Fraud Friday: The Faith Peddler w/ Jean Elie

Summary

Scam Goddess – Fraud Friday: The Faith Peddler

Host: Laci Mosley
Guest: Jean (Jean Elie)
Release Date: December 26, 2025

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Episode Overview

This ultra-entertaining Fraud Friday episode of Scam Goddess dives into the life and cons of Fred Brito—aka “The Faith Peddler”—a notorious serial scammer and master of reinvention who impersonated priests, executives, and psychiatrists across the US to support his Hollywood-level lifestyle and criminal ambitions. Host Laci Mosley and actor/writer Jean Elie break down Brito’s wildest hustles with signature comedic flair, laughing through the absurdities, implications, and low-key brilliance of a man who preferred capers to crime-free living. The episode also spotlights an inventive Nevada mom’s power-bill-hacking “Robin Hood” mini-scam, and how an accidental Kim Kardashian selfie led to a looted Egyptian coffin’s return.

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Key Discussion Points

1. Guest Introduction & Scam Energy [02:38–09:00]

• Laci welcomes Jean, highlighting his career, Haitian pride, and upcoming projects.
• Banter about zodiac signs, “fake diaspora” identities, and struggles with all-white party themes leads to a hilarious riff on how “white clothing is a scam.”
• Jean admits to a classic retail scam while at Sprint: purchasing SIM cards online cheaply, then reselling in-store for profit.

  Jean: “I used to go on eBay, buy SIM cards for 10 bucks and sell at the store for 50 bucks.” [08:06]

• The hosts joke about iPhone planned obsolescence and case-free “phone raw-doggers”—with Laci’s Otterbox loyalty and catastrophic clumsiness getting laughs.

2. Fraud Trends & Listener Scams – “What’s Hot in Fraud” [14:55–22:21]

• Instagram Account Hacking:
  Jean shares a recent hack attempt where his hacked Instagram “thief” got upset when he recovered his account, peppering him with strange WhatsApp pleas:

  Jean: “He literally called me…‘Yo, I did some stuff on your account, I need to get back in there.’ I was like, ‘No, bro, you’re out of your mind.’” [16:05]

• Listener Scam—The Nevada Energy Scheme:
  “Raul” (alias) writes in with a clever method for “free power” over holiday weekends:
  • Pays energy bill to only cover up to Friday before a holiday—knowing the power company can’t disconnect services until after the long weekend.
  • Runs everything nonstop to maximize savings, then resumes payments Monday night.
  • Laci: “You turning on all your lights and shit. It’s Arbor Day? BET. Crank all the lights.” [19:17]
  • The hosts relate it to “poor taxes” and survival schemes in America.
• Vegas Survival:
  Memories surface about surviving Las Vegas heat and legendary comped “early 20s” trips built on charm (not cash).

3. Main Event—Historic Hoodwinks: Fred Brito, The Faith Peddler [24:38–58:45]

a) Early Origins & Hollywood Dreams [25:21–30:36]

• Fred Brito, LA-born, youngest of 7, aspired to Hollywood’s glitz but quickly pivoted to crime to maintain his faux-luxury lifestyle.
• Friend to TV personality Paul Lynde, Fred sampled lavish life—then, penniless and aging, turned to forging and scams.

b) Criminal Evolution [30:36–35:36]

• First major crimes:
  • Stole $1,000 in traveler’s checks as a bank employee; skipped parole, landed in Canada, arrested again.
• Motivation:

  Fred (quoted): “I was in the fast lane, and all of a sudden, now I’m in the slow lane…I wanted to be in the fast lane, and would have done anything to get back.” [31:35]

• Dabbled in renting, then stealing, luxury cars thanks to low-tech verification in the ‘70s/‘80s.
• Became a 5-time felon before turning 30.

c) Master of Disguise—Fake Professions [34:54–43:27]

• From his time as an inmate, Fred learns court lingo and impersonates a psychiatrist in court to spring a friend.
• Constantly invents new identities:
  • Rebrands as “Martin Mark Esparza” in Lancaster, CA—becomes a city commissioner just by consistently showing up to council sessions.
  • Stages a dramatic “press conference” when caught, claiming Reagan appointed him to the White House.

d) The “Saint” Among the Poor [43:27–52:08]

• In Albuquerque, as “Mark Gomez,” Fred ingratiates himself as a benevolent official, allegedly buying cars and paying rent for needy families.
• Hosts speculate if he was falsely commending himself by writing his own “fan mail.”
• Ten-year run comes undone when a reporter exposes his true background.
• For a time, even lives as a priest—presiding over baptisms, weddings, and confessions using fraudulent credentials.
• When discovered, he literally flees religious orders ("I have to go right now!").
• Multiple embezzlement charges (including for as little as $600) and grand thefts across a half dozen roles.

e) Impossible Institutional Invisibility [52:08–57:23]

• Despite a deep criminal record, Fred repeatedly lands high-trust jobs—director at Red Cross, National Kidney Foundation, youth center, and more.

  Jean: “For a n*gga to get a job as a janitor somewhere they do three background checks. This man was…a priest, got locked up. City official, got locked up. Gets jobs again. How?” [49:30]

• Laci and Jean finger “white privilege”—and Fred’s bland, “non-threatening” bald look—for his persistent success at defrauding institutions.

f) Fred’s Post-Prison Reinventions & “Reforms” [54:34–58:45]

• Later, Fred attempts to “reform” as a scam-spotting consultant, sharing expert tips on background checks online (“from my experience in crime…”).
• Recent years: Becomes an IHOP manager, uses the position for good deeds (free breakfasts, local nonprofits)—but perhaps also new scams.
• No evidence of further crimes since 2002 (or, as Laci says: “he just got better at not getting caught”).

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4. Scammer of the Week: Kim Kardashian’s Accidental Art Recovery [58:45–64:39]

• In 2018, Kim K posts with an ancient Egyptian sarcophagus at the Met Gala. Viral attention leads to its provenance being checked.
• Authorities realize it was looted and sold with forged papers; ultimately, it’s returned to Egypt—thanks in part to her photo.

  Laci: “Kim got her selfie on, authorities got their tomb back—a win for everyone but colonizers.” [64:10]

• Laci and Jean riff on the British Museum’s “collection” and muse about when grave robbing becomes archaeology.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Fake Careers [35:15]:

  “You get an outfit. You read the Bible. You start dunking babies and marrying couples.”
  – Laci Mosley

• On Surviving Scams [49:45]:

  “It’s called white privilege.”
  – Jean Elie

• On Fred’s expertise [55:43]:

  “Based on my experience in crime…the background check is probably 40% accurate.”
  – Fred Brito (in his own PSA)

• On justice for colonization theft [64:39]:

  “We’re gonna need our things, and we’re gonna need them today...I want the Queen’s diamonds that she stole from South Africa—pluck ’em right out of that ugly ass hat.”
  – Laci Mosley

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Guest Intro & Scam Banter: 02:38–09:00
• Fraud Trends & Listener Scams: 14:55–22:21
• Fred Brito’s Early Life & Hollywood: 25:21–30:36
• Scam Ascension—Impersonator Era: 34:54–43:27
• High-Level Cons: Public Service, Priesthood: 43:27–52:08
• Institutional Blindness & Privilege Riff: 52:08–57:23
• Fred’s Scam Consultant Pivot: 54:34–58:45
• Kim K Art Scam: 58:45–64:39

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Tone & Style

Laci and Jean keep the mood rollicking and irreverent, mixing earnest analysis and survivor wisdom with roast-level jokes, wild hypotheticals, and cultural commentary about scams big and small. Their chemistry makes every twist in Brito’s story both jaw-dropping and hilarious, always reminding listeners that a good scam is built on audacity—and a little luck that the system isn’t checking.

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Final Thoughts

This episode is a top-tier Scam Goddess blend of education, empathy, and eyerolling at institutional failures—with enough laugh-out-loud lines and cultural callouts to satisfy true crime, comedy, and history fans alike. It closes with a comedic but sincere call to “repo” colonized history, a standing ovation for Fred’s scam artistry (but not his ethics), and a reminder to “stay schemin’”—but maybe for good.

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Stay schemin’, congregation!

Transcript

[Lacey Mosley]

Guys, thanks for helping me carry my Christmas tree.

[John Elliott]

Zoe, this thing weighs a ton. Drew Ski, live with your legs, man.

[Lacey Mosley]

Santa. Santa, did you get my letter?

[John Elliott]

He's talking to you britches. I'm not.

[Lacey Mosley]

Of course he did.

[John Elliott]

Right, Santa, you know my elf, Drew Ski here. He handles the nice list. And elf. I'm six' three. What everyone wants is iPhone 17 and at T Mobile, you can get it on them. That center stage front camera is amazing for group selfies, right, Mrs. Claus?

[Lacey Mosley]

I'm Mrs. Claus. Claus much younger sister. And AT T Mobile, there's no trade in needed when you switch, so you can keep your old phone or give it as a gift. And the best part, you can make the switch to T Mobile from your phone in just 15 minutes.

[John Elliott]

Nice. My side of the tree is slipping. Kimber, the holidays are better. AT T Mobile, switch in just 15 minutes and get iPhone 17 on us with no trade in needed. And now T Mobile is available in US cellular stores with 3, 4 monthly bill credits for well qualified customers, plus tax and $35 vice connection charge. Credit sentinel balance due to payout earlier. Cancel Finance agreement. 256 gigs, $830. Eligible Ford in a new line, $100 plus a month plan with auto. Check out 15 minutes or less per line.

[Lacey Mosley]

Visit t mobile.com don't you hate when you have something important coming up or you just need to look good, but your hair is not cooperating and you don't have a lot of time? That's why I love Batiste. They're the number one dry shampoo brand in the US and the world. And I never thought that, like, dry shampoo was for my hair texture. But when I tell you if it gets a little oily and I put in some Batiste, my hair looks full and fluffy again. And I can scam my way into not having to do my hair that day. With Batiste, you can instantly refresh your hair, and it absorbs all that oil and that grease. Okay. So your hair feels more clean and it has added volume and texture. It's great on your hair and easy on your wallet. Buy Batiste Dry Shampoo online or in store at your nearest retailer. What's poppin, Congregation? It's your girl, Lacey Mosley, AKA Scam Goddess. Welcome to an episode of Fraud Fridays where we release older episodes from the Scam Goddess vault. That's right, Fraud Fridays is where we bring back your favorite episodes from behind the Paywall. Enjoy this episode from behind the Paywall. And as always, stay, Stay Scheming. Goddess what's poppin, congregation? It's your girl, Lacy Mosley, AKA Scam Goddess, back with another installment of the podcast, all about robbery, fraud, and those who practice it. Sometimes we love them, sometimes we hate them. We will see. But as always, where's my Blue's Clues? My Tabitha Brown audience, I am very. Yes, I'm very excited for today's guest and truly is or truly am.

[John Elliott]

It's a.

