseley]

Selena. Oh, like Selena Latino.

[Britti Luce]

Yeah, literally. I have a Selena children's book that I got from my niece.

[Lacey Moseley]

Oh.

[Britti Luce]

Like last year, like, in like, a tizzy. I was like, oh, this looks so good. I'm gonna buy it for her. And then I, like, obviously, like, you know, she sadly passes away at the end of the book. I thought it was gonna be a book about, like, I. Right. I thought they were just gonna say, oh, this is a powerful. You know.

[Lacey Moseley]

Yeah. It was supposed to be her doing the washing machine. Yeah.

[Britti Luce]

Like bidi bidi bamboo. And then they were like, they really put it in there. I said, I can't give this to her. My niece is just turning. About to turn five. I can't. I can't tell.

[Lacey Moseley]

That's not a children's book. They put Yolanda Salar up in there. That ain't right.

[Britti Luce]

Literally. So now it's my book.

[Lacey Moseley]

You know, she's supposed to get out of jail this year. I'm trying to figure out. I'm trying to figure out where we supposed to be, so I can be like, come outside. We ain't gonna jump you. I just.

[Britti Luce]

I. You know, she gonna have to figure it out. That's all I can say. I don't know what she going to.

[Lacey Moseley]

Do with her life. Consist. We know. Also, I feel bad for the actress who played Yolanda Saldivar, because I think that ruined her career, because she did it a little too good. And then we all started looking at her like she was Yolanda.

[Britti Luce]

No, you know what? I think she passed a few years ago.

[Lacey Moseley]

No, really.

[Britti Luce]

Lupe on tveros. I think that's. I'm pretty sure that's who played her. I'm pretty sure that's who played her. She was a sweet lady. I mean, from what I saw. From what I understand. I mean, like. But she really acted because, like you said, she played her a little too good.

[Lacey Moseley]

Yeah, she acted down. And I felt bad. Yeah, a little, too. The next thing I saw her in was, like, this Christmas. And I was like, oh, I'm glad that she getting some more roles. Cause I felt bad. Cause she did it too good. It was like Laurence Fishburne and what's Love Got To Do With It? It was like, now we just. When we think of.

[Britti Luce]

It's just like, the wigs in that film worked in his favor, I think. I think the wigs kind of kept it. So it's like, okay, Ike Turner is a character in this film. Cause he.

[Lacey Moseley]

I don't know. When I close my eyes, like, when I really think I can see Ike Turner, but the first face is Laurence Fishburne.

[Britti Luce]

Oh.

[Lacey Moseley]

So you gotta be careful playing villains.

[Britti Luce]

Sometimes you can be too talented.

[Lacey Moseley]

Yeah, you can't do it too good. They did it too good. And now I think of them. I honestly, I don't even know what Yolanda Saldivar looks like. I think of the actress, and I'm like, she did it too good. She's so talented. But okay, so Selena. So Selena says Lacey, my parasocial love. I wanted to give the rest of my. The rest of the congregation a warning about a common scam. We broke people are fending off on Facebook. Why you got to say we broke people? Listen, inflation is high.

[Britti Luce]

This background info look and it's made up.

[Lacey Moseley]

It's a scam. When I saw that, was that Congress where she had that big, like, chart. Pie chart up and how, like, most of inflation right now is corporate greed?

[Britti Luce]

I was like, I say let's run. Let's pause that. Can we spend some more time on. I want to vote on this, right?

[Lacey Moseley]

They were like, milk is $9 because of the economy. No, you're raising the price and heavy air quotes. Nah, we didn't do this. The economy did it.

[Britti Luce]

Like, it's a tribunal somewhere. Like, it's out of our control.

[Lacey Moseley]

Fruity Pebbles is $10 because of the economy.

[Britti Luce]

Wait, how much are eggs where you live?

[Lacey Moseley]

Oh, man, I don't know, actually. And that's not. I just have.

[Britti Luce]

Is it like an Oprah thing where you just haven't been in the. You're so rich, you haven't been in the grocery store?

[Lacey Moseley]

No, it's not.

[Britti Luce]

Ten years? Is that. It's not.

[Lacey Moseley]

No. It's a trifling thing of, like, go to the grocery store. I just been eating at work, going to sleep. That's it. But I do know that, like, last time I went to the grocery store, and I thought, like, I was like, I. I got a reward from Postmates that was like, you get a month of free showtime. I said, a month of free showtime. Oh, I don't give y'all too much money.

[Britti Luce]

What? Wow.

[Lacey Moseley]

I was unlocking, like, secret level.

[Britti Luce]

I've never even posted that.

[Lacey Moseley]

Yeah, that's when I was like, I gotta go to the grocery store. And I messed up. And I went to the worst grocery store you can go to without a list. Target. And I left there. It's not even.

[Britti Luce]

That's not.

[Lacey Moseley]

It's not even really a grocery store.

[Britti Luce]

No.

[Lacey Moseley]

They, like, we got a route. Something to eat in the corner. I went in there, I was like, oh, I need all of this. The first thing I put in my cart was eyelashes. And I was like, this is not what I came for.

[Britti Luce]

You can't. There's no protein in those, y'all.

[Lacey Moseley]

And I had a black lady auntie check me out. What you talking about? When I finished, she was like, oh, we're gonna have to restock the shelves. I said, sweet. Now you gonna have to do me like this.

[Britti Luce]

Oh, no, you didn't have to read that. Calling you greedy.

[Lacey Moseley]

She read me. And it was expensive. I was like, oh, my God. And also, Target's the worst place to buy groceries. I love Target. If they sponsor the show, I love Target. So on average, right now, thank you, super producer Judith Kargbo. The price of eggs in LA is $7.

[Britti Luce]

I paid $7 for eggs yesterday. And I. I'm gonna treasure each one. I'm gonna savor each egg like it's not. That's a gross one I'll ever get.

[Lacey Moseley]

I was born with eggs. They shouldn't cost that much. Mine were free.

[Britti Luce]

Wow.

[Lacey Moseley]

Yeah. Your third eye.

[Britti Luce]

I had to tap my third eye for that one. Wow. Message, message.

[Lacey Moseley]

So Selena said that she's trying to warn the congregation about some scams on Facebook, which we all know Facebook is ripe for scams. The age demographic there, they know what they're doing. So, like so many of us, I'm all about decluttering and selling my stuff when I need some coin. Cause apparently I'm best at cleaning my own apartment. Only when I'm getting paid for it. A self scam. I get that. I'm there. So the thing is, I ditched all social media a few years ago for my health. Ooh, look at you.

[Britti Luce]

Wow.

[Lacey Moseley]

Oh, man. I bet their third eye is open.

[Britti Luce]

I know.

[Lacey Moseley]

Oh, I need to get. I can't get rid of social media, but I kind of.

[Britti Luce]

Selena's my role model at this point.

[Lacey Moseley]

Yes, write the book, Selena. But I left my Facebook profile alive solely for the sake of private sales through the marketplace. I don't have a meta owned app on my phone. All due to the educating you do on the pod. Oh, okay. Yes. And then all caps. Everyone is sus by default. You're not wrong. Okay. Be suspicious, okay? Always look over your shoulder. That's what we teach here. So. But avoiding social media means it's easier for me to arrange sales through text for us upright pores. Why you, Selena?

[Britti Luce]

Why?

[Lacey Moseley]

Why keep calling yourself a poor in here? We all poor. We live in America, selena. Okay? Only 1% are rich.

[Britti Luce]

The rest of us are paying to.

[Lacey Moseley]

Keep this bitch afloat. Okay? 1% are rose on the door. And the rest of us is Jack freezing on that.

[Britti Luce]

On the side of it.

[Lacey Moseley]

We feel you. So it says for us upright pores. We're used to selling our stuff and it's not weird to exchange contacts historically. So I will say I still have a TV that I bought off Facebook Marketplace. Like, you know when people are moving and they're just like, we gotta get rid of this.

[Britti Luce]

Oh, my gosh. They don't even care who take. They'll give it to you for anything.

[Lacey Moseley]

That's how I got a tv and I showed up, got the tv, and it was in great Condition. It still works. I got the tv, like, seven years ago.

[Britti Luce]

That's how I got a patio set. I got a patio set from, like, Facebook Marketplace for, like. It was, like, six chairs, a table, and umbrella. It was, like, 130 bucks.

[Lacey Moseley]

Oh, damn. Yeah, they were.

[Britti Luce]

You found out a scam. Here's a scam. Patio furniture and indoor furniture cost the same. What the that about?

[Lacey Moseley]

That makes no sense.

[Britti Luce]

I can't even get into it.

[Lacey Moseley]

You would think that the.

[Britti Luce]

I don't.

[Lacey Moseley]

I feel like the outdoor furniture should be cheaper, but then it also needs to be, like, weatherproof.

[Britti Luce]

Right?

[Lacey Moseley]

So I don't know.

[Britti Luce]

I. You know, that's what they want you to think, and I don't. I'm not buying it. It's. I'm sorry. I'm not buying it. You have to cover it. How? Weatherproof.

[Lacey Moseley]

I mean, you did buy it. You did buy it. Well, okay, but you got it at discount.

[Britti Luce]

Yes, exactly. Secondhand.

