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- [00:00]
A
Scams C, robbery and frauds. Scams C, robbery and fraud. Scam goddess. What's poppin Congregation? If you haven't already heard, we have the amazing Sasheer Samada on the show today.
- [00:27]
B
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [00:28]
A
Shazeer, I'm so happy to finally have you. I feel like you came right when I was about to start recording with Nicole once in the studio and we were talking to you through the glass.
- [00:38]
B
Yes. It was like, I mean, I guess pre social distancing. I was like, oh, look at them having fun over there.
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A
You came and distanced with us without us knowing.
- [00:47]
B
I did, yes.
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A
Now I was telling you before we started recording that I was just looking at you, girl.
- [00:55]
B
Yes.
- [00:56]
A
I saw your movie on Hulu. The Weeknd. That's what it's called, right?
- [00:59]
B
Oh, thank you for watching. Yes, the weekend. The weekend.
- [01:01]
A
Oh my God. So nice to see. First of all, you're beautiful. You're so funny and you're just a chocolately chocolaty drop like myself. And to see a rom com in a fun movie like that with just all negroes just, you know, no one got shot by the police. You know,
- [01:19]
B
it's nice, it's refreshing to be like, oh, we just, we all survived. And like the only drama was just like internal.
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A
Like this is nice. We weren't. Because I feel like there's so much trauma. I call it trauma porn. And look, some of it's necessary, like 13th and the Central Park Five. But at times, especially these dark ass times, child, it was so nice to just have a black getaway.
- [01:42]
B
Like, yeah, yeah. And we're outside the whole, like most of it. It's just like black people in nature. Everyone's gorgeous, everyone's really funny. It was so fun to shoot too. Like we're in Malibu for a few weeks and it was having a great time. I fully, fully loved it. And Stella Megy is the writer, director, Black Woman. That was the first time I've ever had that. That was amazing. It just felt good all around and I'm glad it's out on Hulu. It's on Amazon so people can watch it.
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A
Guys, if you need a break from the drama, like, please, please watch the Weeknd. It's so good. Also, I love Kim Whitley. I worked with her on Florida Girls and she's such a delight.
- [02:22]
B
Oh my God, she was cutting up the whole time, like on screen, off. Just like had us in tears the whole time. She was amazing.
- [02:29]
A
She's full blown comedian. And you know what was wonderful about her too Is. I'm sure shooting in Malibu was pretty n. We were shooting in Savannah, Georgia. The gnats were attacking us. We were falling into the ocean. Like, this was not a light shoot. Like, there were definitely times that I thought I was gonna die. I was like, is we gonna die today? And Kim would be so, like, upbeat and happy about everything. Like, if she, like, missed a line or something, she'd be like, now, don't call Jack a Harry. Don't call Jack a Harry to replace me.
- [03:00]
B
That is very funny.
- [03:01]
A
I love that. So wait, she's here. Do you have any relationship with scams? Have you ever been scammed? Have you ran a scam?
- [03:09]
B
I feel like in my early 20s, I got scammed a lot just because my face is so, like, trusting. Like, I feel like people look at me and be like, that's. That's an easy target. Like, I just have the word green tattooed on my forehead. You look like.
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A
I will say that I look like a nice person.
- [03:29]
B
Thank you very much. I feel like. I feel like my. I don't know how to describe it.
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A
It's just a look.
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B
Like, I do feel like now I do look nice, but, like, I have more of a. Like, I've lived right. Like, in my eyes. But at the time, I was just like, I'm excited to be here. Like, everyone's like, oh, she's new. Like, I remember I was walking down the street in New York in Manhattan, and I passed by a psychic place, and this woman was sitting in the windowsill looking out, a psychic. And she saw me, pointed at me, and was like, you ushered me in, waving me in. And I was like, oh, she needs my help. So I skipped in there.
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A
She chose it.
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B
Yeah, she needs me. And she sat me down, talked to me for a long time. She's like, I have something very important to tell you. It's important that you, of all people, get this information.
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A
And.
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B
And I'll tell you if you pay me $25. And I was like, oh, my God. People in New York are so helpful. Like, people keep saying the opposite. And yet here she is. All you gotta do is pay $25.
- [04:39]
A
Right? She got you off the street, and she said, sis, I have tea. That's just for you. Life or death.
- [04:43]
B
Yes. No one else was doing that.
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A
Enter your credit card info.
- [04:48]
B
Mm.
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A
And I will save your life. But technically, that's how the hospital works too. So did you pay?
- [04:54]
B
I didn't. I wised up. I did talk to her way too long, but then I was like, I Have to go. I don't think this is right.
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A
Well, that's what they do. That's a person.
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B
That is what they do.