[Lacey Mosley]

It's a friend of the show. It's a friend of me. It's the homie. And y' all know how homie episodes go. They get a little wild. But you know, I'll keep it contained and professional. Will I? Y' all know I won't. But today we have a hilarious king. He is Haitian Zou gang member. And now Judith is back here doing the Haitian signs and throwing up. The Haitians are in the building. Oh, God. Being overpowered. Guys, let me join. Let me join. I'm fake Hatian as well. I'm fake Nigerian. I'm fake Hatian. Y' all know that I'm fake anywhere from the diaspora because I'm not giving the government my 23andMe's. Yes, he's a showrunner and an actor. You've seen him on TV in insecure rap shit. And now he's starring in his own series with all black called Send Help, which I've seen. It's so good. It's so funny, and it's such a. It's a really heartwarming story as well. And also very Haitian, so, you know, give. His production company, Bassett House Pictures, is holding a screened at night short film competition. Okay. And for more details, you can head over to filmfreeway.com BHPS Short Film Competition. Not y' all having full plugs up at the top. And, yo, listen, John's publicist is good. Congregation, please welcome John Elliot to the show.

[John Elliott]

What's up? What up? What up, y'? All? How y' all doing?

[Lacey Mosley]

Oh, you have a great voice. People are gonna really love your voice.

[John Elliott]

Really?

[Lacey Mosley]

Yeah. They be getting tired of my grading shit. They're like, ma', am, can you drink tea? Like, why do you sound like this? But here. Wait, okay, so, Jeanne, I have to ask you. Yeah, I knew you were doing that because the last time it was in my notes. Wait, I was eating a sandwich.

[John Elliott]

Literally.

[Lacey Mosley]

Jeanne does this to me all the time. And I knew that you were doing it to me while I was talking. Cause, like, one time we were out and he was, like, wiping his nose, and I was like, oh, has he got something on his nose. He's like, no, you have a poker nose.

[John Elliott]

I was like, oh, my God.

[Lacey Mosley]

Oh, so embarrassing. I always have something on my face when I see Jeanne. I guess this is just.

[John Elliott]

I'm trying to let you out here like that. Crazy. You know what I'm saying? I'm not trying to make sure you good.

[Lacey Mosley]

He's like, you look crazy, sis. What's up? I'm gonna tell you, I appreciate that about you. You know the Leos, they're gonn. We were talking before we got on the air about a date that you were helping your friend.

[John Elliott]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I was helping him navigate that situation. Cause he's not from la, he's from New York. So he had a date. So he was trying to figure out where to go, what to do and things of that nature. So I just put him on some spots to go to.

[Lacey Mosley]

That's really sweet of you. And then I asked. Cause John said that, like, back in the day, when he is enfianced, if you haven't read People magazine, he is enfianced. He has a fiance. He's getting murdered. But back in the day, you were like, oh, yeah. Like, if I go on a date, maybe I do it early in the day. Cause you were like, maybe I spend.

[John Elliott]

Like the whole day with the person.

[Lacey Mosley]

That's wild. And I was like, that's big Pisces energy. But you said, but you're a Leo. And I know you're a Leo. And we talked about that. Cause I said I had to kick Leos out of my life.

[John Elliott]

Yeah, I know.

[Lacey Mosley]

There was too many.

[John Elliott]

It's unfortunate. You should not do that.

[Lacey Mosley]

Y' all always want to go a themed party. Everybody got to have a certain outfit to come. Like, it's just very stressful late July and early August.

[John Elliott]

Not like August 1st babies. Not the people in the beginning half of of Leo season. It's the people in the last half. They're like, we need to be all white. I'm like, I'm so over this all white situation. Like, it's so plagued.

[Lacey Mosley]

We don't own all white. All of. Listen, I do. But I buy all of my white shirts from Amazon for like $4. Because I'm not an adult. So if I get a white shirt, I'm wearing it one time, there will somehow magically be a stain on it and it needs to be thrown away. So I'm not spending money on a white shirt.

[John Elliott]

It's pointless. I really don't see a reason why they Are attracted to why to wear all white. Like, it makes no sense.

[Lacey Mosley]

I'll literally not eat anything, not drink anything, and somehow come home and there's a stain on my shirt.

[John Elliott]

Yeah.

[Lacey Mosley]

Ow.

[John Elliott]

Big facts.

[Lacey Mosley]

One day, maybe I'll be like. Like Sarah Jessica Parker said, she's the type of girl who wears white and never spills on me. It's not me. I'm a stallion.

[John Elliott]

And that's a fucking lie. Like, literally, I will spill red, something, everything on me, and there'll be no red in the. In the vicinity, and I'll still get red on it.

[Lacey Mosley]

Had a red on it. White is a scam. White clothing is a scam. Speaking of scam Jean, you know what's a scam?

[John Elliott]

Them towels in the hotel Than white towels in a hotel. Them. They should be like, you be taking a shower and you're like, cool. You took a shower, and then you wipe yourself down. You're like, damn, am I still dirty? Like, I just took a shower.

[Lacey Mosley]

No, I know exactly what you mean. You start to hit that neck, and I'm like, I know I scrubbed my neck in the shower. Exactly. What is this? What is this?

[John Elliott]

I bought my own loofah and everything to make sure I'm good.

[Lacey Mosley]

Right? Listen, hotel towels in general also, we've said it before on this podcast, if you're in a hotel, make sure that you ask for it to be cleaned every day. That's a scam hotels are trying to do so that they don't have to pay people to clean the hotel rooms. It's not about cleaning, is not about you being a nice person. They just trying to be cheap. So y' all call and get y' all room cleaned every day, get y' all fresh sheets and help out the community.

[John Elliott]

Yes.

[Lacey Mosley]

But we always ask at the beginning of the show, what is your relationship with scams Sean? Do you like him? Do you hate him? Have you ever been scammed? Have you ever run some scams that you're at liberty to talk about? I know you do. On one of the shows that you're on, if you haven't seen the first season of Rap Shit, get into it.

[John Elliott]

The little scam Scams Stan the scammer. I wouldn't consider it a scam.

[Lacey Mosley]

Love that.

[John Elliott]

I consider it just business.

[Lacey Mosley]

Oh, okay. Scams could be business scams or wholesome mostly.

[John Elliott]

Like, my job wasn't providing it when I was used to work for Sprint.

[Lacey Mosley]

You worked for Sprint, so definitely you were a scam. Was you wearing a yellow polo?

[John Elliott]

No, I had a black Polo. I had the black polo.

[Lacey Mosley]

Classy.

[John Elliott]

Yeah.

[Lacey Mosley]

You was a manager?

[John Elliott]

I was old school. I was old school at that point. I wasn't a manager at that time, but, like, I literally used to go on ebay, buy sim cards for 10 bucks, and sell at the store for 50 bucks.

[Lacey Mosley]

Wowzers.

[John Elliott]

Yes.

[Lacey Mosley]

I'm gonna say that that's a scam job, not you coming in with your own products. I go into the store trying to buy something, you pulling it out your pocket like, hold on, my guy, hold on.

[John Elliott]

They was like, yo, we need SIM cards. The store didn't provide SIM cards, so I provided an extra service. I was trying to retain customers. It was customer retention. I was holding them down.

[Lacey Mosley]

You were going above and beyond the phone.

[John Elliott]

You know what I'm saying? From the bot.

[Lacey Mosley]

You're like, you want a phone case? I got phone cases too. Yeah. I don't know. I buy from this guy at Sprint. He pulls everything out of his poc. I don't know if he was like, straight cash or Venmo. I didn't know Sprint was doing all that. I love this for you. How long did you work at Sprint?

[John Elliott]

I worked for Sprint probably like three years. Three, four years.

[Lacey Mosley]

How often were you selling SIM cards?

[John Elliott]

Ooh. I ended up doing it for like a year.

[Lacey Mosley]

Okay, that's cool.

[John Elliott]

I ended up doing it for like, a year. The only reason I had to stop is cause. What's it called? My manager at the time snitched on me to my district manager, so I.

[Lacey Mosley]

Had to, like, hate her. He just mad he didn't think of it first.

[John Elliott]

Big hate. Big hate. Like, big hate.

[Lacey Mosley]

Now when he snitched, did they try to let you go or no?

[John Elliott]

He was like, come on, John, you can't do that. I'm like, yo, I'm helping y' all out. I'm providing a service. Y' all don't got no SIM cards. I'm providing SIM cards.

[Lacey Mosley]

Right. This feels like upper level management. You got ideas. They should have promoted you.

[John Elliott]

Exactly.

[Lacey Mosley]

You need to be in the boardroom. Get in the bag.

[John Elliott]

I was trying to help them out.

[Lacey Mosley]

Yes. Also, I love. My favorite scam run that Sprint did was remember the can you hear me now, nigga? From Verizon?

[John Elliott]

Yeah. When they took that dude and they.

[Lacey Mosley]

And I think after that, they changed how commercial sponsorships work. Because at the time, nobody ever thought that somebody who was the face of a company was just gonna go to a competitor and be like, all right, can y' all hear me now over here at Sprint?

[John Elliott]

Yeah, yeah. You know what's the biggest scam, honestly, is Apple. How Apple phones will literally give you all these updates and then to mess up your phone to get you to get a new phone.

[Lacey Mosley]

I always call it Steve Jobs tinkering with my shit from the beyond. If there's a new phone coming out, I know Steve is in my joint just rearranging wires, fucking up my battery life.

[John Elliott]

Oh, it won't ruin your phone. It's fin. It's fine. It just helps it. It improves it. Yeah, right.

[Lacey Mosley]

Oh, you wanted your phone to work. Oh, you trying to make phone calls. Oh, then you need to get the iPhone 2012. Like what you talking about, bitch? Get that.

[John Elliott]

Which is the same phone with the same phone with a different. With an added on camera.

[Lacey Mosley]

It's more breakable.

[John Elliott]

Exactly.

[Lacey Mosley]

Yeah. We got glass all over this one. Okay, you are definitely gonna crack this bitch. Okay, Just don't let it contact ground.

[John Elliott]

Look, but I'm running risks out here with my phone. Literally don't have a case.

[Lacey Mosley]

Oh, you're wild. That's a personality type. People who have their phone just raw dogging their with life. Like, that's a personality type. It's a flex.

[John Elliott]

It's kind of living life on the edge. You know what I'm saying?

[Lacey Mosley]

You never have to go anywhere super quickly. You're never late for things.

[John Elliott]

Nah, I take my time.

[Lacey Mosley]

It's giving punctual. It's giving. You wake up every morning, have your breakfast, do your routine. Not me. I have like five cases on my. Like I have the screen protector which is cracked. But I've learned my lesson. If I take the cracked one off, I'm gonna crack the real screen. So I have to wait until I'm replacing it. But then I also have the otterbox, which you can tell has really been like. My Otterbox is like all my life I had to. Cause I be dropping this bitch all the time every year.

[John Elliott]

Oh, you are out of box commercial right now. They're literally loving you right now.

[Lacey Mosley]

They are. And as they should. Cause these shits really work. You know, you can throw it up against the wall. You can drop it from like a small story building.

[John Elliott]

You know the thing I've been always wanting to try, you know how they be like, your phone's waterproof, but I'm always scared to just submerge my phone completely underwater to check it out to.

[Lacey Mosley]

See what you want. Now why would you need to do that?

[John Elliott]

Why not? They said it does. It's waterproof.