[Lacey Moseley]

And listen, I love a. I love a steal. I love a deal. So when Annie in Quotes, whose profile is a smiley young woman, wanted to buy a cute IKEA cart off of me for $20, I was just so happy to arrange a quick sale. She asked for my phone number, saying she's not on Facebook much. And let me tell you, as a social media avoider, this really got me. It's fucking. It's fucking annoying to do Facebook when you hate Facebook. Fair. So she was like, let's get to the point. Let's text. I get that. Let's get to the point. So I gave her my number, and minutes later, was texting a Google Voice verification code. Oh, hell no, says Selena. So I will say I looked this up, and in the US if you get a Google, I have a Google Voice number. It's not my real number, but in the US you can make your Google Voice number your real number. I looked it up.

[Britti Luce]

Why would you want to do that?

[Lacey Moseley]

So here's why. So, Selena said, I reported that shit immediately and looked up the scam. Apparently, what they do is they target sellers on Marketplace and use Google Voice to impersonate the seller. If they get the verification code, they can link your phone number to their account and access your contacts to further scam them. An update on the classic calling someone's granny for money. But this time, the scammer is calling from your real, verified phone number. That's a good scam, so be careful out there. Don't give out verification codes to anyone, even if they insist on getting it, to prove you're Real. And then they put some screenshots of the conversation here. Annie, smiley ass. Annie. The scammer was like, hey, I interested to pick it up. Or, oh, no, see, I checked my brain, tried to make sense of this. I'm going to read it as it lays.

[Britti Luce]

Okay?

[Lacey Moseley]

Okay. They're definitely in another country and maybe going through a translator. Hey, I interested to pick up it. When are you available? And then poor Selena didn't notice. These typos said, Wonderful. Today after 6 is good, or tomorrow.

[Britti Luce]

After 4pm Selena's so ready to sell. She's ready to sell the little cart. I feel you, girl. I feel you. You thought you had a sale.

[Lacey Moseley]

That's the despo meter. You're like, look, I got a sale. It's quick. Let's do it. But I would have been confused by that first, hey, I interested to pick up it.

[Britti Luce]

The it. Ending the sentence with it.

[Lacey Moseley]

And, I mean, people have language barriers. When I speak Spanish, I know I sound like this, so that doesn't bother me as much, but it's like, I don't know. It's too many typos in there for me.

[Britti Luce]

That's what I'm saying. It's too many. And, like, the way that the. But it is the subject of that sentence in addition to the typos and it being in, like, at the very end of the sentence. That, to me, is just like. It's like, I only speak English. I'm constantly typing things into Google Translate. And I'm just saying, like, I know. Like you said, I know that's how I sound. So I'm just kind of like that combined with Google voice link, the hurry, hurry trying to be on Facebook and all this and that. There's too many things that are not quite adding up.

[Lacey Moseley]

The math is not mathing. And the other text that they screenshot says, okay, Cash or Venmo? And then Selena says, cash preferred. But honestly, either is fine. Can you make it today? Selena's trying to get that 20. She's like, Give me that 20. Twin. Twin.

[Britti Luce]

I get it.

[Lacey Moseley]

Annie in quotes says, okay. There's a comma, but no space. It says, okay, I am not active Facebook all time, period. No space. Please give me your contact number. I will call you. So, Mm, mm, mm, mm. Y'all watch out for typos. Look, we all have grammatical errors, but if you see too many typos, it's probably somebody from another country running everything through a translating device, which always gives us poor translation. Like, Google Translate be front end. Like, they actually Know what they're talking about.

[Britti Luce]

It's not what they. It's not giving what they say it's going to give. As somebody who's set plenty of emails to try to get hotel reservations for vacations, I know I have sent some very anti, like, messages trying to seem like. Trying to be helpful, call myself trying to be helpful.

[Lacey Moseley]

Somebody in Germany's getting email from me. Like Alvin is saying, one bed house, please. Any for nights to sleep, pillow. Like, what is this?

[Britti Luce]

You're welcome. Yeah, there's like, okay, girl. But yeah, I generally feel like, because, you know, I like, between my work email, personal email, and also to my phone, I switched phone numbers like less than a year ago and I stopped getting my old scammers. Like, I started getting new scammers, new text message scams and all this sort of stuff like that. My rule of thumb is if I'm seeing three typos in a sentence, something's not right. Because usually autocorrect will help you out in a pitch.

[Lacey Moseley]

Yes.

[Britti Luce]

So if I'm seeing three typos in a sentence from a very strange number, it's just letting me know that there's nothing wrong with my auto insurance.

[Lacey Moseley]

Right. And autocorrect will give you, like, this ain't subject, verb agreement. Since these subjects and verbs is disagreeing, they ineffisticus. Let us help you. Like, they'll do a lot and sometimes it's wrong, but they'll do a lot to help you. So I'm like, this was run through a translator and copy pasted. So as we say, look, y'all, check the emails. Does the Amazon have a zero for an O? Like just check everything.

[Britti Luce]

Yes.

[Lacey Moseley]

The type, like the how they're typing, the font they're typing in to see if it's legit. And if they're asking for information, nobody really needs to ask you for information that they don't have. Unless you're like filling out paperwork for a job.

[Britti Luce]

Right.

[Lacey Moseley]

Unless there's some incentive that like, you are doing, if somebody randomly asks you for information, don't give it to them. And I'm glad that Selena realized this was a scam and did not participate, because what. But tell Yalls grannies and y'all grandpas, I'm telling y'all, if y'all not gonna call them, at least help them not get scammed because you're not gonna get no inheritance.

[Britti Luce]

That's true. That's true. Somebody else will be living off of.

[Lacey Moseley]

It if you're not calling them the scammers are.

[Britti Luce]

Oh, wow, that one. That's deep. You're not calling the scammers out. Wow.

[Lacey Moseley]

If you ain't calling pop ups, listen, scammers. The scammers are. Okay. He's feeling loved by the robbery community. Okay.

[Britti Luce]

I mean, you know what though, I have to say, if you go through the channels of, you know, really building up a little, a little confidence, you know, between you and the person, it's kind of like, I don't know, you're giving them, you're giving them a listening ear, you're giving them some shine.

[Lacey Moseley]

It's then maybe you earned it.

[Britti Luce]

That's what I'm saying.

[Lacey Moseley]

I'm like, maybe it's a job.

[Britti Luce]

Maybe you earned it. Maybe you earned it.

[Lacey Moseley]

You should get paid. But this is a. I haven't heard of this. I haven't heard of people because making a Google voice and so I researched it before I read it and I was in, in the US you can make your number your Google voice numbers. So this is effective.

[Britti Luce]

Wow. Wow, wow, wow, wow. That was. That's news I can use. Thank you so much. Thank you, Selena.

[Lacey Moseley]

News I can use. I'm stealing that. I said it. Y'all remember that? Differently. Remember I said that? All right y'all, we're taking a quick break for some more non scam advertising. So we'll be back with the historic hoodwinks that you have all been waiting for.

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[Lacey Moseley]

And we are back. And y'all know who we talking about. Congressman George Santos. Maybe that's his name.

[Britti Luce]

I'm sorry, first of his name. First of his name.

[Lacey Moseley]

First of all, maybe made it up. And look at this man. Look at this smile. How did people not know that this man was a criminal from this congress photo? Because it's giving. I don't know how I got here.

[Britti Luce]

He. No, I love. Literally, he's smiling so hard. All however many muscles of his cheeks are working overtime. Okay, listen. He feels so good. He feels so good.

[Lacey Moseley]

I know this was a high. He was like, I can't believe they done let me up in here.

[Britti Luce]

Anybody who's ever lied to call out sick from work has felt I think a little bit of this. That sort of like, ooh, I got him. I got him. He's feeling that on like the ultimate. On the ultimate.

[Lacey Moseley]

It's the got him smile. Honestly, I'm looking at it and it's giving me joy. I don't know why, but I'm getting secondhand joy from his smile.

[Britti Luce]

Oh, it feels. Something about. It feels good. It feels good. The joy is palpable. I'll say. The joy. The photo's emanating. Joy.

[Lacey Moseley]

Okay, come on, scammer boy. Joy. I kind of live right now. Let's see if I'm gonna continue to live. So Congressman George Santos made history as the first openly gay, non incumbent Republican elected to the House of Representatives. He also is making history as the most fraudulent politician to have been elected to con a statue. I want a statue of that smile.

[Britti Luce]

But where would it be?

[Lacey Moseley]

Honestly, I don't know. Put it in Boston next to that terrible MLK statue.

[Britti Luce]

I can't speak on the statue.

[Lacey Moseley]

You know what?

[Britti Luce]

I don't have any. I don't have anything kosher to say about that statue. I'm not going to speak on it.

[Lacey Moseley]

Britney, you be redacted. You be redacted. But I'mma go ahead and put it on wax. That statue is weird, y'all. We all know it's weird. It's like from certain angles it looks like somebody's going down on somebody. And then from other ang. It's like, and why is that head cut off? And also like, can we just get rights? We just want equality. We don't need no more statues. Like when they do Confederate statues, it'd be like a whole racist on a horse. And the Horse is bucking and stuff. You see his whole face. It's like, general hate the blacks. And, like, there's a plaque. But then we get, like, a random, weird bronze. Huge hug. I don't. And of course, it's in Boston. I'm sorry. I'm dragging it, because I saw it, and I was like, no, ma'am. No, ma'am.