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A
That's a great scam, because that's a person who is counting on your empathy and building the sense of a relationship, which is probably why she talked to you so long. So she could disarm you, and then you could be like, well, I don't want to waste her time. Like, I guess I should pay her $25 to see if I live tomorrow.
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B
Absolutely. Yeah. I got got.
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A
I got two choices. I could wake up and see or.
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B
Or just pay $25 now and.
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A
No, truly, that's okay. I could see that. But you don't seem to me like a Marc Shazir, so I would say that.
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B
Thank you.
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A
I appreciate. And also, you didn't get played. You talked to her and then.
- [05:46]
B
Yeah, I did. I did say no, but there was other times where, like, people would just ask me for money on a train. Like, they pass a whole car of people and be like, well, she doesn't know any better. And I didn't. And, like, I remember one time I gave a guy some money because he had a whole story about, like, need to take the train somewhere to find his sister, you know, like, something. And I can't remember how much money I gave him, but I was like, this will help him go have a full day. Get back on the subway, he's still there asking for money. And I was like, I thought I just gave him the money he needed to get the ticket to go see his sister. And you wanted to update.
- [06:24]
A
You were like, how was your sister?
- [06:27]
B
Did you see her now? Where are you going? Is it a different sibling? What's going on? Yeah, I just felt like, thankfully, nothing seriously bad happened. No one scammed me out of a lot of money or anything, but actually, this also didn't happen, but it was creepy. So I was hard up on money and I went on Craigslist to, like, find gigs. And there was. And I've been told I have nice feet.
- [06:54]
A
Oh, yes, there was. You was gonna become a foothold. Listen, I ain't mad at it. If you gotta get out here and put them toes on the corner, you gotta do what you gotta do.
- [07:06]
B
Look, it takes a while for a comedy to start paying you, so I had to find something to supplement the years. So I was like, let's see what my feet can do. And some guy was like, I run a website where I make videos with feet. Your face and body doesn't have to be in it, but, you know, people will watch it for your feet. And he. And so I emailed him and then he responded. He's like, here's an example of the videos. And it was him like, Ted, or you know, like some dude just like a very portly man kind of rolling them around and wrestling with women's feet and like putting them on his face. And I was like, is this like, are people actually watching this or is it just for Ted? Like, no, I'm uploading it's.
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A
Watching this being like, I'm uploading it for sure. No, I'm definitely uploading it.
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B
Who's watching this being like, I can't wait to see the next adventure Ted's going on with these feet. Like, he was mostly. It was mostly him in the video. And the feet were. Happened to be there, but I was like, I don't think that's right.
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A
I don't think that's what people want.
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B
So I just didn't respond.
- [08:15]
A
I feel like the foot fetish industry is so straightforward. So the fact that he was like, I'm gonna be the star. Your feet are gonna be like the co star. Like, I'm gonna put you in some open toe socks and play with them for an hour. He was just trying to get people to let him play with they feet.
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B
I think that's what that was.
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A
Yeah, yeah. And you don't need a foot pimp when you're doing footwork because you could just do that at home. Exactly.
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B
I could be an entrepreneur. I could just put my feet in the camera, have a live feed or whatever, and then people pay. Yeah, I think I know that now. I didn't know that then.
- [08:47]
A
Right. What year was that? Because technology was probably.
- [08:50]
B
Yeah, that was like probably 2009.
- [08:53]
A
I feel like that's when people started just getting what, like, Internet famous. Right. Like, MySpace was over, but. And then people were starting to move to YouTube. But it wasn't like, yeah, that was
- [09:02]
B
like the boom of the YouTube people, right? Yeah.
- [09:05]
A
Right. I wish I had got in on that. I could have just been on the Internet, I don't know, scratching my ass and I'd be a millionaire by now.
- [09:11]
B
Yeah. Although it seems like all people who are super famous in the beginning with YouTube are getting called out for all the crazy shit they've been doing for the last 10 years and being like, oh, I guess that was racist. When I dressed up like a Muslim woman and ran through the street, you know, like.
- [09:26]
A
Like they're just like Shane Dawson, who was Doing blackface and not even funny blackface. Like, if you're gonna do blackface, can you at least be Robert Downey Jr. In Tropic Thunder? We never canceled him. It was hilarious.
- [09:38]
B
And he was aware, like, that was part of the joke. But, yeah, there's people who were not well equipped with the information on why that would or would not be funny and ran amok.
- [09:51]
A
Yeah, he got attacked by Will Smith's family, too. Cause of that poster where he was pretending to jack off to Baby Willow. Ooh. You don't fuck with the Smiths now. And they'll never let him go to the table. He ain't getting close to that bitch.
- [10:06]
B
You are not invited to the Shane's.