[Lacey Mosley]

So I'm like for a few seconds. Like they don't wanna really sell it. Cause then you could sue them or try to get a new phone if it doesn't work.

[John Elliott]

You know that people sued the Red Bull people for Red Bull gives you wings.

[Lacey Mosley]

Oh, they ain't get. Oh. Cause they wasn't getting no wings.

[John Elliott]

Exactly.

[Lacey Mosley]

Listen, they not wrong.

[John Elliott]

That's true.

[Lacey Mosley]

Red Bull ain't never. I ain't never flew on a Red Bull exactly. No. It just tastes like sweet gasoline. And I'm like, maybe this is doing something. Am I a car? Put. But let's take a quick break for some non scam advertisements. We'll be right back with what's hot.

[John Elliott]

And fraud scams in shady times. Let there be drag.

[Lacey Mosley]

RuPaul's Drag Race is back on MTV. 14 new queens shine brighter than ever.

[John Elliott]

This is OG Drag Race. See what everybody is made of.

[Lacey Mosley]

Who will be crowned America's brightest drag superstar? Is this gonna knock me out of this competition? This is my moment to shine. And extra special guest judge Cardi B is bringing the drama that was so fun. RuPaul's Drag Race new season premieres Friday, January 2nd at 8, 7 Central. Watch on MTV. Tis the season for scams. Scammers use the holidays to trick you into sharing your payment info. It's Robin season, y'. All, and Cash App says not this year. Scammers. Cash app's 247 fraud monitoring helps detect and alert you for unusual card activity. You can also lock or unlock your Cash App cards instantly. Stay ahead of scams this season and keep your money secure with Cash App for a limited time only new Cash App customers can use our exclusive code to earn some additional cash. For real? Just download Cash App, use our exclusive referral code Secure10 in your profile. Send $5 to a friend within 14 days and you'll get $10 dropped right into your account. Terms apply. That's money. That's Cash App. Cash App is a financial services platform, not a bank. Banking by Cash App's bank partners. Prepaid debit cards issued by Sutton bank member FDIC Promotions provided by Cash App, a block Inc. Brand Visit Cash App legal podcast for full disclosures. Guys, thanks for helping me carry my Christmas tree.

[John Elliott]

Zoe. This thing weighs a ton. Drew Ski. Lift with your legs, man.

[Lacey Mosley]

Santa. Santa, did you get my letter?

[John Elliott]

He's talking to you, Bridges. I'm not that.

[Lacey Mosley]

Of course he did. Right, Santa?

[John Elliott]

You know my elf Drew Ski here. He handles the nice list. An elf? I'm six' three. What everyone wants is iPhone 17 and AT T mobile. You can get it on them. That center stage front camera is amazing for group selfies, right, Mrs. Claus.

[Lacey Mosley]

I'm Mrs. Claus much younger sister. And at T Mobile, there's no trade in needed when you switch. So you can keep your old phone or give it as a gift. And the best part, you can make the switch to T Mobile from your phone in just 15 minutes.

[John Elliott]

Guys, my side of the tree is slipping. Timber. The holidays are better. AT T Mobile, switch in just 15 minutes and get iPhone 17 on us with no trade in needed. And now T Mobile is available in US cellular stores with 24 monthly bill credits for well qualified customers plus tax and $35 device connection charge. Credit and imbalance due if you pay off earlier. Cancel Finance agreement. 256 gigs, $830 eligible poured in a new line. $100 plus a month plan with auto pay plus taxes, fees required. Check out in 15 minutes or less per line.

[Lacey Mosley]

Visit t mobile.com cut and we are back. And it's time for what's hot and fraud. This is where we warn the streets about popping scams out there in the zeitgeist. And more often than not, we get a letter from you guys. As always, snitch on your friends, family and your enemies at. Just make sure the scam is retired because we don't want to. What? Yes. Fuck up your bag. All right, John, I need a fake name for this person. We don't care about gender.

[John Elliott]

Raul. Raul.

[Lacey Mosley]

Oh, I like Raul. So Raul says, I wanted to start by giving you your flop. Okay, Raul. See, now what do we talk about? This is very nice, Raul. I'm reading it to myself, but I'm going to get into what you got going on here. So Raul says, don't let the email fool you. It's fake and not my name. LOL Scam. Okay, see, I love you protecting yourself from even me, which I appreciate. Cause if y' all doing crime, I don't want the government over here trying to solicit my damn emails.

[John Elliott]

Oh my God. I tell you how my Instagram got hacked by some Middle Eastern person and then try to get upset with me for getting my account back from Facebook.

[Lacey Mosley]

They say, how dare you get your account back.

[John Elliott]

He was trying to help me, brother. Let me get your. Let me. Let me get the. Let me get back into your account because I need to. I forgot something. I was like, no, you didn't forget anything, bro. Like you're out of.

[Lacey Mosley]

I forgot something.

[John Elliott]

Out of your mind. Like I literally still have the thread in the WhatsApp conversation of him trying to steal my account back. After I got my account back, I was like, yo, bro, you're gonna give me my account back? He's like. He's like, give me.

[Lacey Mosley]

I'm not through with it, though. Give me. Just give me, like, two more days.

[John Elliott]

I'm like, no, sir. Like, give me my account back. You.

[Lacey Mosley]

Why you not trying to help me out?

[John Elliott]

And then. Exactly. Literally called my phone, like, called my phone on WhatsApp and was like, yo, bro, like, I did some stuff on your account. I need to get, like, call me back. Like, someone stealing. First, he.

[Lacey Mosley]

This is our account. Us.

[John Elliott]

Like, the first second was like, he called me. He was like, yo, yo, did you get your account back? Yo, I think someone took. I think someone took your account. Took our account? Our account. We not friends. You hacked my shit.

[Lacey Mosley]

But I love this guy. He's got a great personality. He was like, let me hit him up with just the vibes. Look, you. We both down bad right now because somebody took our account back from us after I had taken it from you and it was ours. Now I just need to get in there and get several passwords that I had lined up. Can you help me out?

[John Elliott]

I was furious. That was. Oh, my God. And then he was like, yo, man, he hit me with it. I was like, yo, I told you I was gonna get my account back. And he goes. He said, you're lucky I didn't get your Facebook. I was like, you fucking supervillain, right?

[Lacey Mosley]

Like, nigga, leave me alone. How you gonna be mad at me because I didn't let you rob me? Like, really? You're not gonna be an equal opportunity mark and let me rob you? This is offensive.

[John Elliott]

Wow, he really rabid ass mind.

[Lacey Mosley]

I'm kind of proud of him for that. I won't say which countries, but there's a few countries that are big fans of one of the shows I'm on, and they keep trying to hack my account, getting, like, notifications on Twitter and on Instagram. They're like, these people in this country are trying to log into your. I'm like, if y going to leave.

[John Elliott]

Me alone, you better put the authenticator on that.

[Lacey Mosley]

They just want that so they can have all my information. I'm like, marcus, you already got my booty ho scan. Like, we don't need. I'm not giving you nothing else. Like, come on now, man. You got my bank accounts. You got everything you need. Like, leave me alone. Talking about some verification. No. So Raul says, I'm writing to tell you how I scammed the Nevada energy every holiday weekend. I'm a single mom, so I really try to save money where I can. I know in Nevada the energy company is closed every major holiday. And if they are to cut your power, they do it in between 7am and 12pm I've researched this.

[John Elliott]

Okay, okay.

[Lacey Mosley]

You know, see, times are hard in America where you gotta start researching when they cut the power off so that you can time your shit. Like, bro, this is not cool.

[John Elliott]

We're still in the paninis, so I get it.

[Lacey Mosley]

And even outside of the panini, like, you know, the poor people, or not even poor, just anybody who could be a paycheck away or whatever from like abject poverty. Like they taking advantage of us. There's poor taxes. You pay more money for your credit card interest, you pay more money for loans. Like everything is predatory. There is a poor tax. So I'm not mad at this. You research this, Raul. Get into it. So I enrolled in flex pay pay as you go based off of your usage. So when a major holiday is nearing, I only pay enough up to the Friday before the hol. Since I know they won't come shut my power off over the weekend or on the holiday. I know that's right.

[John Elliott]

Okay.

[Lacey Mosley]

So I ended up getting three days worth of free power every holiday weekend. I know that's right. You got the free. You turning on all your lights and shit. It's Arbor Day. Bet. No, crank all the lights. Okay. Turn the stove on like, bitch, we got power. Okay. Yes. Plug everything into the strip cord.

[John Elliott]

You know like that Power strip is packed.

[Lacey Mosley]

Power strip sparking.

[John Elliott]

Okay.

[Lacey Mosley]

We charging all the devices today. Okay. So I ended up getting three days worth of free power on the holiday weekends. Then I'll add more money the Monday night before they reopen for the week. I ended up saving about it because.

[John Elliott]

I got it down to a science class. Go ahead, Raul.

[Lacey Mosley]

Raul. I stand single mom. You was like, look, I need. The kids need their Game Boys, they need they Xboxes and I'm not paying that extra. I ended up saving about $20 worth of energy every holiday weekend that I did this. I love this scam. Cause I came up with it myself. Vegas power is so damn high in the summ. And I encourage everyone to do it because paying for energy is a scam in itself. I hope you share this one. Lol. Take care. Yes, Raul.

[John Elliott]

Go ahead, Raul.

[Lacey Mosley]

And listen, Vegas is a desert. It's literally a desert where they were like, let's go do a lot of crimes out here, and it's like, let's.

[John Elliott]

Just wild out and run up the gas bill and run up the electricity bill, and everyone's gonna stop us.

[Lacey Mosley]

Remember at the beginning of the pandemic when Vegas was like, we'll open up first.

[John Elliott]

Crazy.

[Lacey Mosley]

They're like, no, tell everybody to come to Mandalay Bay. We gonna keep them safe from COVID.

[John Elliott]

They coming to Marana, right? Y' all got.

[Lacey Mosley]

Listen, we got the fountains back up, and we trying to get the people back in. Okay.

[John Elliott]

I wonder how much power Vegas uses.

[Lacey Mosley]

All those lights, all that ac.

[John Elliott]

It's hot as fuck. I remember the first time I went to Vegas. I was like, 22, and I literally felt like my sneakers were melting. That's how hot it was outside. And I went there in August.

[Lacey Mosley]

Oh, you went. Oh, you really went for the heat.

[John Elliott]

I didn't know.

[Lacey Mosley]

It was my first time leaving Dubai in August.

[John Elliott]

First time going like. I literally felt like I was running around with melted sneakers all day.

[Lacey Mosley]

I always loved going to Vegas in my early 20s because we never paid for anything. My friend's grandma had a condo nearby. And then we would just go meet people, and then they would buy us lunch, and then they'd buy us dinner and get us into the club. Oh, yeah. We were living just on vibes, on youth and vibes.

[John Elliott]

Oh, that's sweet.

[Lacey Mosley]

It was. It was very sweet.

[John Elliott]

Must be nice.

[Lacey Mosley]

Sorry. Yeah, you gotta go make some money.

[John Elliott]

I had to blow the bag.

[Lacey Mosley]

I just showed up as a cute girl and it was like, here are things. I was like, thank you so much. For what?

[John Elliott]

You do what you like. It's your world.