[Britti Luce]

I. It's one of those things where it's just like, I. I've been so curious because, I mean, as soon as I saw it, my mind went to a place. I'm not gonna take it. I'm not gonna take my mouth to the place that my mind went.

[Lacey Moseley]

You want that tightrope, Brittany, because you're a journalist. Okay.

[Britti Luce]

Okay.

[Lacey Moseley]

Right. I am unserious.

[Britti Luce]

So I. But I saw it, and I want.

[Lacey Moseley]

You to pull it up over here.

[Britti Luce]

I know not only this is the thing. Y'all can't see this, but there's a zoom I'm wearing.

[Lacey Moseley]

You will see it on Insta.

[Britti Luce]

And. Yes. And literally, Judith is scrolling so that I can see.

[Lacey Moseley]

Look how many bad angles there are.

[Britti Luce]

Oh, it's just. So. It's one of those things where I just wonder, like, you wonder how these things come together. There was no point at which someone was like, you know, from a certain angle, it's kind of giving, not what you want to give.

[Lacey Moseley]

And, you know, they looked at it from every angle I saw. I went on a deep dive. They had the whole, like, 3D printer mockup of this. Like, this is not an accident.

[Britti Luce]

Right? What happened? That's what I just. What happened? Maybe. I don't know. Maybe the.

[Lacey Moseley]

Is it. Is it feminist? Like, if we all eat coochie, we'll be free. I.

[Britti Luce]

No comment. No comment. But I just.

[Lacey Moseley]

Go to hell.

[Britti Luce]

I just don't know. Yeah. I just. Nobody. It's one of those things where you just wonder, like, was there nobody who was like. Obviously a group of people commissioned this. Right? And then somebody else made it. And the artist. I'm very familiar with the artist is black, and he's a fantastic artist. But it's one of those things where it's just, like, was there nobody on either side of the equation that felt comfortable being like, I know y'all are feeling this.

[Lacey Moseley]

I will say objectively, like, when I saw the reference photos and stuff, it does look like what it's supposed to look like. I think the artist. He did the art.

[Britti Luce]

Oh, yeah.

[Lacey Moseley]

It's just that.

[Britti Luce]

It'S. Yeah, it's just.

[Lacey Moseley]

Yeah, we gonna move on.

[Britti Luce]

Yeah. I mean. I mean, emotionally, I'm never moving on.

[Lacey Moseley]

From that, but am I gonna take a picture in front of it? Absolutely.

[Britti Luce]

Next time. I have plenty of family in Boston. I will be back in front of there squatting, prayer hands, the whole thing.

[Lacey Moseley]

Okay. Prayer hands.

[Britti Luce]

From the right angle, too. From the. From the right angle that we all saw from the.

[Lacey Moseley]

I'm gonna be up there with my black power fist. To freedom.

[Britti Luce]

To freedom. Okay.

[Lacey Moseley]

You'll never catch me talking publicly bad about this. Y'all didn't even hear this right now. Let me gaslight y'all. Y'all, that's not what I said. I said I loved it. I thought I loved it.

[Britti Luce]

And they're always judging black women and making us the scapegoat, and that's why your mind went there. So stop.

[Lacey Moseley]

That's all. That's all it was. So in 2020, Jorge Santos, 34, ran in the District of Long island in Queens against a man named Thomas Suzuki. He lost his first race and spent the following years raising money for a campaign against a new Democrat challenger, Robert Zimmerman. He won his race in 2022, flipping a previously Democratic seat. George is known for his praise of former President Donald Trump, his support of the January 6 riot, and for attending a far right white supremacist GOP gala following his win. So he a prop for the man. He was like, I love. I love oppression. That's my favorite thing. Also, this man is not white.

[Britti Luce]

No, He's. He's a gay Latino man. And it just seems like none of the causes that you just. None of the causes or the politicians that you just mentioned that he supported, they don't seem like they align with the sort of values that many marginalized people have for their lives, livelihood, and sanity.

[Lacey Moseley]

Also a lot of politics, and some people like the Candace Owens of the world have. Because Candace used to be a liberal, she used to be a Democrat. And I think as a black woman in a sea of other black women who are speaking facts, and I vote blue. But I also realize that most politicians are scammers. No matter what side of the line they're on. I'm just voting like, we used to have merch. That was for Joe Biden. It was a shot to leg 2020 because he said, you know, maybe police should stop shooting people in the heart and maybe shoot them in the leg. And I was like, that's what we're voting for. Donald Trump's a shot to the heart. Joe Biden's a shot to the leg. So leg 2020 baby, like. Like, we just trying to live, you know? So I. I get that people know that they can stand out by using the scam of, like, I'm diverse, I'm. I'm Latinx, and I'm also queer.

[Britti Luce]

Then there's money to get. There's money to be made.

[Lacey Moseley]

What's to be had?

[Britti Luce]

Oh, yeah.

[Lacey Moseley]

And obviously, you know, George realized that and he cashed in. And I think that there are kind of two mindsets of people in this respect of, like, there's people who are, like, if we get out there, we can change the way that things are and we can make things better. And there's other people. Like, I got one life, and this seems to be how shit is going, so I'm just gonna try to get mine. So he was trying to get his.

[Britti Luce]

Things, you know, I mean, I'm sure the coin on that side of the aisle for pulling those sorts of 180 turns that we see a lot of people make or appearing to go against their own obvious self interests.

[Lacey Moseley]

Yes.

[Britti Luce]

As people of color or queer people or. Or people of other marginalized identities. I'm sure the money is good.

[Lacey Moseley]

I mean, Clearance talks about interracial marriage, and he married to a whole white lady.

[Britti Luce]

Right. Oh, Lord, Lord. And a humdinger at that, too. But. Yeah.

[Lacey Moseley]

Yeah, truly. But not surprising that we know since Anita Hill, that man ain't no good. That's why he gonna live a long time. When you evil, you live good. You know, got no stress. No stress. So more recently, he's also known for fabricating almost every aspect of his personal and professional history. Just a small detail. So George Santos was born on July 22. Not a cancer man.

[Britti Luce]

I was just gonna say he's a cancer.

[Lacey Moseley]

I'm a cancer.

[Britti Luce]

I'm sorry. I'm a Scorpio. So I'm a fellow water sign. And people think that this is the type of stuff we do, but meanwhile, it's y'all.

[Lacey Moseley]

Okay, listen. It's the men, though. That's actually the ones who identify as men. It's all of them.

[Britti Luce]

That's true.

[Lacey Moseley]

150 over here. We don't. We don't be getting down like that. If you identify as a cancer man, you evil. You heard it here first. Your people, too. The Scorpio man, also evil.

[Britti Luce]

Okay. I'll give you that. I'll give you that, actually. I'll give you that. I'll give you that.

[Lacey Moseley]

So he was born July 22, 1988, to Brazilian immigrants Fatima DeVolder and Jarcino Santos. Junior. He was raised in Queens, New York, but as a teenager, he spent some time with his mother in the suburb of Rio de Janeiro. His mother worked as a nurse. And in 2008, at the age of 19, George stole the checkbook of a man she was caring for in order to make fraudulent purchases. They always start young.

[Britti Luce]

Oh, wait, so the mom was a.

[Lacey Moseley]

Nurse, she was taking care of people and he was like, the checkbook myself. He took the checkbook.

[Britti Luce]

Wait, he took the checkbook?

[Lacey Moseley]

Yes. He went to his mama nursing job to bring your son to work day. And he, he said, I'm leaving with something. And.

[Britti Luce]

Wow.

[Lacey Moseley]

And we talk about that all the time on this podcast. You got kids who want to get in work. If they want to make a lemonade stand, you might have a criminal in your hands. Why they like money so much?

[Britti Luce]

So he's. How did this even become a part of his record? This is like the, the Georgetown.

[Lacey Moseley]

This is the beginning.

[Britti Luce]

Wow.

[Lacey Moseley]

Yeah.

[Britti Luce]

So he stole the checkbook.

[Lacey Moseley]

Yes. So two years later, he confessed to the crime and was charged. But today the case remains unsolved. After he disappeared from authorities. So he was like, it was me. And then he was like, bye.

[Britti Luce]

Wait, I heard this story. I didn't realize he was that young though, when he did that.

[Lacey Moseley]

Yes.

[Britti Luce]

And he confessed and they went after him.

[Lacey Moseley]

Well, he left. Oh, he, he. Apparently he confessed to the authorities and then was like, all right, well, I'm gonna head out.

[Britti Luce]

Court.

[Lacey Moseley]

Nah, we don't gotta do all that. I cleared my conscience.

[Britti Luce]

Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow.

[Lacey Moseley]

Okay, so in addition to hiding his criminal past, George skewed several other personal details during his campaigns. Though he was born and raised Catholic, on his campaign website, he described his grandparents fleeing to Ukraine to escape anti Jewish persecution during World War II.

[Britti Luce]

What?

[Lacey Moseley]

And later described himself as a non observant Jew. He said, I'm gay, I'm Latinx, Shabbat Shalom, I'm Republican.

[Britti Luce]

Wait, wait, hold on, hold on, hold on. I feel like that's an easy, like, you know. Okay, so this is the thing. So me and my husband been talking about this, about being a dyed in the wool scammer. I feel like, like when people like to run scams and they're of the died in the wool variety, they tell those types of lies. Lies that are like anybody. It's like if I just told you my name was Tiffany, it's very easy to find out that's not my name. It's very easy to find out that's not my name. That doesn't stop me from telling you that's my name.