- [10:08]
A
Like, please let me come to the table, Jada. I'll clean the table. I'll do whatever y' all need me to do. Yeah. I can't believe they thought that shit was a good idea. Like, if you go to the Queen collection and you're like, yeah, this is it. And you're alabaster, like, something. Come on now.
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B
Yeah, yeah. You're already wrong. If you're purchasing stuff that doesn't match your skin. Like, you're just. You should just know, right?
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A
Step one, if you are in deep brown and deep tan of the Bobby Brown section, it's probably. You probably have to do something wrong.
- [10:39]
B
There was. Did you watch American Meme? It was on Netflix. It's like, talking about, like, the. The Viners and the, like, people getting famous off of the Internet. I think the fat Jewish was in there. And Paris Hilton. And there was one girl who was, like, big on vine, and she was talking about her downfall. I mean, she's still very famous, but she was like, yeah, all these other people got more famous. And she's like, people called me racist. And it's like, I just didn't get it because, like, they don't have a sense of humor. And then they cut to a video where she's like.
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A
She was.
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B
She, like, drew, like, a what? Like a unibrow, like, made her skin dark. And it was like. Like, just turned around.
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A
I guess she was trying to be
- [11:21]
B
a New York cabbie. I don't know. But it was just like. She was like. Just had a horrible Arab accent. And I was like, oh, girl, of course everyone thought you were racist.
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A
She.
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B
This is not like, people are being too sensitive. It's like, okay, but look at your content.
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A
She said, people are being too sensitive. They cut to her in the Klan robe.
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B
Yeah. I don't get it.
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A
This Is comedy How to tie a noose 101 like, Girl, what are you doing? Yes.
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B
It's too soft.
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A
Well, let's get into our first segment. After a good, healthy dose of fun racisms, we keeps it light. So this is what's hot. And fraud. So, Shazeer, I'm gonna tell you, our listeners, they write in, they snitch on their friends, on their family, on themselves. As always, guys, scamgoddesspodmail.com snitch on everyone you know, but, you know, leave out the details and make sure it's a retired con unless you want to share with the community. So this one seems like, okay, what does he want me to call him? Give me a name. Shazir.
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B
Jeremy.
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A
Jeremy. Okay, so Jeremy wrote in, and he says, oh, wait, does he want to be named James Child? You gotta put that up top. I'm calling you Jeremy. So Jeremy says, one year, I went to work at Yellowstone National Park. The company that provides hospitality there is called Zanterra. Everyone that's with an X, that sounds like a birth control pill. And when I started Zanterra.
- [12:52]
B
Hmm, all my problems went away.
- [12:55]
A
Right. So they also provide hospitality for other national parks across the country. I left a week before I was scheduled to start working and called Mount Rushmore to get a free room. As I was passing through, they provided a free employee room for a couple of days. If you want to stay for free at a national park, sign up to work at a different park. Call for a room that's on the way, bring the employee contract, and when you're done, call the employer and tell him you ain't gonna say sorry. Something came up and I can't work here this season. Hope to work with you in the future. Good luck and God bless. Thank you, Jeremy.
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B
Wow. That's good.
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A
That's good.
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B
I like that.
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A
And I mean, national parks are government funded.
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B
Yeah, they're fine.
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A
You know. You know, we antsy government over here. Like, the parks will be fine.
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B
The trees will stay, take advantage. Yes.
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A
The eagles.
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B
I like that a lot.
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A
They'll be flying. I know. I do, too, because it's something I would have never thought of. Cause I guess.
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B
I guess I didn't even really know you could stay at a national park.
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A
Neither did I.
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B
Like that there are rooms to stay in.
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A
Jeremy's definitely white.
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B
They have intel that we don't get. They're like, the outdoors are mine. I can just go anywhere.
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A
Right? We're too busy worried about racism, like, trying not to get pulled over. They're like, where can I stay in the mountains? I have so much time. Not worried about racism. So that's the real scam right there. I need to get my free time back. Worried about racism, but yeah, So I guess you can just.
- [14:27]
B
Do.
- [14:27]
A
I want to know if this works. If anybody tries this, let me know. But I didn't know that you volunteered to work at a park for a season.
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B
Yeah, I didn't either.
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A
That feels.
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B
I mean, that sounds cool, too. If you're, like, not working, you get to just be in a park if you don't need. Because I can't imagine it takes much.
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A
Right?
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B
It probably. It's probably not a lot of money, but, like, what do you do? Like, clean up trash. Like, that's. And then you get to, like, hang out in the park.
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A
Right? I guess you give tours and shit.
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B
Probably. Yeah.
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A
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. I guess. Because. Wait, did he say that it was volunteer or did he say. Okay, So I think it does pay because he says employee.