[Lacey Mosley]

I'm just here to provide vibes. I'm glad this is an equal exchange. I give vibes, you give dinner and bottle service. It's working out for everyone. We're all having a great time. No, but I love this scam. And if y' all live in Nevada, I don't know, try it out maybe. What's the next holiday? Thanksgiving? Christmas? You could probably definitely clean up, get that bank holiday in there too. What about Kwanzaa? There's nobody off on Kwanzaa. No, we not getting bank holidays for that yet. They gave us Juneteenth. As soon as they started that shit, they really ran the bag up. Walmart was like, let's get these black ass plates and coasters and napkins out for the Negroes. The Negro holiday.

[John Elliott]

Oh, Lord.

[Lacey Mosley]

But yeah, So y', all, I don't know. Try it out. Maybe it'll work. We're gonna take a quick break for some non scam advertisements. We'll be right back with historic hoodwings robbery in shady times.

[John Elliott]

Let there be drags.

[Lacey Mosley]

RuPaul's Drag Race is back on MTV. 14 new queens shine brighter than ever.

[John Elliott]

This is OG Drag Race. See what everybody is made of.

[Lacey Mosley]

Who will be crowned America's brightest drag superstar? Is this gonna knock me out of this competition? This is my moment to shine. And extra special guest judge Cardi B is bringing the drama that was so fun. RuPaul's Drag Race new season premieres Friday, January 2nd at 8, 7 Central. Watch on MTV. What's Poppin Congregation? Okay, I'm coming at y' all hot because we need to debunk some things about Plan B emergency contraception right now. Listen, Plan B is not an abortion pill. It's safe, effective backup birth control you take after unprotected sex to prevent pregnancy before it starts. And are y' all ready for the inside tea? It works by temporarily delaying ovulation and it will not impact your future fertility. Because some days, who knows, someday you might want a little unemployed person in your house. Follow Plan B on insta at Plan B, one step. Use as directed. Guys, thanks for helping me carry my Christmas tree.

[John Elliott]

Zoe. This thing weighs a ton. Drewski, live with your legs, man.

[Lacey Mosley]

Santa. Santa, did you get my letter?

[John Elliott]

He's talking to you, Bridges. I'm not.

[Lacey Mosley]

Of course he did.

[John Elliott]

Right, Santa, you know my elf, Drew Ski here. He handles the nice list. And elf, I'm six' three. What everyone wants is iPhone 17 and at T Mobile, you can get it on them. That center stage front camera is amazing for grooming group selfies. Right, Mrs. Claus?

[Lacey Mosley]

I'm Mrs. Claus's much younger sister. And AT T Mobile, there's no trade in needed when you switch. So you can keep your old phone.

[John Elliott]

Or give it as a gift.

[Lacey Mosley]

And the best part, you can make the switch to T Mobile from your phone in just 15 minutes.

[John Elliott]

Nice. My side of the tree is slipping. The holidays are better. AT T Mobile switch in just 15 minutes and get iPhone 17 on us with no trade in needed. And now T Mobile is available in US best cellular stores with 24 month legal credits for well qualified customers plus tax and $35 vice connection charge credits and imbalance due if you pay off earlier. Cancel Financing Agreement 256Gates. $830 eligible for in a new line. $100 plus a month plan with auto payments, taxes and fees required. Check out 15 minutes or less per line.

[Lacey Mosley]

Visit t mobile.com and fraud. And we are back. And it's time for historic hoodwinks. This is where I will regale Jean with the famous con cape, or group of criminals. We'll see if we like him. We'll see if we hate him, get his opinions all throughout. Fred Breido is a con artist of many faces, caught up in a life of Hollywood luxury. You can relate. He. He turned to scamming when he could no longer afford his lifestyle fair. But when he took on the faces of priests, company executives, and a psychiatrist, he sought to prove that he was just as good at his fake jobs as he was at scamming. So he really committed. He was like, yeah, I am a fake priest. But listen, y' all gonna get these wafers and these prayers. I'm gonna dunk these babies super hard.

[John Elliott]

You're gonna make these donations.

[Lacey Mosley]

Okay, Give me your baby. Let me put him in this water juice. Okay? You want him to have a salt? The faith dealer. Yeah. Slanging them fates. Look at him. Okay, he gets priests. It's keeping priests. These spectacles with no rims that's giving. Like, I read books.

[John Elliott]

He's very studious.

[Lacey Mosley]

He's like, I did the Bible cover to cover, old and new.

[John Elliott]

Yeah, he's read the Bible. Got some great passages that he uses every day.

[Lacey Mosley]

Yeah. He's like, let me drop these on them. Fire. Okay, Mark, open up the Book of Mark. It's about to be lit.

[John Elliott]

And it was crazy. Like, he looks trusted, trustworthy. Like you would trust him. He looks like. He looks.

[Lacey Mosley]

He looks like. I wouldn't look at him twice. You're right about that.

[John Elliott]

You wouldn't. You wouldn't. He'd be unsuspected. You're like, oh, you're scamming me. I didn't know.

[Lacey Mosley]

Right? I didn't even see you when you came in.

[John Elliott]

But the thing is, though, it's those motherfuckers. It is.

[Lacey Mosley]

They're the best because you don't see him coming. You're not looking at this guy.

[John Elliott]

Like, you're not. You're not caring. You're like, all right, whatever this guy's talking about. Yeah.

[Lacey Mosley]

He reached into my pocket and took my wallet, but I thought he needed something with it. Yeah, he just said he need to verify my ID before I came into church. And I was like, okay, Amen.

[John Elliott]

My sister used to call Goat when she first moved to la. She used to go in my. Pick up my credit card. She's like, can I just look at something in the back of your credit card? I Just. I forgot something. I'm so, like. I was like, get the fuck out of here.

[Lacey Mosley]

Can I take a selfie with your credit card? That's all. I just want to create memories. Just a little selfie.

[John Elliott]

It's hilarious.

[Lacey Mosley]

Love that for your sister. She living good. Love that for your sister. I'm glad she came up on you. So in the beginning, Frederick Brito was born in Los Angeles, California in 1955. He was raised alongside five brothers and a sister in a small house. Yeah, you got a lot of siblings. You gotta learn how. You gotta get a job, you gotta.

[John Elliott]

Learn how to make it. So at age 20, was he a middle child or where does he fall?

[Lacey Mosley]

So he has five brothers and a sister. I don't know where he falls in the age rank, but I don't think he's the oldest. So that's a lot. That's like six other siblings. That's a house of seven. Yeah, yeah. You gotta do crime. That's too many mouse to feed, Too.

[John Elliott]

Many mouths to feed. You're looking at mom and dad figuring out like, oh, they can't support us all. Let me handle it on this side.

[Lacey Mosley]

And five brothers, you know, they was making them boys get employed for sure. You know, the one sister might have been the one taking pictures with people's credit card CVV's, you know. So at age 20, he was drawn to the Hollywood nightclub scene of the mid-70s. He's not giving Hollywood nightclub. At least from the photo that we saw. It wasn't giving, like, Studio 54. But, you know, maybe he had more hair then.

[John Elliott]

Could. Could be. But then again, it's like he looks like he went bald early.

[Lacey Mosley]

Yeah, it is given, like, he was like 22 and the hairs were just leaving out. Yeah.

[John Elliott]

And he, like, tried to keep it with, like a comb over.

[Lacey Mosley]

Yeah. Cause he had the little back. He was doing the booty.

[John Elliott]

He had all the hair back there. Yeah, yeah, he had all the hair back there. So he was literally combing it over the top.

[Lacey Mosley]

He's like, I just have a very deep part that's the whole middle of my head. It's a side part. It's just like a lot of side. A lot of part.

[John Elliott]

He had a Jheri curl.

[Lacey Mosley]

Oh, I mean, maybe he probably wore one. He kind of is giving, like he was doing something when he had big curls. It was here that Fred became close friends with later roommates, the actor Paul Lynde, best known for his TV roles on Bewitched and the Hollywood Squares. According to Fred, he Became accustomed to a more. Cause he knew the Hollywood Squares niggas, so they was doing Hollywood Square activity.

[John Elliott]

Exactly. He was hanging out with him, driving.

[Lacey Mosley]

Mercedes Benzes, living in the Hollywood Hills, going to Beverly Hills restaurants, doing all the things that movie stars would do. Yeah, he was that girl.

[John Elliott]

Yeah.

[Lacey Mosley]

He was like, do you need a friend, Mr. Bewitched? Who you going to the. To the. You know, Mr. Bewitched looked like he still had all his hair. So maybe he was like, let me bring my bald friend.

[John Elliott]

Yeah. So it's like.

[Lacey Mosley]

So I look like more of a baddie.

[John Elliott]

Exactly.

[Lacey Mosley]

Mm. By comparison. But when he grew older, he was cast off as Paul's favorite chosen one. As he grew older and his life of the Hollywood luxury, like, abruptly ended. So it sounds like as soon as that hair started to dip out, everything.

[John Elliott]

Else dipped out too. Yeah.

[Lacey Mosley]

That's sad. That sucks. They're like, get out of here, aging person. This is Hollywood, yo. You should have.

[John Elliott]

We only want young, vibrant people.

[Lacey Mosley]

Right? He should've got a wig. Just get you a wig, Fred. And keep turning up. So with no place to live. Oh, damn, Fred. You were really out here scamming. Not you living. Living in somebody's house. Being in the entourage.

[John Elliott]

Sheesh.

[Lacey Mosley]

Fred moved back in with his parents. Now Fred, his turn.

[John Elliott]

This turn. That was a turn.

[Lacey Mosley]

Yeah.

[John Elliott]

That's sad.

[Lacey Mosley]

You gotta get your coins up. When you have a situation like that. You can't just be getting free dinners. Like, at least get some coins on the side. Or, like, exactly.

[John Elliott]

Like, side hustle. Like, what you doing?

[Lacey Mosley]

Get a Bewitched check. I don't know. Be a pa. Come on. Come on. And fluff his mustache. Exactly.

[John Elliott]

Be his assistant. Like, what are you doing?

[Lacey Mosley]

Yeah, get a check. So he moved back in with his parents. Fred was forced to get a job for the first time in his life to pay for the lifestyle he had been accustomed to. Fred was not given that much of a bad bitch to be living like this free. He must got a good personality, you know? So, however, it was never enough. And while he was working at a bank, he stole $1,000 worth of traveler's checks. His first federal crime. So he. $1,000 worth of traveler's checks? Did he steal, like, a bunch of traveler's checks? Or did he, like, write checks, like, going up to $1,000? It says he was working at a bank and he stole $1,000 worth of traveler's checks. His. He was arrested and sentenced to jail. When he was released, Fred immediately violated his parole by skipping town to start A new life in Vancouver.

[John Elliott]

Skipped town, stole some checks and thought it was gonna set him up for life.

[Lacey Mosley]

And this is like the 70s. So that's back when you were still paying for, like, checks at the grocery store. Imagine like, giving anybody now, like, a piece of paper and being like, this is money.

[John Elliott]

They're like, what? What's this?

[Lacey Mosley]

Yeah, no, no, no. This is money. I'm gonna take the things right now, but you got this piece of paper that says, this is you.