[Lacey Moseley]

But think about the average person. We take information from people as face value. I don't Google people to see if that's their real name. I don't, like, do any research.

[Britti Luce]

But he's like, a candidate, I think is the thing. You know what I'm saying?

[Lacey Moseley]

But how often are you Googling what a candidate says other than, like, Politico or, like, fact checkers? How often are you Googling stuff that people say on the campaign stump to see if it's not true? Well, unless you have, like, a amazing liar like Herschel Walker, who's a natural born comedian, then we're all looking into it because we're like, this is hilarious. This man was a sheriff also, too.

[Britti Luce]

People don't necessarily. Like, until you reach a certain level of public renown, people are not always going to dig in and actually find out. You know what I'm saying? They're not actually gonna always dig in and find out.

[Lacey Moseley]

And we have over 400. Well, we have 435 congressmen.

[Britti Luce]

Yeah, we have a lot of people in the House.

[Lacey Moseley]

Nobody's looking into everybody in the House of Representatives unless you become a superstar like AOC or, you know, like, nobody's really checking. He's just some dude.

[Britti Luce]

Exactly.

[Lacey Moseley]

So both of his grandparents were actually born in Brazil. And George has since said, I never claimed to be Jewish because I learned my matur maternal family had a Jewish background. I said I was Jewish.

[Britti Luce]

Wait, but you. That means you claim to be Jewish.

[Lacey Moseley]

I never claimed to be Jewish. I just said I was Jewish. Y'all wild. Okay, I had a yamba call, but I. I ain't say all that. My head was cold. I don't know. Y'all crazy.

[Britti Luce]

I'm gonna start lying like that. That's good. I like that. Just like I'm gonna start just being like, you know what? I know that's what I said, but that's not what I said.

[Lacey Moseley]

Listen, I know that's what I said, but.

[Britti Luce]

And if you're confused, it's because you don't believe black women, and I don't have time for that.

[Lacey Moseley]

And y'all got to do better. Y'all need to start learning and growing. We could be so evil. So he has also claimed that he's biracial and his father is Angolan, though there's no evidence to support this. So now he's trying to bring. Why am I in it? Why trying to.

[Britti Luce]

I was trying to say, like, Angola.

[Lacey Moseley]

Is in Africa, right?

[Britti Luce]

Angola Is absolutely. In Africa.

[Lacey Moseley]

Yes, yes. He was like, I'm also a black. I'm a black Jew and I'm Republican and I'm gay and I'm also Latino. Well, actually, it's. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Britti Luce]

Latino. Yeah.

[Lacey Moseley]

So George has repeatedly claimed his mother's life was claimed by 9 11, though she died of cancer in 2016. So 911 happened in 2001, bro. Like, that's 15 years. She died 15 years later.

[Britti Luce]

Why didn't he even, like, never mind the obvious fact. This is already disrespectful to people who actually did lose loved ones, right? That's September 11th attacks right on top of it. Why does the timeline not match up like that? Like, why. Like, it'd be one thing if she passed in 2001 and then he could. You know what I'm saying?

[Lacey Moseley]

Then it's like, no, you don't understand Brittany. Like, she died in 2001 when 911 happened. She. But she did. She was breathing for 15 more years, but really she had died at that moment.

[Britti Luce]

She died at that moment, and then she passed away in 2016.

[Lacey Moseley]

Yes. Y'all don't understand. Y'all don't understand that.

[Britti Luce]

Like, the logic.

[Lacey Moseley]

What are you talking about? I went to middle school with a girl who. I'm not gonna say her name because I remember 9 11. I remember I was like, 9, and the teachers had the TVs on, and then all of our parents picked us up early, and it was like this whole thing. There were no planes in the sky. And I remember coming back to school the next day, and this girl who always really kind of wanted attention, she told us all that her uncle had died at 9 11. And she was lying. And we felt so bad for her. She was like, oh, my gosh. Like, why would you lie about that?

[Britti Luce]

I mean, it's like so messed up to do that at nine. But at least you're also nine. Like, why are you doing this Is.

[Lacey Moseley]

A grown ass man, 34.

[Britti Luce]

Why are you doing that?

[Lacey Moseley]

Like, also, we can check to see if your mama. When your mama passed. Like, there's death record. What are you doing?

[Britti Luce]

You know, I. I just. Like, this is the thing. I don't know. It's just. It's like, it's a compulsion, you know what I'm saying? When you are a public figure and you're lying at the level where you're just making shit up that, you know, people can obviously look up and. And fucking say, oh, this isn't true. He's lying. Like, you It's a compulsion. It's not about actually covering the mess.

[Lacey Moseley]

And you feel or seeming more interesting. It's a compulsion. We saw his picture. We saw his picture. He was high off the lie in that photo. He was zooted. Zooted off the deception. He was like, whoa, I done made.

[Britti Luce]

It this far that we doing a photo shoot.

[Lacey Moseley]

Sky's the limit. He was like, I'm gonna be president. Cause, I mean, after you see Donald Trump become president, like, I know they used to tell kids anything was possible. Anybody could be president. But honestly, I really feel like Donald Trump becoming president really opened up the mind's eye of all the American children. Like, damn, we can do anything.

[Britti Luce]

Anything possible. This grandson.

[Lacey Moseley]

Oh, okay. This orange bastard. Oh, wow. Okay, we all in there. We all in there. Anything can be possible. Y'all. Y'all can go to the moon. So. For the entirety of his political career, George has identified as a married gay man. However, it was not disclosed until December 2022 that he had previously been married to a woman from 2012 to 2019. That's not uncommon. A lot of gay men marry women. Yeah, a lot of men.

[Britti Luce]

People, they change their mind or they learn new things about themselves.

[Lacey Moseley]

They want something else or they're bi or whatever. Like, you know, like, whatever. So he divorced this woman 12 days before he officially filed his first congressional campaign. So he said, I'm not gay no more. Cause he needed. Or, I'm not straight no more. He said, I'm not straight no more.

[Britti Luce]

I got to. I'm out.

[Lacey Moseley]

I gotta get these votes. His wife was like, I'm so excited for the campaign. He was like, girl, you ain't gonna be there.

[Britti Luce]

Oh, my God. Wait, so. Wow. I mean, that was quick. I mean, he filed for divorce and was like, all right, new. New. New marriage to me.

[Lacey Moseley]

They were married for seven years. And 12 days before his campaign, he hit her with the divorce papers.

[Britti Luce]

Have they talked to her? Because she's somebody? I have. I just want to. It's one of those things where I want to be like, he's definitely shared some untruths at a level that is, like, for sure. That is so astronomical. I just want to be like, did you ever note. Did anything ever seem off to you? Did you ever sit in the store? He never met.

[Lacey Moseley]

She ain't never met that man. She ain't never met that man.

[Britti Luce]

You think so?

[Lacey Moseley]

No, he. I think he was completely fabricating. And also, depending on what their dynamic was, obviously he had run for Congress before. He was very busy right you know, when you don't see people, you only see them in small bursts or intervals. You keep a lie up for a long time. But there's no way in hell she knew that, man. Girl, you sleeping with a stranger? Lifetime.

[Britti Luce]

I was gonna say lifetime. Lifetime. I smell a check.

[Lacey Moseley]

Mm. Girl, write the book. Sell it to Lifetime. Sell the script. Because we want to know what it was like living with him. So his resume. At around the same time he would have been in Brazil doing crime, George claims he was attending Baruch College, where he earned a bachelor's degree in finance and economics. On at least one campaign website, George also claimed to have attended New York University. He has since admitted that he never graduated from college and both institutions have been unable to find records that he was ever a student. Well, look, college is a scam. Nobody's looking for these diplomas. I got one. I don't know where it is.

[Britti Luce]

Nobody's looking.

[Lacey Moseley]

I could have just said I went.

[Britti Luce]

Mine's at my parents house. And nobody. I've only been asked for proof of it once. And not for a job. Like to join some. Like I used to think I was going to get an mba. This is a lifetime ago. And in order to join a.

[Lacey Moseley]

All black women think about getting an NBA. It's like a rite of passage.

[Britti Luce]

It's a rite of passage. You, you get the practice books you think you're gonna like. You take that, you take a practice, there's a gre. Gmat. Gmat.

[Lacey Moseley]

Oh, gmat. Gmat.

[Britti Luce]

Yeah, I take a little practice. Gmat. I forgot what it was called for a second. And then. Yeah, and then you don't go. That's what happened to me. And that was the only time I think I was trying to get into like a pre. Not even a pre. Mba, Like a pre. Like it was like a program that helped black people learn to apply to business school. And they asked for my transcripts and yeah, that was enough for me. I said, you know what? I've sent them once. I'm not doing that again.

[Lacey Moseley]

And I know that. Right? What you talking about? Transcripts? I haven't done that sometimes.

[Britti Luce]

No, nobody's asking that.

[Lacey Moseley]

No, you go to a job, they just believe that you went to whatever college. They're just trying to fill the position, you know, and if you're young out there, if you're. Especially if you're entering the service industry, nobody wants you. If you don't have any previous jobs, even though they have to train you on the job. So just put some stuff on there.

[Britti Luce]

Put stuff on there. Don't be honest about stuff like that.