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B
Yeah.
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A
So, okay. That could be a nice Eat, Pray, love moment, guys.
- [15:13]
B
Yeah. You have a whole winter where you're not doing anything right. Discover yourself in a national park.
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A
When I finally evolve into being a white woman, which will happen. That's my ultimate scam, is I. I will be regarded as a white woman one day. If anything mildly inconvenient happens to me, I may just run off to a park for a while.
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B
Yeah, I think it's a great idea.
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A
I think I deserve it.
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B
It's also, like. And there's like. It's not high traffic. You can just, like, get away but still be in America. It's. It's interesting how many beautiful parks we have. I feel dumb saying this, but it's like, we have so many beautiful parks in America. But, like, I don't know. I guess it's just easy to stay in your little bubble and be like, this is my city. This is my town. And then I've, like, passed through Utah and been like, oh, my God, this
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A
is Utah is a bad bitch. Okay.
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B
Yes. This is beautiful. And it's just been here the whole time.
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A
That's actually. You know what? Now that you say that, I'm very culpable of that because, like, I will travel, but it's mostly because my friends want to travel. So I'm like, okay, pick the place. Tell me where to bring my body to. And then whenever I go, I'm like, oh, damn, it's mountains and trees.
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B
Yeah.
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A
Oh, wow.
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B
Yeah. Yeah. I feel like whenever I pick a vacation, I'M inclined to pick the beach. Like we're going to an island somewhere. But there's also just Great Lakes and, you know, greenery here that I've just been missing. And it was also cheaper to go to because it's in America.
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A
Right. This is very embarrassing. I lived in California and in la in probably the same area for like four years. I just started hiking at Griffith park like three weeks ago. It was my first time going there. I'd gone to the observatory, but I didn't know that the park was so cute. I was just going to run for a cute moment for a photo op. I didn't know Griffith was so beautiful.
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B
Now I haven't done it either. I've been here for two years. But I just don't like being hot. I just don't want to be in the sun Fair.
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A
Fair. I go around five and Griffith has more trees in the beginning and stuff. Runyon's just straight up hot sun and.
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B
Yeah, I don't want that.
- [17:24]
A
Yeah. And celebrities. That's why people are going. They're going for the sun and the photos. That's the great thing about wearing a mask, though. And then nobody will know you're famous. They won't know your Shazirs. I made it from snl, so go to those parks.
- [17:39]
B
Yeah. You can be like a vigilante.
- [17:42]
A
Oh, well, no, you just start doing crime. That's way you took it a step further. I was just saying so people wouldn't bother you.
- [17:51]
B
No, I will now take it. Take the streets. They are mine.
- [17:56]
A
I got robbed by a woman who definitely was in this movie I saw. She's definitely in the weekend.
- [18:03]
B
I could see her face, but the silhouette looks similar. Her hair looks similar.
- [18:07]
A
Her voice was the same. She actually said, go stream the Weeknd on Hulu and Amazon. And then she took my wallet.
- [18:14]
B
She's just like, check out sasheer.com. and I was like, I think this is related.
- [18:19]
A
No, I just really love her. And also, I'm robbing you. All right, guys, we're gonna take a quick break for some non scam advertisements. We'll be right back. Scams, huh? Alrighty. And we are back. And now it's time for Historic Hoodwinks. I went over Gail Sasheer with a historic hoodwink. And we're just gonna get her thoughts and her opinions throughout. Today's scam comes from a man named Garrison Courtney, which. What a name. He was a fake CIA operative and he scammed people out of 4.1 or, excuse me, $4.4 million. A lot of money. So how he did it was before he worked at the dea. He served as a spokesman for the Republican Congresswoman Katherine Harris. Shocker. People in the Republican Party being scammers. What? I'm baffled. Actually, all politicians.
- [19:15]
B
It's been happening for the end of time. This is very true. Doesn't matter what.
- [19:19]
A
Oh, God.
- [19:20]
B
What side you're on.
- [19:21]
A
So Courtney was a spokesman, and that's Garrison, and last name is Courtney. So we'll just call him Courtney from here on.
- [19:26]
B
Garrison.
- [19:27]
A
And then I called him Garrison. Child. It's a long day. Courtney was a spokesman for the DEA from 2005 to 2009. And the scam began three years later. He presented himself as another person identified as Individual A, a CIA operative. And so I guess he would just show up and be like, hey, I'm Individual A. Hmm.
- [19:48]
B
Feel like you shouldn't tell people you're a CIA operative?
- [19:51]
A
Like, no, no, no, it's cool. Cause I didn't tell you my name.
- [19:54]
B
Yeah, I just said Individual A. And they're like, okay, I still see your face.