[John Elliott]

Good. Yeah. Like, no, nothing now. Nowadays, nothing takes cash.

[Lacey Mosley]

I miss check fraud. I really think I would have been.

[John Elliott]

Good at that check fraud. I don't know.

[Lacey Mosley]

I would've paid for everything in checks.

[John Elliott]

Well, you there.

[Lacey Mosley]

You go to the gas station, buy a pack of gum, check.

[John Elliott]

I almost incriminate myself.

[Lacey Mosley]

So Fred. So several crimes later, Fred once again found himself behind bars in Burnaby, British Columbia. So now you done got arrested in different countries. Okay, this guy, you gotta stop getting pissed.

[John Elliott]

He's a bad criminal. That's what he is. He doesn't know what he's doing.

[Lacey Mosley]

So Fred explained why he kept committing crimes after he left Hollywood. He says, I was in the fast lane, and all of a sudden, now I'm in the slow lane on the soft shoulder, in a sense. And I wanted to be in the fast lane, and I would have done anything to get back in the fast lane. He said, bitch, now I'm not even in the cul de sac. I'm over here on the.

[John Elliott]

I'm over here on the side of the highway, right?

[Lacey Mosley]

He was like, I was just trying to get back in that left lane. Y' all understand? And once I lost that hair, nobody was trying to fuck with me.

[John Elliott]

Exactly.

[Lacey Mosley]

That's sad, Rip. So in order to get back in the fast lane, Fred would rent luxury cars and never return them to where he rented them from.

[John Elliott]

Wow. You could get away with that back in the day. Like, where they gonna find you?

[Lacey Mosley]

Especially when you're not black or a person of color? They're like, yeah, give Fred this Lambo, right?

[John Elliott]

Let's rent it out, you know?

[Lacey Mosley]

Yeah. No Lambo, Fred. Yeah. No, he could have it. No, he's good. So by the time he was in.

[John Elliott]

That's that privilege. That's that privilege for us.

[Lacey Mosley]

They'd be like, we need a blood samp.

[John Elliott]

I'd need to check all your IDs.

[Lacey Mosley]

We need four relatives to come down here and vouch for you and put their houses up as collateral. Big facts all for you to rent this car. So by the time he was in his mid-20s. He had. He was a five time convicted felon. Wow, that's excellent. He worked really hard. Okay, he's in his 20s.

[John Elliott]

He worked in his 20s five times.

[Lacey Mosley]

Yeah, they know him at the jailhouse. He was like, can I get my old bed? Can I get my old bed when I come back? And y' all had that ramen ready for me.

[John Elliott]

Oh, my God. Have you ever been around, like, convicted, like, serial criminals, like, them motherfuckers? I'm like, why are you like this?

[Lacey Mosley]

Cause that's their business.

[John Elliott]

It's like, why are you like this?

[Lacey Mosley]

That's their profession. What do you mean, leave crime? This is what I do for a living. It's my passion.

[John Elliott]

I remember one time I got bagged up and I was gonna get processed, and I was sitting there like, y' all are just dumb as hell. This one dude was like, yo, where you going? Yo, I'm about to get transferred to, like, Norfolk. All right, yo, I'mma stay here tonight for the Christmas, so if you could give me your hoodie that way and.

[Lacey Mosley]

And then I'll see you when I get booked over there.

[John Elliott]

And what cell block should I stay in? I'm like, are you serious?

[Lacey Mosley]

I heard Dee ain't doing too good right now. They said the pipe's leaking. Yeah, yeah. You don't want to be in D Block. All right?

[John Elliott]

Then you're being C. I. C, cell 24. All right? I'm like, are you fucking kidding me?

[Lacey Mosley]

And, I mean, a lot of it isn't our fault. Like, it's just slavery, but, like, they put a little cute little label on it and do it like, there should be no private prison. How you gonna be like, oh, I'm getting involved in prison? Yeah, no, I made a new jail for everybody. We can't wait to get some inmates. Hoping people get exactly.

[John Elliott]

Locking people up for drugs that are legal now.

[Lacey Mosley]

Working very hard with the police to get as many people into a hot new prison as possible. Okay, we making the best license plates in the cot. Okay. Yeah. So it's all a scam. So however, spending that much time in the legal system started to give Fred enough information to lead him to a whole new level of crime. So he got in there and he worked on himself. He said, I got arrested too many times. I really need to step my shit up. I really need to start crimeing better. So he got an education.

[John Elliott]

Makes sense.

[Lacey Mosley]

He got his BA in burglary. You know, why not? So by sitting through many of his own trials and hearings, Fred learned vocabulary used by the court appointed psychiatrist. He put this to the test one day, coincidentally waiting for his own case to be heard, Fred pretended to be a psychiatrist at a hearing of his friends and convinced the judge to release the defendant, his friend, into the psychiatrist's custody. AKA complete freedom.

[John Elliott]

Wow.

[Lacey Mosley]

So he started working at bald. He was like, okay, I'm not a Hollywood baddie anymore, but this bald is giving.

[John Elliott]

It's getting me distinguished. It's giving me. I've done things before.

[Lacey Mosley]

Learned. I know psychiatry. Okay. Patient, client, substances, SSRIs.

[John Elliott]

He just started just second life when new hit with no hair. Go ahead.

[Lacey Mosley]

He learned how to pivot. Cause, yeah, a bald psychiatrist. I'm believing him in court.

[John Elliott]

Exactly.

[Lacey Mosley]

He got a brown suit on. I'm like, oh, yeah. Extra believable.

[John Elliott]

Love it.

[Lacey Mosley]

So by 1985, Fred was a 32 year old jailbird and decided it was time to turn a new leaf. He moved with his parents to Lancaster, California, and created and became Martin Mark Esparza.

[John Elliott]

Wait, I know this name.

[Lacey Mosley]

You do?

[John Elliott]

Mark Esparza. Keep reading.

[Lacey Mosley]

So Mark was everything Fred wasn't. A successful man with no criminal record and a job as a small government employee. So he just rebranded. He was like, I'm not Fred no more. Fred got priors. I'm Mark now. Yeah. Mark lives a clean life. Okay. And he's a clean life. He began attending city council meetings so much that he attracted the attention of Lancaster's mayor, Fred Hahn, who offered Mark. Mark a position as city commissioner.

[John Elliott]

What?

[Lacey Mosley]

That's just showing up to community functions. And they was like, I don't know. We put him in government. He be here a lot. Every time we had that punch Thursday, you know, Mark gonna be there.

[John Elliott]

Remember that? Remember that video that was online where the lady was fake sign language the whole time?

[Lacey Mosley]

Yes.

[John Elliott]

I love her not saying a goddamn thing. Everybody's watching.

[Lacey Mosley]

I'm throwing up gang signs just like. No, she just said Southside Crips. No, that's not sign language. No, she just did a body roll, y'.

[John Elliott]

All.

[Lacey Mosley]

I don't think that was a part of the debriefing.

[John Elliott]

Like this.

[Lacey Mosley]

No, guys, she's dancing. She just hit the wall. That's not what the police commissioner said. What is she doing? She's doing the nae nae. Guys, that's not American Sign language. We know that.

[John Elliott]

She doing a TikTok dance, right? What's she doing? What is she.

[Lacey Mosley]

I'm a savage. Classy, bougie ratchet. Guys. No, we're talking about the Fire down. Down at the. We're talking about the fire down at the. In the neighborhood.

[John Elliott]

And she's over here dancing.

[Lacey Mosley]

Yeah, that was Mark. He was like, I showed up enough that they were like, I don't know this guy. City commissioner. He's here a lot. So technically, Fred was still on parole, but through Mark, he could do some genuine good helping the disenfranchised. Wow. However, Fred's new life as a do gooder eventually crumbled when he couldn't stop getting up to his old tricks. Of course.

[John Elliott]

Of course.

[Lacey Mosley]

He was never trying to do no good.

[John Elliott]

Old tricks die hard.

[Lacey Mosley]

They do. He was forced to leave Lancaster in shame. He held a press conference announcing that President Reagan had appointed him to a position at the White House.

[John Elliott]

What?

[Lacey Mosley]

Yes.

[John Elliott]

This man has no bounds.

[Lacey Mosley]

No bounds.

[John Elliott]

Does whatever he wants.

[Lacey Mosley]

He said no. I met Reagan on the acting set. I met his wife Nancy, too. Got that, Nancy? And then, yeah, no, I'm going to the White House. Yeah, they got a whole wing for me.

[John Elliott]

I am the appointed secretary of the President of things.

[Lacey Mosley]

I'm the secretary of things. So when things begin, I'm the secretary.

[John Elliott]

Of fun and games Shenanigans.

[Lacey Mosley]

Secretary of shenanigans in the cabinet. And that's what I do. So this was categorically untrue and easily disproved. So he was just on there saying anything. So Fred then landed in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This time he became Mark Gomez.

[John Elliott]

Did he know Walter White for the Poor?

[Lacey Mosley]

Right. Then he started cooking myths. No, not yet. We'll see. But Mark Gomez, why does he keep choosing these, like, Latino last names?

[John Elliott]

Can you pull this picture up again? He looks nothing like Latino.

[Lacey Mosley]

Why would anybody believe it? Wasn't giving a sparsa either? No, I mean, he is a little olive skinned, you know, hey, there are a lot of white Latinos. I'm not, you know, it's working. So he's an advocate for the poor. Now, what I don't like about this is that he's working in spaces where there are underprivileged people or people who need assistance and help. And so he's kind of skulking by because nobody's paying that much attention to the needs of poor people. So they're definitely not paying attention to if the person has a real name or if they're a real person or.

[John Elliott]

If he's actually working and doing the job.

[Lacey Mosley]

Right.

[John Elliott]

They don't care. Cause they don't care. We'll just throw anybody in that position and see what happens.

[Lacey Mosley]

Right. And then we'll announce that publicly. Like, look, y', all, we got a commissioner of poor things. He gonna help y'. All.

[John Elliott]

And he's from them, their community.

[Lacey Mosley]

Right. Don't even worry about what he do, but he here to do things for y'.

[John Elliott]

All.

[Lacey Mosley]

Like what? So Mark did such a good job that Bernalio county board commissioners in Albuquerque Received numerous letters commending his work. So they say he was doing a good job.

[John Elliott]

Wow.

[Lacey Mosley]

From buying a family of.

[John Elliott]

Was they commending his work, or was he writing his own letters back to the commission and letting that he was taking care of everybody?

[Lacey Mosley]

He sits at home every night after work, and he's like, hello, me. I am a poor from Albuquerque central. And I just wanna say that Mark. What's my last name right now? Gomez is a good dude. Give him more money. He's really helping the poors. Me, a poor.

[John Elliott]

Have you ever did that?

[Lacey Mosley]

Sincerely, a poor.

[John Elliott]

Have you ever called casting on behalf of yourself as somebody else?

[Lacey Mosley]

No, I have not. And now I wish I had. Hey, have y' all seen Lacey Moses, though? She's really killing in that role. Y' all should really hit her up.

[John Elliott]

You guys should really call. I've done that before. I'm like, hey, how's it going? My name is Rayvon. Hey, I'm calling on behalf of Jilee. And he's trying to do this. Blah, blah, blah. I'm like, all right, cool. Let's just send it all through. All right, cool. Yeah, yeah.