[Lacey Moseley]

No, they're not going to call. Don't worry about it. So after he graduated college, in quotes, George says he worked at Citigroup, a Wall street investment banking company, as an associate asset manager. That's vague enough. However, not only could the company not confirm that he had worked there, Citigroup sold off its asset management operations in 2005. So he worked in a job that didn't exist. George, can you just do a Google, like, Google is free, George. It'll tell you when 9, 11 happened.

[Britti Luce]

It really will. Maybe he thought it was like, September 11, 2016, right? I'm just like, I don't know. I don't know.

[Lacey Moseley]

Like, what are these extinct jobs? George, were you a milkman? We ain't been delivering milk.

[Britti Luce]

And I don't know how long. He's probably like, I. He probably. He was like, I. Actually, I own several blockbusters. That's where I got. I got my. I got my wealth from owning. I own several blockbuster to this day.

[Lacey Moseley]

To this day.

[Britti Luce]

And they're turning a profit.

[Lacey Moseley]

They hit like, sir. So after working at Citi, which he never did, George says he moved on to work at a hospitality technology company, Met Global, in addition to a brief stint at Goldman Sachs. We done worked everywhere. George, have you ever had a job? Because none of these are real. How did you make money? You had a whole life like we have. You had to have been employed. So neither companies have been able to find proof of his employment. And George has since said his claims of involvement with them were worded poorly. When I said I worked there, y'all misinterpreted that. I said, I've been to a Citibank.

[Britti Luce]

I've been to their ATMs, I went to Citi Field.

[Lacey Moseley]

Y'all got it confused.

[Britti Luce]

Just like, if you're gonna lie at this level, why not Google? If you're gonna tell stories, get them straight.

[Lacey Moseley]

If you're gonna be a professional liar, if you're gonna clock in to con every day at 9:00am like, please, please, just one quick search. You don't even have to go to the several O's on Google. The first O gonna give you what you need. Please, no. So in an interview with wnyc, during which George was defending not calling out his homophobic Republican colleagues, he claimed that his company lost four employees during the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting. So now you're attaching yourself to a tragedy that killed over 50, 50 people. Like, what are you doing? You've already attached yourself to 9 11.

[Britti Luce]

Like, sir, four employees.

[Lacey Moseley]

None of Pulse nightclub victims ever worked at a company George has worked at.

[Britti Luce]

Oh, my God.

[Lacey Moseley]

So he was really trying to keep up the sympathy. He was like, I'm gay and I'm Jewish, and also, I'm black.

[Britti Luce]

And also, like, my mother was killed in 9 11. And also, I lost four employees to the post. It's just like. It's like, yuck. Like, yuck.

[Lacey Moseley]

Like, are you just saying things at this point? It doesn't even feel like you thought these lies through. Like, did you prep these lies? You write them in your lie journal?

[Britti Luce]

That's. I don't. I just don't.

[Lacey Moseley]

What?

[Britti Luce]

Also, it's just like, again, it's. It's so strange to keep telling these kind of lies. I just.

[Lacey Moseley]

I mean, listen, he was doing political theater. He saw what everybody else was doing. He said, I'm gonna do y'all one.

[Britti Luce]

I'm gonna do that, too, so.

[Lacey Moseley]

Animal rescue charity. Good Lord. In 2013, at the same time George claimed to have been climbing the ranks of Wall street, he founded Friends of Pets United. Friends of Pets would later be used during his congressional campaign as proof of his history of philanthropic work during 2013-2018, according to IRS records, the group never held a tax exempt status and was never registered as a charity, despite George's claims of otherwise. In 2017, Friends of Pets held one fundraiser with a New Jersey animal rescue group. The event was ticketed at $50 a ticket and promised drinks, a live band, and donated raffle items. So he held one event. He said, that's enough for a charity.

[Britti Luce]

I held one event. But he was running the charity for, what, like, five years? One event. He.

[Lacey Moseley]

Okay, look, he stretched it a little bit. You know, they did do one charity event, okay?

[Britti Luce]

They just fundraised really good that one time. Really good.

[Lacey Moseley]

They got all they needed. The pets were good. After that, Fido was like. And they were like, we good.

[Britti Luce]

We're good. We have enough friends.

[Lacey Moseley]

We got enough Alpo and Friskies for all the girls. We don't need to come back, so. However, the event's beneficiary never received any of the funds. Shocker. Only excuses from George as to why they weren't sent.

[Britti Luce]

Oh, my God.

[Lacey Moseley]

He said, I was raising awarenesses. Y'all got at least 150 awarenesses.

[Britti Luce]

I didn't say I was gonna give you money. And so I'm done.

[Lacey Moseley]

Yeah. Oh, you thought we was raising money for charity? No, no, no. We was just letting them know about Y'all.

[Britti Luce]

Oh my God.

[Lacey Moseley]

This man. Oh, a criminal. So at the same time, George had money problems. In November 2015, the landlord of his queen's apartment filed an eviction claim suit claiming that George owed $2,250 in unpaid rent. Wait, that seems, that seems like 2250. Yeah, that seems like one month.

[Britti Luce]

Yeah, it's more expensive to take somebody to court for, for, for one back month of rent than to just.

[Lacey Moseley]

I mean, it's Queens. Maybe it was like 600 and then.

[Britti Luce]

Maybe, I mean, I don't know. I mean, Queens is expensive now. I can't move to Queens.

[Lacey Moseley]

No, Queens is expensive now. But I think, think, oh, maybe this is 2015. So it was a little cheaper.

[Britti Luce]

A little. A slight, A slight slightly, but yeah, that's still, but 22.50 is. I still feel like it's not enough money to go to court over, but okay.

[Lacey Moseley]

Yeah, it's not, it's not like. Where'd y'all go? Judge Judy.

[Britti Luce]

Yeah, I was gonna.

[Lacey Moseley]

Small claim.

[Britti Luce]

They'll pay it for everything. So actually it's not a bad idea.

[Lacey Moseley]

True.

[Britti Luce]

Please, somebody please calm the Judge Judy record records to find out if he was ever on it. I need to know. I need to.

[Lacey Moseley]

I feel like he would be. I think he'd be like, I got a proposition for you. Let's go to LA to sell this. So in May of 2017, George was evicted once more from a rent stabilized apartment in Sunnyside, Queens, after owing more than 10,000 in unpaid rent and bouncing a check. In 2017, you were writing checks and people were accepting the.

[Britti Luce]

Yeah. What? Also with what do you have checks? Like, I. Of all the things, this is the thing. All the things that you've told me. I'm hearing claims from him and then I'm hearing a lot of evidence that makes it sound like everything he said is not true. So my question is, where's the paycheck coming from? Where are the paychecks coming from?

[Lacey Moseley]

I don't know if he's getting them. He's making up all his jobs, he making up his rent. Everything's false.

[Britti Luce]

Dang.

[Lacey Moseley]

But by 2021, George had claimed he was an owner and landlord of 13 properties. So he started fighting with his landlord. He was like, this could be my new profession. But he had a fake landlord.

[Britti Luce]

He just started hitting people up and be like, actually, you owe me rent.

[Lacey Moseley]

Right? They're like, george, what's it like to be a landlord? Listen, it's a lot of, you know, pipes be bursting, ac Lots.

[Britti Luce]

Changing light bulbs.

[Lacey Moseley]

Yeah, Lots of light bulb work. Like, okay, this is enough. We believe you. He even ran his campaign on housing issues and landlord rights and complained that his tenants had not paid rent during the year of the pandemic rent moratorium. So, you know, they, like, suspended rent for a little bit during the pandemic. So I love how he's projecting. He's like, I'm taking all the angry emails. My landlord sent them, and now I'm rehearsing them and studying them.

[Britti Luce]

And now I'm.

[Lacey Moseley]

I will do this performance. He's like, thank you for the material. What? Also, how are you campaigning against yourself? You're getting evicted from places, sir.

[Britti Luce]

Oh, my gosh. You're unhoused again. It's like, against your own interest. What's going on? The record shows you were not paying rent, so why are you going in on people who are not paying rent? Also, you're not a landlord.

[Lacey Moseley]

You ain't lorded over nobody's land.

[Britti Luce]

So, no, there is no evidence of you ever having been a landlord. What is this about?

[Lacey Moseley]

I also just love that he's faced all of this, you know, oppression, and I. I call it that because, like, housing should not. It should be something that everyone can have.

[Britti Luce]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Lacey Moseley]

And so he's like, oh, yeah, I'm getting kicked out of my home. I'm gonna pretend I'm the one kicking me out. That's how. That's where your brain went.

[Britti Luce]

Yeah. I don't. It's interesting how, like, figuring out how to pay the money back, figuring out how to get a place of his own, like, none of those all. It was like, no, not good enough. Nada. Not doing this. And it's like he was like, I'm.

[Lacey Moseley]

A be the oppressor.

[Britti Luce]

Exactly.

[Lacey Moseley]

So the only real estate he has listed on required financial disclosure forms for his campaign is an apartment in Rio de Janeiro. They ain't gonna check that. Who gonna check me? He has since claimed that he actually owns no property and is currently living with his sister in New York, where she faces eviction for $40,000. Right.

[Britti Luce]

So I was gonna say. I know she is facing. I know she's. She got sued for back rent. So what's going on?

[Lacey Moseley]

Listen, they don't do rent. Some people don't do rent. Like, what?