- [19:59]
A
Right, right. This isn't during mask wearing Times. This is 2005. So he's fully got his face out here.
- [20:07]
B
Interesting.
- [20:08]
A
He actually applied to be a CIA operative in 2005 and received a conditional offer, but the offer eventually lapsed. So I guess he had the offer, and then in 2006, it expired. Why don't you just get the job?
- [20:21]
B
Oh, no. Yeah, he's not gonna be a good spy if he's letting. He's procrastinating on signing up. They're like, please come. And he's like, I got. I'm busy. Like, what are you doing? Isn't that. Sounds like that's your job, Your dream job, right?
- [20:35]
A
Welcome to the CIA. And he said, let me get back to y'. All. I got something.
- [20:39]
B
It's not jury duty, so.
- [20:42]
A
Well, maybe it's that he realized that he could probably be more successful if he just pretended to be in the CIA. Which seems to be accurate.
- [20:49]
B
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.
- [20:51]
A
So he duped multiple public officials, including senior military members, by telling them that they had been selected to participate in a classified CIA program and needed the companies to place them on their payrolls to hide their affiliation with the spy agency. So he would come up to you and be like, what's up, Sergeant? Yeah, yeah, it's me, Individual A. I'm gonna need you to put me on your payroll.
- [21:18]
B
Cause I would hope that the military officials would do more research before they were like, yeah, that makes sense. Like you can figure that out, right?
- [21:27]
A
But the government's so wasteful with spending. Especially if you're talking about the military sector. We always got money for guns. America's so trash.
- [21:33]
B
Absolutely.
- [21:34]
A
It's like, absolutely. America's like your homegirl who you gave $300. Cause she said she was in a bind. And then the next time you see her, she got some Gucci slides. And you like, where. Where did you get those? Where's my.
- [21:45]
B
And then she asked for more money.
- [21:46]
A
Right? And it's like, we have money for slides. We don't have money for you to give you. Right. That's America.
- [21:54]
B
Yeah.
- [21:54]
A
That bitch. I can't stand it. So you would just say you are now going to be a spy? Like the spy who shagged me? You don't know what I'm referring to, do you? Anyways, put me. Oh, wait.
- [22:05]
B
Is that the Austin Powers thing?
- [22:07]
A
No, that's Individual A's secret spy friend. That's you.
- [22:11]
B
Oh, yes, yes, yes.
- [22:12]
A
You got it.
- [22:13]
B
I see.
- [22:13]
A
Put me on the payroll. This makes sense. So, prosecutors said that Courtney approached businesses and claimed that they. So called. He was like a task force, right? He was working on something that was created by officials at the highest levels of the federal government. His task force included the President of the United States, the Attorney General. So he said the Director of National Defense was involved in this, the Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence, and the Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration. Okay. So everybody. He was like anybody who's powerful. Olivia Pope, B6. 13. Huck Viola Davis, Anneliese Keating. Some of these people aren't real.
- [23:01]
B
Yeah.
- [23:03]
A
So this is what he did with the power. The story behind the non existent program changed from time to time. So sometimes he would be like, yes, Annelise Keating works for us. Other days he would be like, no, it's just George Bush. Sometimes he told victims that the program supported a covert special operation in Africa. Other times, he explained that its mission was to enhance intelligence gathering capabilities in response to a former contractor leaking. Okay, I'm tired reading this. So Courtney lied about his background and went so far as to make them sign fake non disclosure agreements, barring them from discussing what he claimed was classified information. So basically, he scammed you, but be like, sign this indiegogo so you can't tell nobody else that I scammed you.
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B
Right, right, right.
- [23:50]
A
Or. It's very smart. It's very smart. Honestly, wish I had thought of it. Can I still do it? I would love to.
- [23:57]
B
Anyone can make an NDA Right.
- [24:00]
A
All I need is printer paper. Yeah. So he created phony documents to show companies that they had been awarded with contracts with various federal agencies in exchange for their assistance. Because of his former ties with the government and knowledge of the system, he was granted access to meet with the victims and facilities known as SCIFs. And an SCIF is a sensitive compartmented information facility in an enclosed area within a building that's used to process sensitive compartment. Okay, so basically, he still, for some reason, his key card, worked at, like, the bunker.
- [24:34]
B
Yeah. He was getting sensitive information.
- [24:38]
A
Yes. So he had access to this place that was, like, a secret hideaway that was used by the government legitimately, and so he was just bringing his homegirls there.
- [24:51]
B
Why would they hang it up? Like, you'll never guess. This is cute little bunker. I can show you. No one else has access to it.