[Lacey Mosley]

They said y' all wanted to see him. Oh, we haven't heard that. No. Yeah, they said y' all had said.

[John Elliott]

So he's coming in a little bit. He's very excited. He's been preparing all day.

[Lacey Mosley]

Very sexy and very talented. And so y' all should really, like, when y' all see him, just hop on it before he. Everybody's calling. Hey, I'm not mad at it. That's a good scam. You know what I mean? So people were writing letters. People. We don't know these people exactly.

[John Elliott]

I don't think these people were writing. I think he was writing his own letters.

[Lacey Mosley]

So from buying a family a car so their father could get to work to paying rent for a family in need. So they were like, he done bought us a car. He paying that rent, you know, getting that light bill.

[John Elliott]

What he did was he wrote a check from the government to himself, and then he wrote a letter to the government saying that he helped the family in need. And he was that family in need.

[Lacey Mosley]

He was the family in need.

[John Elliott]

Wow.

[Lacey Mosley]

He Was like, wow. Oh, my goodness.

[John Elliott]

I love that. That man is a mastermind.

[Lacey Mosley]

I mean, he was in need of coins. Who's to say who's not in need?

[John Elliott]

That's true.

[Lacey Mosley]

You know. So Fred's life as Mark Gomez, local hero, Wasn't discovered to be a lie until nearly 10 years later. He kept his grip going for 10 years when a reporter informed the Bernalio county board of commissioners that it was all an act. Now, this reporter is a hater. Okay, look, that reporter was looking for.

[John Elliott]

A story and she found it. She did.

[Lacey Mosley]

And did. And they did. He did. We don't know.

[John Elliott]

We don't know whoever they were, But.

[Lacey Mosley]

I love this for them. However, while Fred was busy posing as a saint to the public, he continued to collect grand theft charges through the 90s. So he said, mark is a public servant. Fred is a public menace.

[John Elliott]

This man was Dr. Jackson and Mr. Hyde.

[Lacey Mosley]

For several months. He also lived with an order of norbitine priests in Albuquerque, Likely to escape theft charges. So he was also living in the priesthood.

[John Elliott]

Wow.

[Lacey Mosley]

And look, we got a photo. Look at them giving priests.

[John Elliott]

Are you kidding me?

[Lacey Mosley]

Look at those fits.

[John Elliott]

Hold on. Where's he at? Is he in the middle?

[Lacey Mosley]

Yeah. Let me. Where is his ass at? Okay, he's not. He's not in this photo. But this is a photo of, like, priest. Look, this is what he was giving. He was wearing the priest drip. He was wearing that whole holy, holy couture that's crazy. Called toli couture. And I love that for him.

[John Elliott]

Big hustle.

[Lacey Mosley]

Big hustle. Ain't nobody coming and doing a raid at the church house.

[John Elliott]

We're not checking for nobody.

[Lacey Mosley]

In between mass. Everybody's standing up and sitting down and he's busting. The feds are busted through. No.

[John Elliott]

You know how crazy that would be if someone literally just busted through the front door of the church in search of him? Like, they raided the whole spot. That'd be insane.

[Lacey Mosley]

We're getting our communion wafers and then all of us sipping on the same.

[John Elliott]

Wine, A biopic of this guy. And figured it out. That's crazy.

[Lacey Mosley]

He's so talented.

[John Elliott]

So he told them he is the talented Mr. Ripley. He is.

[Lacey Mosley]

He told them that he was almost finished with seminary training and was interested in joining the religious order. But after trying to call said seminary, the norbitines discovered it didn't exist and his records were falsified. Fred asked to leave immediately. So they were like, hey, we called the seminary and it's actually a target. Like they said, this Is. Oh, okay. Well, you know what? I actually have to go right now. Let me get my shit. No, he's running away.

[John Elliott]

Wow.

[Lacey Mosley]

You just hear his car screaming and out of the parking lot.

[John Elliott]

That's crazy.

[Lacey Mosley]

So Fred eventually left New Mexico, and after a small $600 embezzlement stint in Los Angeles. Just a little bit. Just a little embezzlement.

[John Elliott]

Lock this man. He doesn't learn his lesson, Put this nigga under the jail. What the hell?

[Lacey Mosley]

Why are y' all letting him handle anybody's money?

[John Elliott]

Oh, my God.

[Lacey Mosley]

He's like, I volunteer to be treasurer. Who? Who? Treasurer in the treasury.

[John Elliott]

What's crazy thing is you could possibly. You could really get away with all this stuff because there was no technology back then, right? So you can literally do whatever you.

[Lacey Mosley]

And this is like the 90s. Like, ain't that when they had them computers from Ghosts with the green letters and shit? You could just be stealing anything at this time.

[John Elliott]

Oh, my God. They ain't had no ASL. No aim.

[Lacey Mosley]

I don't think 600 qualifies as embezzlement. That's a big word for 600. Like, you just stole $600. Embezzlement, you gotta be at least in the thousands. So he resurfaced in 2002 at the immaculate Conception Parish in Yuma, Arizona, as Father Frederico B. Gomez D. De Esparza de Latino Federico. Oh, no.

[John Elliott]

Okay, it looks like a video. Is that the mouse on it? Oh, no, it's the mouse.

[Lacey Mosley]

Is he holding a baby? Okay, so he's holding the chalice of communion wine. And he was like, y' all come up here and get lit for the Lord. Y' all sip on this blood. Okay, if only was the blood. He was like, oh, wrong. Wrong religion, wrong subsect. Okay, but so he was out here giving the girls, getting them lit for Jesus. So, Father Federico, this is at a wedding that we're looking at. He presided over baptisms. He was dunking the babies in the water. Confessions going straight to hell. Babies ain't getting saved at all.

[John Elliott]

They getting saved at all.

[Lacey Mosley]

They said, frederica, we just saw you put Evian in there. We thought this was holy water. No, no, no, it is. I got to just bless it. Evon is still holy water. Hold on. He was on confessions weddings. So what if you got married by a non ordained priest?

[John Elliott]

You're literally not really married. So that's a way out.

[Lacey Mosley]

That's a way out. If you. If Frederico married y', all, y' all get out of there and don't give your money up. And by all accounts, did a fantastic, fantastic job. Everyone was pleased. They're like, he's ducking. The baby's the best.

[John Elliott]

He did his homework. He did his homework right.

[Lacey Mosley]

The confessions are confessioning. They're like, word. Really? You cheated on your wife? Yeah.

[John Elliott]

Four Hail Marys. You're good to go.

[Lacey Mosley]

Now get out of here, King. Yeah, just four Hail Marys. But I killed someone. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just go on.

[John Elliott]

It's okay. You are forgiven.

[Lacey Mosley]

You good. God just told me right now. He texted me and said, you good?

[John Elliott]

So.

[Lacey Mosley]

Love it. About a month into his day, Father Federico visited Mexico, and upon his return, was flagged for an outstanding grand theft warrant involving the $600 embezzlement. Wow.

[John Elliott]

Grand theft, $600.

[Lacey Mosley]

Grand theft. $600.

[John Elliott]

That ain't shit.

[Lacey Mosley]

That's a really petty person who was like, no, we want a felony. We want to. Can we get him on America's Most Wanted? No, America's Most Wanted has standards, and $600 is not it. No, no, listen, hear me out.

[John Elliott]

Oh, my God. $600.

[Lacey Mosley]

So somehow he was able to talk his way out of an arrest by convincing officials they were actually wow some more. Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde. He was like, no, that's not me. Look at me. I got this collar on. I got a baby back here that I'm finna baptize in 20 minutes. Y' all holding me up.

[John Elliott]

Yo. This dude is outta control.

[Lacey Mosley]

He's diabolical.

[John Elliott]

He must be stopped. How's the story end?

[Lacey Mosley]

Like, listen, we'll get there. But I. But I. We know enough about him that obviously he got booked several times.

[John Elliott]

Oh, yeah, for sure.

[Lacey Mosley]

Like, he knew everybody when he came into the jailhouse. He's like, oh, what's up, Sandra? How your kids doing?

[John Elliott]

Oh, you back again? I'm doing all right, man. I'll be out here in about two weeks.

[Lacey Mosley]

Just a. And bezel. Bezel or whatever, you know, it ain't nothing. It ain't no thang. I'll probably get a fine. They having pizza Tuesday tonight. No, like, he's, like, very much.

[John Elliott]

He's the criminal that gets locked up only during the winter so he can stay in, get the tickets, right?

[Lacey Mosley]

He was like, he be high in the winter. That's when I go to jail. Okay. You know? Cause I got to put that fireman's on. So. He knew that they would soon catch up to him, so he quickly left in the middle of the night to go to Phoenix, where he lived as a Traveling priest at two parishes. And the way they shuffle priests around, you know, that's an easy job to preside over all priestly duties. Until U.S. marshals finally caught up to him and arrested him. He mid mask putting wafers in people's mouth. And they like, hands up. Put the wafers down.

[John Elliott]

I can just see them busting through the door as he's about to feed someone a wafer, give them the wine.

[Lacey Mosley]

The father. And they're like, father.

[John Elliott]

Holy Father.

[Lacey Mosley]

Put your hands up. Touch the sky. Dance, bitch. No. Oh, no. So Father Federico was sentenced to 16 months in state prison on embezzlement charges, devastating a number of couples whom he had recently married. Wow. So they saw that their priest was going to the clink. How embarrassing. He in all the photos?

[John Elliott]

Yeah, he's such a good person. And they were probably character witnesses for him too, right?

[Lacey Mosley]

They're like, he married us real good. He was very fatherly. Felt like my father also. I just think 16 months in state prison for embezzling $600 is bullshit because it costs so much to house prison.

[John Elliott]

He should have been in jail a long time ago.

[Lacey Mosley]

So it's okay to house him than the 600 that he embezzled. That's true.

[John Elliott]

That's true. But the thing is, though, it's not even about the 600. It's about the series of crimes he's did before that he got away with. Literally, that's what it's about for me.

[Lacey Mosley]

It's about the 600. So in the years following his release, Fred scammed.

[John Elliott]

Let's not feel bad for Fred. I mean, let's not feel bad for Fred. Fred has been scamming the system for decades, okay?

[Lacey Mosley]

But Fred was out here hitting them babies with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

[John Elliott]

I get it, all right?

[Lacey Mosley]

You know, he got a family of car. Maybe potentially, he got them a car.

[John Elliott]

Or did he get himself a new wig? I thought he got that grand theft charge next, right?

[Lacey Mosley]

So Fred. In the years following his release, Fred scammed his way into positions as executive director at the National Kidney foundation of Southern California.

[John Elliott]

How is it still working? This makes no sense. Like, how is nobody stopping you or figuring this out? Your mugshot should be everywhere. Literally everywhere.

[Lacey Mosley]

They're not as competitive, probably. He was a youth director, a director for a youth center, deputy director at the Western Law center for Disability Rights, and a fundraiser for both the Red Cross and uc.