[Britti Luce]

You know what, though? I'm not gonna lie. If I could claim, like, oh, I have property in other country, or, like, oh, I'm from this other country and we do things, I would constantly be lying. I would be like, oh, we actually don't do that where I'm from. Like, where I'm from, we don't pay rent, so y'all are behind. Where I'm from, we don't pay. We just.

[Lacey Moseley]

Y'all want money for me to live here?

[Britti Luce]

That's so barbaric. Like, yeah, yeah, yeah, get it together. I'll just constantly be like, we don't.

[Lacey Moseley]

Close my door very slowly. What? Just laughing. Y'all crazy. Nah, I moved in here. I didn't say I was gonna get y'all money every month. Oh, no, the first. Nah. Absolutely not. So it's unclear how many properties George owns in quotes and how he could have gone from being twice evicted to a mid sized landlord. But his finances reflect a similar journey. Curious. Fake funds in 2020 Financial disclosures from his first campaign, he was listed as making $55,000 a year as vice president of Linkbridge Investors, a company that connects investors with fund managers.

[Britti Luce]

Okay, well, wait. $55,000 a year to be the vice president of Middleman Investment Company?

[Lacey Moseley]

What? Well, he not investing.

[Britti Luce]

He.

[Lacey Moseley]

He calls. He's like, oh, let me get you somebody to invest for you. Let me get on the phone and call them.

[Britti Luce]

I'm sorry, I'm sorry. But still, 55k is not the right number for that kind of a job. Okay, listen.

[Lacey Moseley]

Okay, so when his campaign began, George moved on to become a regional director of Harvard City Capital, a Florida based investment company. But soon after, the SEC filed a lawsuit accusing the company and its founders of running a $17 million Ponzi scheme. So he went to work for crime and the government pulled up.

[Britti Luce]

Oh, my gosh.

[Lacey Moseley]

That's probably why they hired him. They were like, you seem like someone who will cook the books with us. What kind of seasonings you got for the books? He was like, I got Tajim. I got everything. Bagel seasoning because I'm also Jewish, and I got Lowry's because I'm black.

[Britti Luce]

They came up ready to put. He came up literally ready to sous vide. It's like, how do you want them cooked, right?

[Lacey Moseley]

He was like, I got the sous vide. Cause I'm here. Okay? See, I have everything y'all need to cook these books.

[Britti Luce]

17 million dollar Ponzi scheme. Damn. Damn. That's real money. Damn.

[Lacey Moseley]

So despite the suit, George received payments from harbor as recently as April of 2021. At least they were paying their employees. Look, they might have been stealing 17 million.

[Britti Luce]

Okay, okay. They said, we'll break you off a piece. Okay?

[Lacey Moseley]

They doing better than the Freelance companies. Okay, so we may do crime, but we gonna pay you on time.

[Britti Luce]

We will pay. You know what, though? There's a reliability to that that I cherish.

[Lacey Moseley]

Right. I'm not mad at it. So two weeks after harbor was taken down, former harbor executives formed a company called Red Strategies usa. They went right back to the grip, owned by a parent company, Devolder Organizations. We've heard that word before. So George was the sole manager and operator of Devolder and said that he made money by brokering luxury purchases for wealthy clients, such as $20 million yachts.

[Britti Luce]

Okay, okay.

[Lacey Moseley]

So he's a middleman again. He's like, you want a yacht? Come over here.

[Britti Luce]

I'm your guy. Okay.

[Lacey Moseley]

So both companies ultimately folded for failing to file annual reports. But by the time Devolder went under, George claimed its value was over $1 million. He really was following the Donald Trump blueprint. All my companies are at a loss.

[Britti Luce]

Okay?

[Lacey Moseley]

Bankruptcy, like. Okay. So while this may have explained his relatively sudden increase in fortune, there are still a number of questions surrounding Devolder's. Of course. Because it's all a question mark, and we ain't got no answers. I ain't heard an answer yet.

[Britti Luce]

No, I just heard, like, a string of highlights that are later found to be untrue. That's all I'm hearing right now.

[Lacey Moseley]

Y'all thought I was lying when I was lying. That's wild.

[Britti Luce]

That's crazy. Y'all are tripping.

[Lacey Moseley]

I was just telling unconfirmed truths, okay?

[Britti Luce]

I was just. I was just trying to spread a couple rumors. I just.

[Lacey Moseley]

It's your fault that you couldn't figure out the truth, okay? I told it to you. So he claims. He claims to have earned a salary of $750,000 and dividends ranging between 1 million to 5 million in 2020 and 2021, despite the company's value being in the same range. So he's just lying. So now he's like, I'm rich. Okay, sorry. He's like, whatever it takes to be a Republican. He's like, I'm rich. I hate everything that I should stand for. What else do y'all need? The Devolver organization also had no identifiable public assets, property or website. He said, y'all ain't gonna find me no website. Wait, no office.

[Britti Luce]

What? Did he have an email address? Just a name. No bank account.

[Lacey Moseley]

If he had an email, it was at Hotmail. That's where you do crime.

[Britti Luce]

I gotta get one of these kind of companies. They constantly pay. Can't find Them. That's the dream.

[Lacey Moseley]

So additionally, Georgia's campaign disclosure form offered no information as to clients that could have provided these profits that he's talking about. So he don't got nobody to call.

[Britti Luce]

Oh, my God.

[Lacey Moseley]

He said. It just. They said, who are the clients? He just wrote. Trust me. He wrote people.

[Britti Luce]

He's just, like, looking at things in the room, like, right?

[Lacey Moseley]

Meanwhile, he people. Yeah, it was a full Mrs. Doubtfire. He was like, Shirt desk. Mr. Shirt desk.

[Britti Luce]

Mr. Ballpoint. Ballpoint pen.

[Lacey Moseley]

Bic pen. Mr. Big pen.

[Britti Luce]

Bic pen.

[Lacey Moseley]

So that's what you're writing with. No, Mr. Blue Bic Pen. This is black. So this violated the campaign requirements to disclose any compensation in excess of $5,000 from a single source as of January 11, 2023, the Company has been reinstated.

[Britti Luce]

Okay.

[Lacey Moseley]

He brought it back.

[Britti Luce]

You can't keep a bad bitch down.

[Lacey Moseley]

You can't. Amen. Go ahead. So the influx of cash from unidentified sources through a company that has no discernible operations allowed George to donate $700,000 to his own campaign in 2022.

[Britti Luce]

Okay.

[Lacey Moseley]

Invest in yourselves.

[Britti Luce]

That's the other. Investing 2023. Invest in yourself. If you walk away with nothing from this conversation, this is the year to invest in yourself. Because that could be you. You could be grinning ear to ear like that like a damn Cheshire cat in your Congress photo. Think about it. I'm so happy.

[Lacey Moseley]

I can't wait for y'all to see this photo, because I've never seen it happier. I don't think I've ever been that happy in my life. I'm gonna talk about that in therapy. I'm gonna show my therapist that picture. Like, how can I get here? Cause this is where I want to be in life.

[Britti Luce]

She's had smile like that since the day I got married. That's the kind of smile that we're seeing from Jorge Santos right now.

[Lacey Moseley]

I put him on my vision board. I want to wake up and feel like that picture every day. We all deserve that kind of happiness.

[Britti Luce]

Not a vision board.

[Lacey Moseley]

I'mma stroke that picture every day before I go to work. One day, George, I would be as happy as you as this congressional photo.

[Britti Luce]

That photo's gonna. That photo is about to blow up on Pinterest after this episode. Drop.

[Lacey Moseley]

Yo, he smiled so hard. I saw his esophagus. Like, I've never seen that much of somebody's mouth. It's like, are those. Like, this man is happy. Good Lord.

[Britti Luce]

$700,000.

[Lacey Moseley]

Yes. To Himself. Invest in you. Y'all get that Massage. Okay. Or put $7,000 or $700,000 into your own campaign. So when reporters visited the address listed under said donation, the person living there did not know who George Santos was. So he done spun the block, got somebody's address. It was like, they gave it to me. Them. That's like when you get mail and it be like, lacey Mosley or current resident.

[Britti Luce]

Exactly.

[Lacey Moseley]

You say current resident gave me this donation. I don't know what y'all talking about. So during his campaign, he spent a considerable amount of funds on Travel, from $40,000 in flights across the country to $17,000 in Florida on restaurants and hotels. So now he can write this money off. So he's like, I gave the money to myself. Now I'm balling out. Many of his receipts for restaurants, expenses totaled exactly $199.99, $0.01 below the threshold of requiring receipts.

[Britti Luce]

Oh, my God. Wait, this is. I'm not gonna lie. Like, should I run for office? This is. I don't know. This is sounding good. This is sounding good.

[Lacey Moseley]

I was student body president and student council president, and they made me give one up because they said other people need achievements. And I was like, I want them both.

[Britti Luce]

You want them both? They shouldn't have done that to.

[Lacey Moseley]

You see, Racism. But I was like, I'll keep the one with the speech. Because it was senior year. So I was like, I'll keep the one with the speech. I kept class president. But I was like, I earned them both.

[Britti Luce]

And I did. You should go back.

[Lacey Moseley]

You should see that. So what happens now? As of January 9, 2023, the Campaign Legal center filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission accusing Georgia of using campaign funds for personal use and obscuring funds sources. Now, let's not lie. Like, all these politicians. Ain't you listen? The girls be in my inbox asking for $2 every other day. I know these $2 freedom up.