- [25:00]
A
That would make me feel legit. If he took me to, like, a cute little b Cert. Like, a little B1613 bunker, like, I was in scandal, that would make me sign over. I'd be like, okay, where's the NDA? Why not? And put you on the payroll. Absolutely. Yeah.
- [25:13]
B
You seem real.
- [25:15]
A
This is legit. So Courtney told some victims they were under surveillance by foreign intelligence agencies and would search them for electronic devices. And when his credibility was called into question because they were like, why are you searching me with. He's probably got, like, one of those beach metal detectors. He's like, why is your metal detector.
- [25:33]
B
This is his iPhone. I don't think that's doing anything.
- [25:37]
A
No, no, it is. I got to ask. Oh, that's excellent. I hope it was just his iPhone. And people were like, sir, this feels wrong. So then if. If they would accuse him of being shady, he would accuse that person of being a spy for foreign powers. So basically, he would just.
- [26:00]
B
How did that work? He's like, I'm not. I'm not lying.
- [26:04]
A
Yeah, you're a spy.
- [26:05]
B
It's like. But you've been surveilling this person so, quote, unquote, Right. For a long time. You should know if they're a spy or not.
- [26:14]
A
I feel like this is, like, the worst gaslighting. Like, how are you just gonna be like, sir, this feels uncomfortable? And you're like, you uncomfortable. And also, you a spy. I know you are. I'm telling the government. I'm telling the Black man from 24 all about you. Sir, he wasn't ever really the president.
- [26:32]
B
Yeah.
- [26:34]
A
Like, how are you?
- [26:34]
B
All your references are just from TV shows, you know? Who our real president is, right? And he's like, yeah, Morgan Freeman, right?
- [26:43]
A
The man from all state commercials. Oh, he's also the man from 24. Okay, I take it back.
- [26:50]
B
That's what I meant.
- [26:51]
A
So Courtney also arranged for his adult son to be hired by two of the victim companies, even though he was unqualified. So in addition to getting himself on the payroll companies, he was like, also, my son is a spy.
- [27:05]
B
I don't like that he got his son involved.
- [27:07]
A
You don't like the nepotism?
- [27:09]
B
I mean, nepotism happens all the time, but I just feel bad. I mean, maybe this son's a scammer too, but I just feel. It feels like unwittingly setting your son up to be to get in some serious trouble later down the line.
- [27:21]
A
That's true, I guess. But what if his son didn't know? You know, nepotism happens all the time. So what if he was just like, son, you got a job now you have a job.
- [27:29]
B
Maybe. Hopefully. I just don't want him to be, like, complicit to a serious crime.
- [27:34]
A
Yeah, that's true. You're right. There could be a bad side to this. I hope the son didn't know, but this guy seems, like, a little shady, so. And also, I'm guessing if I was the son and my dad was like, hey, son, got your job as a defense contractor. And you're like, I majored in poetry.
- [27:49]
B
Something seems off. No, no, no. I didn't earn this,
- [27:53]
A
but I don't know. Entitlement, white entitlement. You might think you did.
- [27:57]
B
That's true.
- [27:58]
A
So, hey, what you gon do? So a side scam? This is just a side scam that he was running while doing other scams. While the CIA scam was going on, Courtney managed to get a job as a contractor with a branch of the National Institute of Health that assists other federal agencies. In that role, he had access to sensitive non public information and was able to steer contracts towards companies where he was on the payroll.
- [28:21]
B
Oh, my gosh.
- [28:24]
A
So first of all, you're a workaholic, Courtney. This is.
- [28:27]
B
This is a lot. This is a lot.
- [28:30]
A
You got 50 little jobs. Uncle Sam is definitely gonna catch on to you. You can't have as many W2s.
- [28:35]
B
This is like the same energy when someone has, like, multiple families where you just, like, you're trying to, like, hide everyone from everyone else, and you're like, I gotta take a weekend trip. And it's like, what? Why? And then this family only has you for three Days.
- [28:50]
A
But they live on the same street.
- [28:53]
B
Yes. Everyone has. All the kids have the same name. Like that's too much to keep track of.
- [28:59]
A
It is. That is fun. That's a smart way, though. You just name all your illegitimate kids the same names as your other kids. Can't mess that up.
- [29:06]
B
The boy is Brian. Brian.
- [29:09]
A
Brian.
- [29:09]
B
The girl is Gina.
- [29:12]
A
The girl is Other Brian. Everybody's name is Brian. I don't have enough bandwidth for anything else.
- [29:19]
B
Yeah, just Brian, please. Brian 1, 2, 3.
- [29:22]
A
You're like, daddle. There's only two of us here. Oh, I said Brian three. Oh, I was thinking about getting us a dog.
- [29:31]
B
Yeah.