[John Elliott]

Background check. I'm telling you right now, for a nigga to get a job as a janitor somewhere, they're literally gonna do background check of the background check. This man was a priest, got locked up. He was a counselor, got locked up. He was a city official, got locked up. How is this man still getting jobs?

[Lacey Mosley]

Cuz they not checking him. They're like, I don't know. He raises money for the Red Cross.

[John Elliott]

It's called white privilege.

[Lacey Mosley]

Literally. And I think it's that bald. When you see a man with a bald head like that, you're not thinking, been in a jail that much.

[John Elliott]

That's true.

[Lacey Mosley]

You know what I mean? Especially if you look at him bringing the photo. We keep bringing this photo back up, but it's not giving prison.

[John Elliott]

No, it's not. It's given, distinguished. It's given. I've done. I have educated young minds.

[Lacey Mosley]

Why would I do crime with this much bald? You know, he's like, crime is for men with hair. Okay, I'm bald. I help the community. So though he was fired or left most of these positions for unknown reasons, we know why people probably started being like. Fred continued to be recognized for his good work. He raised over a million for Hurricane Katrina victims with his team in Pasadena. Mm.

[John Elliott]

Oh my God.

[Lacey Mosley]

That was back when Kanye was saying, George Bush don't care about black people. But Fred did.

[John Elliott]

Fred did, I guess, right?

[Lacey Mosley]

I don't know.

[John Elliott]

Fred literally took a cut off the top. He took 10% off the top.

[Lacey Mosley]

He was like, one for you, one for me, black people, two for you, five for me. But they got a little bit of it, I guess. He was recognized for his ability to draw donations from Hollywood celebrities and for important research at ucla. So he still was hopping hobbing.

[John Elliott]

He's still working those resources, still working those contacts.

[Lacey Mosley]

Fred said in quotes, every job I've had, whether I got illegally or illegally, I busted my buns for those jobs. He said, look, I may have not been qualified and perhaps I was a 10 time convicted thief, but I was really helping the girls when I got the job.

[John Elliott]

That's wild.

[Lacey Mosley]

I mean, that sounds good to me. So in 2005, the LA Times published a detailed profile on Fred's exploits on the front page after a waning job performance prompted an Internet search. He was fired a month later from his most recent position at the Red Cross. Red Cross be having their own.

[John Elliott]

The Red Cross is a scam itself. They stole all this money from Haiti during the, during the earthquake.

[Lacey Mosley]

I'm like, we always say donate local. If there's a natural disaster, like the Red Cross will immediately start tweeting like, hey, girls, hey, what's up? What's going on? It's the Red Cross. No, no, no. We don't need no blood. We don't need no blood. Cash, though. Cash is really gonna get the blood where we need it to go. So can y' all give that to us right now?

[John Elliott]

Yeah.

[Lacey Mosley]

Look at the cross. It's red. Y' all know we helping.

[John Elliott]

Yeah, the Red Cross.

[Lacey Mosley]

Wait, who got the tragedy? Florida. Florida. That's where the money gonna go.

[John Elliott]

Exactly. Right, right. Oh, you know, Ukraine's in trouble right now. Let's go send some water.

[Lacey Mosley]

We sending it over there.

[John Elliott]

Oh, Haiti. They don't have no water right now. Let's go send this over to them, like, Puerto Rico.

[Lacey Mosley]

Y' all didn't see Trump throwing them paper towels? We bought the paper towels for him to throw at people. That was us. Okay.

[John Elliott]

Red Cross. The quicker picker upper.

[Lacey Mosley]

That was us. The Red Cross had purchased all of that. Okay, listen, we all know in 2006, he was hired as of the New Mexico Performing Arts Academy in Las Cruces under a fake name and was fired shortly after when his real identity was discovered.

[John Elliott]

Ugh.

[Lacey Mosley]

He still really well in New Mexico and Arizona. Like, if y' all want to have a fake identity, these must be the places to go, because the girls aren't checking. They're like, look, we don't have lawns. We don't water our grass.

[John Elliott]

We're not checking for nobody.

[Lacey Mosley]

We're not checking for nothing.

[John Elliott]

We're like, whatever you want. We take you as you are.

[Lacey Mosley]

Right? Come as you are, New Mexico. That's the branding.

[John Elliott]

That's the slogo. Come as you.

[Lacey Mosley]

Come as you are. Okay? Or who you're not. Come as you aren't. We will also expect. We will respect that as well. Come as you aren't. We won't check. So during the following years, Fred appeared on several primetime shows, such as Dateline and the Dr. Phil show, where he was confronted by a couple that he married. Dr. Phil's like, we ain't gonna stop lying about being a priest. He's like, we got a family here who said that you married them and they won't talk to you. Me a therapist? I'm not a spirit scammer that Oprah gave a platform to. Without Dr. Phil, we wouldn't have Bhad bhabie. You know, God bless contributions to the world. Dr. Phil yelling at people. I'll never forget when he was yelling at people who were addicted to crack, talking about, stop smoking crack.

[John Elliott]

All right, awesome. Great. You know what? I'm kicking the habit.

[Lacey Mosley]

I'm finished. Why was I smoking crack in the first place? Dr. Phil, you are right. Let me put this here. You want the pipe? Let me just go ahead and leave that here.

[John Elliott]

I did bring some with, but you know what? Since you said something, I'm gonna just put it away.

[Lacey Mosley]

You know, no one's ever said it to me like that before. Stop smoking crack. Wow. I'm illuminated.

[John Elliott]

Like what?

[Lacey Mosley]

This man is a hack. So this is a scammers and scammers working together. So a couple came on. He also created a blog and for a brief time, a company offering services. And we have a little video. He has services to educate clients about con men and how to spot them. Now, I don't know. This seems like it's coming from an informed place. He was like, let me warn y' all about me.

[John Elliott]

You know what? No. You know what it reminds me of? Remember the Leonardo DiCaprio movie catch maybe? Yeah, that's what it reminds me of right now.

[Lacey Mosley]

It does. Let's see a little bit of this PSA that he's got warning people about himself.

[John Elliott]

All over the world, people are being hired to some of the highest positions at some of America's well known corporations. Do you know who you're hiring? That's the question that you should really be asking yourself when you actually give the keys to this one individual that you have hired to become the CEO. CEO or president of your corporation. Hi, this is Fred Brito, and I'm coming to you from the Fred Brito Company in Las Cruces, New Mexico. And I want to share with you today the importance of hiring the right person to key positions within your organization. Now, far too many times when we hire somebody, we're looking at their cover letter and we're looking at their resume and we're looking at their references and.

[Lacey Mosley]

We'Re looking at all this information that's wrong.

[John Elliott]

What references did you have, sir?

[Lacey Mosley]

Himself. He was like, hold on. Y' all calling my references right now?

[John Elliott]

Let me step outside for that key position within their organization. Now, you also have a background check, and this information tells you about the character of the person that you're attempting or possibly potentially going to hire for this company who did your background check. I can tell you that based on all of the experience that I have had with crime, the experience I've had with crime, hold in your hand. Is probably 40% accurate.

[Lacey Mosley]

Okay, let's pause. He said, based on my experience in crime. Yalls background checks are not backgrounding and checking like you thought that they were, okay, that's me, a criminal.

[John Elliott]

And let me tell you firsthand, I have gotten jobs at the state, official, the president. President even sent me this letter, right?

[Lacey Mosley]

I worked at the Red Cross. It's only got, like, almost 3,000 views. I feel like more people should be watching this. He's giving y' all the gospel.

[John Elliott]

Wow.

[Lacey Mosley]

He was like, let me tell y'. All. Me, a former and current criminal, how. How to hire people so that you don't run into the same pitfalls that everyone who hired me did.

[John Elliott]

Just hire me, and I'll tell you how to spot them.

[Lacey Mosley]

Yes. Now, don't do a background check on me, okay? Cause that's not gonna be okay.

[John Elliott]

I hire me, and I'll figure it out for you.

[Lacey Mosley]

I love this for him. And as of 2020, Fred manages an IHOP and continues to do good deeds.

[John Elliott]

2020, he's still out here.

[Lacey Mosley]

He's at the International House of Pancakes. Now, he might be an international criminal, but he also selling them international hot. I love this. From helping local nonprofits through IHOP to providing free breakfast to shelter youth.

[John Elliott]

Oh, my God, look, he's doing a.

[Lacey Mosley]

Little bad and a little good. He's like, it's all balancing out. Okay. I give out a free grand slam to the youth. And, you know, I also embezzle all the pancake money.

[John Elliott]

Literally, just stealing all the money.

[Lacey Mosley]

And so recent research, and I love that he's a manager, too. Like, he got to the manager position even though he's be doing crime. Crime. Recent research of reporters has shown that there is no evidence that Fred has committed a crime since 2002. There's no evidence. Wow. He's not gotten caught. He got better. I appreciate the growth.

[John Elliott]

Yeah, I could appreciate that.

[Lacey Mosley]

He was like, I'm doing crime smarter, not hurting.

[John Elliott]

I was getting caught up. My lives wasn't working. It wasn't sticking. So you know what it is? I'mma just do some homework, study the game. I could fully rob this company without them knowing.

[Lacey Mosley]

I love that he rose to his potential. You know what I mean? He was like, a lot of trial and error of doing crime. He was like, yeah. When I ended up in jail, I consulted with some other people, like, how can I do crime better and harder and harder to detect? And then also, he's warning people about people like himself. I see him as a community outreach leader. He's saving y'. All. Fred, Fred. I mean, you worked in a lot of places where the most vulnerable people in America are. You were running scams. So I Don't approve of that. However, your dedication to the art of fraud, it commendable.

[John Elliott]

You know, I'll give you that. I'll give him that. Like he has been in this game for a very long time.

[Lacey Mosley]

Lifetime achievement award.

[John Elliott]

Been holding it down at the scammers ball. He will be there.

[Lacey Mosley]

He got more mugshots than America's Next Top Model. You know what I mean? Tyra was like, I'm holding this mugshot. One of you lucky few. And he's one of them. I mean, he did it, you know? Fred, Mark Gomez. La Jolla, Frederico Frederic.

[John Elliott]

Father Federico.

[Lacey Mosley]

Tahin Johnson. We stan a king.

[John Elliott]

Okay, Tahin Johnson.

[Lacey Mosley]

And that brings us to the saddest part of the show where soon I'll have to let Jean go. But before we do that, scammer of the week. This is where we highlight a charlatan who's worthy of our praise. Or maybe not. We'll see. Let's get into it. So John Oliver recently tipped his hat to Kim Kardashian for her role in helping solve an art flow fraud scheme. Kim. Kim's had a lot of careers.

[John Elliott]

Wait, what?

[Lacey Mosley]

In 2018, Kim attended the Met gala dressed in head to toe gold Versace. Okay, dressed in gold, Kim took a photo with the Egyptian priest. His name is Ned Jamanc. Sarcophagus. Now your last name gonna be Sarcophagus.

[John Elliott]

Which I already know that's a lie.

[Lacey Mosley]

Like famous scarf.

[John Elliott]

Really?

[Lacey Mosley]

Lacy Mosley. Prince of Egypt. Johnson. This is too Egyptian. So the photo went viral on social media, leading to thousands seeing the sarcophagus for the first time. Oh, so she was posing with the actual tomb. Oh, I remember that chainmail dress. So she was like, yeah, Louis Post next to. I hope it wasn't nobody dead inside of there.