[Britti Luce]

And people are asking me for money every day. I don't sign up for the emails. They just started appearing and they'd be.

[Lacey Moseley]

Like, it's an emergency and don't let. Like when you know the Supreme Court was voting on abortion rights and shit. The girls were like, hey, if y'all want to keep having a pussy, y'all need to give us $3 right now. Because they try to take it from you. They try to take it.

[Britti Luce]

They were. They were. The email marketing was at an all time high. I feel like in 2022, I was getting emails like I had never gotten emails before. That's Part of the reason I ran out of Gmail space. I'm at 98% of Gmail space. And you.

[Lacey Moseley]

I had to start paying for it. Do you know that? If you. So I was, like, getting the warnings about running out of Gmail space, and I was like, fuck that.

[Britti Luce]

Like, I'm just like, you know what this is, y'all?

[Lacey Moseley]

Don't do it. Don't do it. Because it'll get to a point where they just shut your shit off. And I had a call back from this movie. Didn't get the audition because Gmail was like, oh, you not gonna pay the skirt.

[Britti Luce]

Skirt.

[Lacey Moseley]

Your mail is off.

[Britti Luce]

You know what? That's.

[Lacey Moseley]

You ain't gonna see mail from Gmail.

[Britti Luce]

That is fucked up.

[Lacey Moseley]

They turned my shit off. No warning. Just turned it off.

[Britti Luce]

Wait, so what happened with the callback?

[Lacey Moseley]

I ended up, like, having to scramble to do it, but I had to pay Gmail. They. They shook me down.

[Britti Luce]

So fucked up. Wait, did you get in the movie?

[Lacey Moseley]

I didn't get in that movie. Didn't get it. Didn't book it.

[Britti Luce]

But you know something? I'm gonna tell you something. Rejection through Gmail is God's protection.

[Lacey Moseley]

Amen.

[Britti Luce]

Think about it.

[Lacey Moseley]

Amen, y'all. That's a word.

[Britti Luce]

Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello.

[Lacey Moseley]

Now we passing around the collection plate. Okay, y'all give $3.

[Britti Luce]

No, I want seven. I want.

[Lacey Moseley]

I want.

[Britti Luce]

Not a penny less than 700, 000, actually.

[Lacey Moseley]

Thank you. I also love how they're getting creative with the numbers. Like, $3. We just need $7 and 13 cents for freedom. Do you want to be free? Like, what. Where are these numbers coming from? So it's the price of eggs.

[Britti Luce]

And your eggs. Now, that's nc.

[Lacey Moseley]

Yeah.

[Britti Luce]

And that's how they get you. That's how they get you.

[Lacey Moseley]

Do what you want with your eggs for the price of a carton of eggs. Wow. Makes you think. So, wrapping this up, a growing number of his Republican colleagues are calling for him to resign, which he has said he will not do. No, that's right.

[Britti Luce]

My thing is, is that I gave a performance. You ate it up. Don't ask for your money back now.

[Lacey Moseley]

Right.

[Britti Luce]

George said.

[Lacey Moseley]

Said, no, no, no. No way. Stay, George. I'm staying. Yes. We're gonna love you. So it's not yet fully clear how all of George Santos's political and professional activities intertwine. But in addition to the fec, the House of Ethics Committee and the Office of Congressional Ethics and the New York Attorney General and Nassau County Prosecutor's Office have Said that they are reviewing the allegations. The girls have winked up. They were like, we will get to the bottom of this.

[Britti Luce]

Wow. Wow.

[Lacey Moseley]

You know, this is ongoing.

[Britti Luce]

Oh, it's, it's hard because, like, I am not gonna lie. I've kind of been living for this drama. I love the way it's built up. I love the back and forth. I'm really curious to see how things shake out. And I, I don't know. In principle, I do agree with the idea that, like, maybe I lied to get here. But first of all, maybe I lied to get here. Second of all, who, who hasn't? Third of all, you bought it. And fourth of all, so if you bought it, why you suddenly want to make returns? Like, let's just pay for. That's what I'm saying.

[Lacey Moseley]

This is a Nordstrom's. We don't do returns.

[Britti Luce]

That's what I'm saying. And even Nordstrom's, they change their shit up from what it used to be. So what I'm saying is, if I was selling it and you were buying it, what's the problem? I agree with that idea on principle. I do.

[Lacey Moseley]

Nordstrom's changed it up because I had an ex who once returned a North Face jacket that he had worn for eight years, and they gave him a new one.

[Britti Luce]

So I used to work at Nordstrom, and when I was working there, yes, they had to. Didn't matter what it was. You could bring in shoes that you had worn down to the, like through all the way through the sole and that were from 20 years ago. No receipt, it didn't matter. And they would return it, and it would be like, you know, whoop dee doo. You get your money back and keep moving. But now I believe I could be mistaken. But I believe that the return policy is now 90 days.

[Lacey Moseley]

No, that was the last version of scammer hope in retail.

[Britti Luce]

I worked at Nordstrom, and, like, it wasn't like people were coming to return stuff all the time. That's the thing. It wasn't like people were coming to return return stuff all the time. So I, I, I don't know what that's about. I don't know what that's about.

[Lacey Moseley]

But you lose commission, right, if somebody returns something.

[Britti Luce]

Yeah, I mean, that was terrible. I wasn't making that much commission anyway. So it's like I was, I wasn't selling. I was, I worked in the lingerie department, and I just wasn't that good.

[Lacey Moseley]

Oh, in the boudoir.

[Britti Luce]

Yes, I did. And I, I, so I, I, they, I Will, one thing I will say about Nordstrom. They train you to really be really good at fitting bras when you work in the laundry department.

[Lacey Moseley]

Oh, wow.

[Britti Luce]

They train you to be really good for a while. I've lost. I've lost a little bit of it now, but I used to be able to look at somebody. Like, eventually you do it so often. You do it so much. You do it so much that you can look at somebody and be like, okay, this is your size. Just by.

[Lacey Moseley]

Oh, I'm so envious of your boobs. You know that bra is sitting right. Man.

[Britti Luce]

You know what? My bras always fit to a T.

[Lacey Moseley]

Judith, why you gonna put it here? Nordstrom with a period? I know there's no S on it. I'm black. We add the S for seasoning. I can't believe this.

[Britti Luce]

Oh, wait. Judith says Nordstrom returns received after the 45 day return period may be accepted, but will be subject to a partial refund. 50% of the original sale price.

[Lacey Moseley]

Oh, okay. It started with Nordstrom. All I saw was Nordstrom. And I was like, I saw that too.

[Britti Luce]

And I was. I thought there's no S. I was like, powerful. The period. I was like, shake the table, Judith.

[Lacey Moseley]

Listen, that's all Judith does is shake the table. No, you're right. It is Nordstrom. It's Nordstrom with a period. Judy, do. There's no S. I just add that on. Like House of Them Dragons. We just add extra things.

[Britti Luce]

Wait, like what?

[Lacey Moseley]

The House of Them Dragons.

[Britti Luce]

What's the show called? House of Dragons.

[Lacey Moseley]

House of the Dragon. There's no S. What? Yes.

[Britti Luce]

Are you serious?

[Lacey Moseley]

Yes. Wait, let me search. I'm almost 100%, but we have added in all to types of words and things.

[Britti Luce]

But actually, I literally only thought it was called House of Dragons. That's wild. No, this is like. This is like finding out about the bears, stained bears or whatever.

[Lacey Moseley]

Yep, that's how I feel right now. This is the black people's mandala effect. Yeah, it's House of the Dragon. We've been adding things.

[Britti Luce]

I thought it was called the House of Drag. I thought it was called House of Dragons this whole time. House of the Dragons. I'm. I don't. You know what?

[Lacey Moseley]

No, we don't have to claim that.

[Britti Luce]

I don't have to claim that. If there's anything I learned today is that I create my own reality.

[Lacey Moseley]

That's right.

[Britti Luce]

Whatever I say in the moment is what's true. And so it's called House of Dragons.

[Lacey Moseley]

And I believe you, sis. And I'M on your side. And now we're at the saddest part of the show, the end where I have to let Britney go. But before we do that, real quick, we have a scammer of the week. This is where we highlight a charlatan who may or may not be worthy of our praise. We'll see. Today we're talking about a man who has been using Chance the Rapper's name to scam two victims out of tens of thousands of dollars and has been arrested.

[Britti Luce]

Oh.

[Lacey Moseley]

35 year old Jeffrey Washington first approached Lulu Cole outside her bank and offered to pay her cell phone bill and mortgage using money from the Community and Economic Development association, the CEDA of Cook county, in a partnership with Chance the Rapper. Okay? So sure enough, Lulu was soon notified by her bank and cell phone company that the payments were posted. Jeffrey was able to convince Lulu's sister he could do the same for her. Okay, a long con. He's just waiting outside the bank and was like, hey, Chance the Rapper, want to pay your bills? What is this? I didn't call into a radio station.

[Britti Luce]

Yeah, I don't know. Okay, what I mean, you know what though? Maybe he had a convincing, like, maybe he had like a nice suit or he had like, like a limo or something, you know what I'm saying? Like that.

[Lacey Moseley]

But still, why does Chance the Rapper have people on foot paying bills also?