- [29:32]
A
Surprise. Oh, my gosh. So he had this side scan where he worked at a legitimate business. Sir. So obviously this goes to trial. The scheme lasted from 2012 until at least 2016. Garrison Courtney pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud during a hearing in federal court in Virginia. He faces up to 20 years in prison, and his sentencing is in October. So this is still going on. We don't know how long he's going to be in the clink. And he must pay full restitution to the 12 unidentified companies as a part of his plea deal. Now, I love how the companies were like, don't put my name in there.
- [30:09]
B
Yeah, that. Because it's embarrassing.
- [30:11]
A
They're coming to trial in masks, and it's not for social distancing. They're coming in ski masks.
- [30:17]
B
I don't want you to know that I fell for this.
- [30:20]
A
They have to be companies that we know.
- [30:23]
B
Oh, absolutely.
- [30:24]
A
I want somebody to find out.
- [30:26]
B
Yeah, I'm sure there's a way. I'm sure when they go through the trial, they have to make it public because they'll have to testify.
- [30:35]
A
You're right. And then maybe if there's a jury, it's gonna come out. We're gonna know who these companies are. Guys, I'll keep my ear to the ground on this because everything always comes out like I remember. Remember when at the Oscars, they switched moonlight and La La Land? Yeah, I know who did that.
- [30:53]
B
You know, like the guy.
- [30:54]
A
I know the guy. He. I used to. I can't say too much because I don't want you guys to figure out who this is, but I used to perform with him. And one day, one of my other friends whispered to me. He was like, you know, that's his dad, right? And I was like, oh, that makes so much sense. And now I fully believe that it was an accident and that it really wasn't an intentional thing to like, try to give La La Land the award or to steal anything from moonlight. Because knowing this guy's son and like how he is, I was like, oh, this is. Was a man who was just genuinely excited and made a mistake.
- [31:26]
B
Oh, God. Yeah. But I mean, that's a, that was a huge mistake, a very, very public mistake.
- [31:35]
A
And they, that's why he tried to keep hidden. They were like, it's, it brought shame on our family. They're like living Pepperdine. Like,
- [31:44]
B
oh, God damn.
- [31:46]
A
I can't say anything else. But yeah. So I think this will come to light. I think that we'll figure this out. Yeah, I'm excited. Yeah. So the U.S. attorney's office says that they won't comment on whether individual A could face charges or if the person who was cooperating. Oh, okay. So basically he's saying, like the U.S. attorney's office right now is saying if you were cooperating with Courtney, we're not sure if we're going to press charges on you yet because maybe you really did think you was in scandal.
- [32:13]
B
Yeah.
- [32:14]
A
And maybe you really did think that this was legit. So I hope that the marks don't get charged.
- [32:20]
B
Yeah. They were taken advantage of.
- [32:23]
A
But also, like, did y' all ever talk to anybody about this deep cover operation? Your wife, drinking buddies, military friends?
- [32:33]
B
They only signed the NDA. They couldn't.
- [32:36]
A
Nobody honors those. You just tell somebody. Don't tell nobody what I told you.
- [32:41]
B
Right.
- [32:41]
A
We all have one friend we'll break an NDA for.
- [32:44]
B
Oh, absolutely, yes. I tell Nicole everything I was about
- [32:48]
A
to say is yours. Nicole?
- [32:50]
B
Yes.
- [32:52]
A
She's pretty. She's pretty tight lipped. So that's a, that's a good NDA person to have. Well, I'm sure in your relationship. I mean, I'm talking specifically about this. No. Any other capacity. We all love to gossip. Oh, yes, absolutely, yes. Okay, guys, well, we'll be right back for the sad. The end of the show after these non scam advertisements, robbery and fraud. All right, this is the saddest part because this is when I have to let Shassir go and I don't want to do that. But this has been so fun. You've been so lovely.
- [33:28]
B
Yeah, this has been very fun.
- [33:29]
A
I turned into my fake NPR voice. This has been so fun. You've been so lovely.
- [33:33]
B
Thank you for joining us.
- [33:34]
A
And yes, having Ms. Zemeda here has been a treat. So before we let you go, we want to honor one famous charlatan. Some are famous, some are not. But this is our scammer of the week session where we just honor one person, a grifter that we feel like is worthy of our praise. And this week, this is a scammer who pretended to be someone's grandmother. So they trolled right back. We've talked about granny scams on here. We talked about granny side. Granny side is where you kill your granny, but so that you can pretend that your granny did to get out of things.
- [34:11]
B
Oh my gosh. Oh, not actually kill.
- [34:14]
A
No, you don't actually kill.
- [34:15]
B
Just say. You just say, oh, I can't come because my. I see.
- [34:18]
A
Yes. And they're like, but your granny died last year. This is my other granny. This is my step.