[John Elliott]

That would be crazy.

[Lacey Mosley]

Don't prop my coffin up in a glass case. Put me back in the ground. I don't know when we decided the moratorium was for like digging people up, because I know I can't dig up your grandma from last year when she passed. I can't dig up. Like, that's too soon.

[John Elliott]

Let these people's bodies rest, Right?

[Lacey Mosley]

When does it become archaeology? Or when is it grave robbing? I think white people decide. They're like, no, no, no, no. This is for science.

[John Elliott]

I'm like, this is for the betterment of humanity. Is it?

[Lacey Mosley]

Is it? I think we leave them in the ground. I don't know if we dig them. Dig them up. Y' all like leave them alone. So didn't Y' all learn from the mummy that's dead.

[John Elliott]

You know what? That's real.

[Lacey Mosley]

But they like, we got a little brush, though, so it's not as really as much of a robbery.

[John Elliott]

And we're doing it when you guys are paying attention to watching it, so it's not really robbery. And then we're gonna sell this to a museum and make money off, right?

[Lacey Mosley]

And then people are gonna pay to see it. Shout out to the British Museum, which is just a bunch of shit that British people never fucking own. And we're like, come look at all this shit that we stole from other people. Y' all come in here and look at it.

[John Elliott]

Exactly, okay?

[Lacey Mosley]

For science. Like, bitch the fuck.

[John Elliott]

So this is history, right?

[Lacey Mosley]

Right? Sure, sure.

[John Elliott]

No, actually, it is history. The history of you robbing people, right?

[Lacey Mosley]

And it's like, let's put it all fully on display. And I just don't understand why I can't discover shit. Why can't I go in the British Museum and be like, I discovered this and take it out the glass and walk home with it? Why you get to do that? What is the timestamp of, like, now you own this?

[John Elliott]

Here's what you need to do. You need to hit up Father Federico and he'll hook you up and show you how to get it done.

[Lacey Mosley]

Listen, he's got a masterclass. Y' all get off. Father Federico's office, onlyfans. He's dropping a live in tips every single week. Y' all get into it, okay? An anonymous informant then tipped off international authorities to say that the casket had been looted and that the museum had been tricked into buying it for $4 million. Of course the museum was tricked into.

[John Elliott]

Right, right, sure. I hear Oceans 14, right?

[Lacey Mosley]

Also, what is looted? Colonization is just looting. So when. What year does it become looting? They're like, yeah, we decided in 1955 that it's all looting now. But before that, it was just right. I discovered this diamond in an African child's hand.

[John Elliott]

Did you know that in Haiti, like, off the coast, the government, I think the US Government, don't quote me. There's something. Something going on with the government. If you find gold off the coast of Haiti, you have to report it, and you can't keep it.

[Lacey Mosley]

You can't own stuff that I found.

[John Elliott]

If you find it off the coast of Haiti, you can't keep it.

[Lacey Mosley]

This is so ghetto. This is so extremely ghetto. I'm not reporting that. If y' all find gold off the coast of Haiti, pick that shit up and put it in your pants and then shout to the sky, Toussaint. And, like, keep it moving. Okay, no, we're not. We're not doing this crazy.

[John Elliott]

So if you Haitian, you find your own gold, you have to report it back to the government, and they'll take.

[Lacey Mosley]

It from you, right? For what?

[John Elliott]

Why?

[Lacey Mosley]

That's just like, how the government's like, if you get a gift over $100, you have to file it on your taxes and pay taxes on it. Sweetie, that's never happening unless you miss.

[John Elliott]

Me with all that bullshit.

[Lacey Mosley]

Pay taxes on all the gifts that I get. You know what? I ain't never got a gift in my life. Let's go there.

[John Elliott]

No one loves me.

[Lacey Mosley]

No one loves me. I ain't never got no gifts from nobody, okay? I give the government what they're oz. I love them. They need my money.

[John Elliott]

That's the biggest scam is, too taxes.

[Lacey Mosley]

Oh, they just be making shit up. They literally be hitting me up, talking about, hey, girl, you owe this extra money. How? They were like, oh, we realized you had money when you paid your taxes. So we was like, let's get a little bit more. So I'm like, give me a receipt. Prove it. No, Y' all ain't got no receipts, Ghetto. So it turns out that the sarcophagus, which dates back to the first century of BCE had been looted during the 2011 revolution in Egypt. And the Met had purchased it based on a forged documentation in 1971. Egyptian export. So I kind of fucked with this. Cause it seems like Egypt was like, can you give us our shit back? Like, yeah, bring our guy home. No, that's our nigga. Like, we need. We would like him back home at his house.

[John Elliott]

I fucks with that.

[Lacey Mosley]

We throwing him back in the pyramid where y' all stole him from. Yeah, I'm into it.

[John Elliott]

And I'm with it all the way.

[Lacey Mosley]

Shout out to Kim K being like, ooh, my Instagram gonna go up with this dead man. Look at me next to this dead man. We matching twinsies.

[John Elliott]

She was like, yeah, I'm gonna fucking kill it with this, right?

[Lacey Mosley]

I'm about to eat. Life's about to be on fleek. Yes. So upon the. Upon the discovery, authorities seized the coffin and has since been returned back to its proper home in Egypt. Wow. I mean, I kind of fucked with this. Kim got her social media selfie on. She got millions. Like, over 100 million followers.

[John Elliott]

And, yeah, and she got the people back. What they.

[Lacey Mosley]

She's Robin Hood, right? I love how somebody put out an Amber Alert. And Kim K. Is like, here I am with Amber.

[John Elliott]

Ew.

[Lacey Mosley]

Say cheese, Amber. Ew. And they're like, yeah, we're gonna need Amber back. Like, no, we're gonna. We're taking her back.

[John Elliott]

Thank you for finding her. Thank you.

[Lacey Mosley]

Thank you for finding. She was like, look at me. An activist, an accidental activist. Love this for her. Love this for everyone involved. Also, I love when people take their shit back. That's my favorite thing. Like, please take your shit back from the colonizers.

[John Elliott]

It's called repo, Right?

[Lacey Mosley]

We're gonna need our things, and we're gonna need them today. I want people to do that to the British Museum. It's time that everybody pull up. I want the queen's diamonds that she stole from South Africa. Put them back. Pluck em right out of that ugly ass hat and put them the fuck back. Okay. They're not theirs. And they look to like when the queen, you know, hit her dirt nap, you know, there were a lot of royalists who were like, listen, like, the. The British monarchy. We were the first to, like, abolish slavery. And it was like, no, no, no, you weren't. That was in Haiti. And that. No, you weren't. Like, so how you gonna be like, hey, we created something and then we stopped doing it. So we saved y'. All. Technically.

[John Elliott]

Exactly. Technically, it's your fault we're in this mess. And while we're dealing with everything, like.

[Lacey Mosley]

How you gonna kidnap me and bring me home? Talking about some. No, you also.

[John Elliott]

You also took me.

[Lacey Mosley]

Yeah, you also took me. What are you talking about?

[John Elliott]

And you put me to work.

[Lacey Mosley]

Nah, don't worry about all that. Don't worry about all that.

[John Elliott]

Forget about it. Forget about it. Why are you living in the past? Why you living in the past?

[Lacey Mosley]

Y' all need to move on. Even though there's so much that still exists in our society and in our government that continues to keep our store.

[John Elliott]

We stole you. We brought you back. Be okay.

[Lacey Mosley]

We keep you poor through every social program we have. Rich politicians steal directly from you and give a democratic.

[John Elliott]

Don't give you any money that you were supposed to give you. That's fine. Okay.

[Lacey Mosley]

And what about y'? All? So annoying. Why y' all bringing up. Oh, shit.

[John Elliott]

You guys are so entitled. Like, what the.

[Lacey Mosley]

I'm the real victim. Cause everybody mad at me because. Because I stole y'. All. And then think about my psyche. I wake up every day stressed about the shit that I did. Think about that. Come on now.

[John Elliott]

Oh, Lord.

[Lacey Mosley]

Oh, goodness. Well, that brings us to the end of an amazing episode. John, thank you so much for being here. We always ask on this podcast, where would you like to be filmed?

[John Elliott]

Ooh, do you want to plug socials on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook? Jean Elly. Same name, different app. You can find me there.

[Lacey Mosley]

The brand is strong. And the Send Help series, the whole thing is out right now, right?

[John Elliott]

Yes, the whole thing is out. You can binge watch every episode, all seven episodes of Send Help on All Black, which you can find on Apple tv, Roku, Amazon prime, and also on your smartphone and on your smart tv. Just look for the All Black app.

[Lacey Mosley]

So get into it. Get into All Black. And as always, guys, if you want to see the photos of this man who. He has the. He doesn't have the face of a criminal. And I'll give it. He's. He's serving good Samaritan face, and I love that for him. If you want to see those Scam Got His Pod on all platforms, but obviously the Instagram. And then if you want to follow me and my shenanigans. D I V A L A C I D Valacy on all platforms. Congregation, keep priesting. Amen. You know, who's to say you can't be qualified to be a priest? Just. You get an outfit.

[John Elliott]

You get an outfit.

[Lacey Mosley]

You read the.

[John Elliott]

Read the Bible.

[Lacey Mosley]

Yeah. And then you sit and then start dunking babies and marrying couples. Oh, man, I wish he would have got arrested during a wedding. Like, he's like, oh, that would have.

[John Elliott]

Been a great, like, communion, right?

[Lacey Mosley]

It's like doing the vows and they're like, oh, yeah, hold on. Somebody knocking at the church door. No, I'll get it. No, you don't have to get it. You the priest. No, I'll get it.

[John Elliott]

It'd be out the back.

[Lacey Mosley]

No, he ran away. He's gone. Well, yeah, we got to the end of the ceremony. We basically got nuptialized. It's all right. Y' all have a great week. Bye bye. Scam Goddess. This has been an Earwolf production in association with Team Coco. Scam Goddess stars and is hosted by me, Lacey Moseley, AKA Scam Goddess. It's produced by Judith Cargbo, engineered by Ryan Connor and Abby Aguilar. Our researcher is Kaelyn Brandt. Stay scheming. My friend's periods are all.

[John Elliott]

All over the place.

[Lacey Mosley]

Her doctor says it's normal, but she's having trouble getting pregnant and her period app isn't helping. So I told her to get pregnant in 2026. You need Mira.

[John Elliott]

They call it the baby making machine.

[Lacey Mosley]

Because you can conceive 10 times faster.

[John Elliott]

I got her one and Mira found her ovulation in 16 minutes. Tracking four hormones like a lab unwrap fertility clarity.

[Lacey Mosley]

Now get 17% off [e-mail].

[John Elliott]

The 2026 Chevy Equinox is more than an SUV. It's your Sunday tailgate and your parking lot snack bar, your lucky jersey, your chairs and your big cooler fit perfectly in your even bigger cargo space. And when it's go time, your 11.3-inch diagonal touchscreen's got the playbook, the playlist, and the tech to stay a step ahead. It's more than an suv. It's your Equinox Chevrolet. Together, let's drive.