[Britti Luce]

Like, yeah, I don't, I don't know. And to me, I mean, the way, the way my mom raised me, if anybody came up to me on the street saying they're going to pay my bills, I just need to run. I need to blow a whistle. I need to run because that's not good, man.

[Lacey Moseley]

I'm of two minds. There's no such thing as a free lunch. But also if it's free, it's for me.

[Britti Luce]

I don't know.

[Lacey Moseley]

I don't know where I would have landed. I would have been like, yeah, I'm an at your table.

[Britti Luce]

I don't know. No, that to me just sounds like a big old wooden nickel way. And it happened. But you know what, though? I mean, people get got all the time. And so, you know, it is what it is.

[Lacey Moseley]

But I also feel like Chance's Persona is corny enough for you to be like, maybe.

[Britti Luce]

You know what else too? Drake. Remember when Drake was walking around, was walking around Miami, he was passing out money to people in that fucking music video. It probably got people confused.

[Lacey Moseley]

I bet you that was a part of it. Because, like, maybe you think they're Filming. Maybe he had a camera phone out and was like, you know, maybe you think you're about to be in a music video. I love my wife. Like, I don't know. So in exchange for charitable help, Jeffrey asked for just a few cash donations to pay it forward. Now, how you gonna give me money and also ask money from me? I'm the receiver. No, and see, that's not how money works.

[Britti Luce]

So, wait, so they wanted to pay it for. Why would I trust a stranger to pay my money forward to. To who else? What if the other person doesn't deserve it? How about that?

[Lacey Moseley]

Yeah. Oh, what if they have bad vibes, but they're also in need?

[Britti Luce]

Literally, what if they have bad vibes? I.

[Lacey Moseley]

But also, why do I need to pay it forward? If you're giving me money, why don't you just take the money out of what you gave me and then just.

[Britti Luce]

Pay it to somebody else? You know, this reminds me of that thing. Have you seen these videos where people walk around with a little microphones in, like, Washington Square park, and they go like, oh, do you want to take $20 to pay it for or double it and pay it forward? I'm taking $20. People are like, oh, always pay it forward. I don't know. I don't know what's going on. If you have 20 in cash and you're gonna hand it to me, I can walk away. I'm gonna take the $20 in cash. I'm not doubling it and paying it forward to.

[Lacey Moseley]

What kind of trick is this? It's like, people go on the Starbucks lot and pay for the person's coffee behind them. It's like, all of y'all are at Starbucks buying coffee also.

[Britti Luce]

I. I don't. I don't. I don't drink coffee. And so I don't go to Starbucks or anything like that. Like, I've been. I've been. But I don't go there, like, a thing to do. What. How do you know what the other person ordered? Like, how do you just go, I'm gonna pay for their coffee behind me? I. I don't even understand how that works. When people do that, they're like, oh, I'll pay for the people's food behind me at Taco Bell. What?

[Lacey Moseley]

Maybe I think they are, like, overpaying, and then that's kind of nice, because maybe it's a tip for the barista and for, you know, staff.

[Britti Luce]

I don't know. It also fishy, too. Me. It sounds fishy.

[Lacey Moseley]

It does. Is it a myth? Did it ever happen, Y'all let us know if you paid for somebody's Starbucks. So the few cash donations end up totaling over $70,000.

[Britti Luce]

Oh, no.

[Lacey Moseley]

Between Lulu and her sister. What? That's.

[Britti Luce]

Huh?

[Lacey Moseley]

Okay, so it took a year for Jeffree, whose real name is demarco Franklin, to be arrested using a photo Lulu took of him the first day that they met. Now, DeMarco, Jeffrey, why would you get on film with somebody.

[Britti Luce]

No. Is this DeMarco's selfie?

[Lacey Moseley]

DeMarco.

[Britti Luce]

He didn't have a bit of this one. This. He took this. This is the thing. The thing about this photo is I can't. It's an off kilter selfie. Like, it's an off kilter car selfie. And it. The expression's not giving anything. The frame is not giving anything. I can't tell if he's wearing a stocking cap or a durag. Nothing's happening. And he's giving, like a sort of side eye. Like a cut side eye.

[Lacey Moseley]

Like, it's also giving. When you didn't know you clicked in your camera app and then it just takes a picture. Like, this doesn't seem like an intentional.

[Britti Luce]

This is the thing. This is the thing. It does seem intentional. Unfortunately, I think the only reason why this photo is even in front of us is because he took this selfie and he posted it somewhere, and then that's how it got to us.

[Lacey Moseley]

Well, Lulu said that she took this photo when they met, but I'm not. Wait, who took this?

[Britti Luce]

What? What?

[Lacey Moseley]

Lula, where were you? Because the ankles.

[Britti Luce]

Yeah, what? Ankle.

[Lacey Moseley]

Curious. Y'all will see it.

[Britti Luce]

Yeah, I don't know.

[Lacey Moseley]

Franklin does not have a relationship with the ceda, nor do they have any sort of relationship with Chance the Rapper. He's now facing two felony counts of theft by deception, felony wire fraud, and a misdemeanor count of false impersonation of a charity. DeMarco.

[Britti Luce]

Wow. $70,000 though. Lulu and her sister, where they work at, Right? Are they hiring?

[Lacey Moseley]

He knew they had money. He was like, let me wait outside the bank and see who got money.

[Britti Luce]

Yeah.

[Lacey Moseley]

Who making deposits and who making withdrawals.

[Britti Luce]

That's wild, though.

[Lacey Moseley]

That's a lot of money for a free phone bill.

[Britti Luce]

That's a lot of money.

[Lacey Moseley]

Yeah. Why did y'all do that? That's beyond paying it forward.

[Britti Luce]

It is beyond paying it forward.

[Lacey Moseley]

You should just paid your own damn phone bill. I'm giving DeMarco. We can't stand beside you.

[Britti Luce]

No, I'm sorry. DeMarco. That's. That's a bridge too far for me.

[Lacey Moseley]

Yeah, way too far. But we always ask at the end of the show, Brittany, where would you like to be found?

[Britti Luce]

Oh, I would. That's a good question. I would like to be found on. I'm one of the last few people still around on Twitter. You can find me at bmloose on Twitter and also m loose on Instagram. Those are two places you can find.

[Lacey Moseley]

Me, and that's L U s e.

[Britti Luce]

L U s e B M as in Marie. L u S e. You also can find me on the radio on some Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays hosting the radio show slash podcast, It's Been a minute on npr. Check your local listings, and if we're not there in your local listings, call your NPR local member station and beg for the show. And otherwise, if you. You can listen to the podcast version of It's Been a minute on Tuesdays and Fridays, every single week. We take no days off. So those are the places you can find me.

[Lacey Moseley]

Yes. Come on. Local listings.

[Britti Luce]

Check them. We look nationally syndicated. I just. I'm. I'm so blown by it. I'm constantly. I'm not a nationally syndicated. I'm constantly telling everybody you are.

[Lacey Moseley]

I love it. I love this for you. You can find me at D I V A L A C I D valacy on all platforms. If you'd like to follow the show and see these photos. Like, look, y'all, y'all are gonna want George Santos on your vision board. I'm telling you, I've never seen a smile brighter. This man is so happy. Scam got his pod on Instagram and Twitter. I'm telling y'all, I'm putting this photo on my wall. I've just never seen anyone happier. It's goals.

[Britti Luce]

Look, I'm gonna tell you something right now. I see you smiling like that, clutching at Emmy. In a year's time. I'm seeing it. I'm claiming it for you.

[Lacey Moseley]

From your mouth to God's ears.

[Britti Luce]

My mouth to the scam goddesses.

[Lacey Moseley]

To the scam goddess's ears, the sky.

[Britti Luce]

It's your year. 2023 is your year. And you know what? It seems like it might be George Santos's too.

[Lacey Moseley]

Listen, we all know who he is now. His name is on all of our lips. George, you did it. Congregation, stay Santosing. Okay, get up there, do a little. Do a few lies. Just a couple for fun. Scam Goddess. This has been an Earwolf production in association with Team Coco. Scam Goddess stars and is hosted by me, Lacey Mosley, AKA the Scam Goddess. Our producer is Judith Kargbo, our recording engineer is Abby Aguilar, and our audio editor is Jesse Karan. Research for the show is done by Kalen brand stay schaming Walmart plus it's Walmart plus free delivery, which saves members time plus money. Yes? Yep. Plus an included Paramount plus subscription to stream movies, shows, sports and that can't miss documentary plus Burger King savings. That's right. Members get 25% off Burger King digital orders every day of the week. Walmart+ it's Walmart+ become a member at walmartplus.com $35 order minimum. Paramount+ essential plan only. Separate registration required. Valid and participating USVKs in the BK app or bk.com for members only. 25% off one time per calendar day. Terms apply. See Walmart+ terms and conditions. All set for your flight? Yep. I've got everything I need. Eye mask, neck pillow, T Mobile headphones. Wait. T Mobile?

[Britti Luce]

You bet.

[Lacey Moseley]

Free in flight. Wi Fi 15 off all Hilton brands. I never go anywhere without T Mobile. Same goes from a water bottle, chewing gum, nail clippers. I'm gonna leave you to it.

[T-Mobile Representative]

Find out how you can experience travel better@t mobile.com Travel qualifying plan required.

[MasterCard Representative]

Wi Fi were available on select US airlines. Deposit and Hilton honors membership required for 15 discount. Terms and conditions apply.