- [34:22]
B
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I have five grannies.
- [34:23]
A
So my grandpa. So this is where you pretend to be someone's grandma, which is interesting. So when a Reddit user got scammed a scam text from someone claiming to be their own grandmother, they decided to turn the tables by playing along while wasting the scammers time. So I'm just gonna read a little bit of the comments. So this says a guy from Nigeria pretended to be my grandma, so I had some fun.
- [34:58]
B
He started always Nigeria because that is
- [35:01]
A
the Silicon Valley of scams and Omo Niger all day, every day. I love you guys are innovators. I hope everyone there is wearing a black turtleneck just looking like Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs of robbery. Okay, look, in this world, there are the makers and the takers, okay?
- [35:20]
B
Yeah, yeah, they are the innovators.
- [35:24]
A
So this guy starts texting this guy and he's like, answer me, I miss you. And then the scammer's like, I miss you too. I'm still feeling sick because basically the grandma texted and was like, hey, is your grandma feeling sick? Like, can you send some money? Cause Granny is sick. So then the scammer texts back, you had me worried, crying, Granny, I was so sad. And the scammer's like, I need your help now. And then he's like, need me to come over? And he's like, no, help me by going to the store now and getting the $200 Steam Wallet gift card. I really need it. I'm using it to surprise someone special to me. Then the troller goes, that's so specific, right? Also, weren't you just sick, Granny? Now you're going to surprise parties?
- [36:11]
B
Yeah. Why are you worried about your friend? You're sick, right, Granny?
- [36:15]
A
You stretching yourself too thin. So the troller goes, oh, who is it? And then Granny goes, I will not tell you that yet. Just help Me get the card first. And then the troller goes, oh, is it for Grandpa? Do you need me to help you to drive to the store to get it?
- [36:32]
B
That's funny.
- [36:33]
A
That's so funny.
- [36:35]
B
Guys, why don't you send me a picture of your face? And, you know, let's just FaceTime right now so you can fully explain what you need right from. From the store.
- [36:46]
A
And also, that is. That is hilarious. Also, that reminds me of one more scammer of the week I want to shout out, which is Gen Z, who I spent, like, a week ago, a lot of time fighting with on Twitter because I was making fun of them because they were making fun of us. Gen Z has so many tiktoks that are like, millennials ruined everything. Millennials are the reason that everything we watch on TV is from the 90s.
- [37:11]
B
Well, everyone thinks that the generation before them ruined something, and then also the generation under them is ruining stuff.
- [37:19]
A
I feel like no one thinks Generation X ruined anything. We're just kind of like, I don't know, why were you guys so sad? But the boomers were like, you have.
- [37:28]
B
Everyone blames the boomers.
- [37:29]
A
Gen X are like, we not thinking about y', all, girl. Y' all sad as hell. And then millennials, they're like, why are y' all so happy? Y' all don't own anything. And they're like, cause we gave up. We gave up on it.
- [37:39]
B
We did.
- [37:40]
A
You know how many avocado toasts I can get for the price of a house?
- [37:45]
B
But Gen Z seems like they really don't give a fuck. They're like, we will scream in a cop's face. Like, I love just seeing all those memes that are like, I will ruin a Trump rally. I will scream in a cop's face. But I have anxiety calling the doctor.
- [38:01]
A
I appreciate their dedication to anarchy, for sure, but I would say I love it. They have so many videos about us that are like, you know, like, they have 12 roommates and they can't get a job and all this shit. I was like, damn, y'. All. I thought we was friends.
- [38:15]
B
Yeah.
- [38:16]
A
I was like, it's crazy to me how Gen Z is trying to come for millennials economic prosperity when they're about to pay $100,000 for Zoom University, Right?
- [38:25]
B
Like, it's not going to get better, y'.
- [38:28]
A
All.
- [38:28]
B
You're not going to have a better time.
- [38:30]
A
It's going to get worse. But I said that, and then it was like, have you ever seen that meme of the grown woman squared up against like the three year old. Yes, that was me on the Internet, just fighting children.
- [38:42]
B
That's very funny.
- [38:44]
A
But I did it mostly for my sister. She's Gen Z and she loves to talk shit about me. But anyway, the point of this is Gen Z has been dressing up like grandmothers and putting on masks and going to the store to try to buy alcohol.
- [38:57]
B
That's really funny. That's really, really funny.
- [39:00]
A
So I just would like to say the grandma scams, I love all of them. They're so good.
- [39:03]
B
They're like stacked on top of each other in a big trench coat.
- [39:08]
A
That's what I hope is happening. Absolutely.
- [39:11]
B
Yes.
- [39:11]
A
Well, this was so fun.
- [39:13]
B
Yes, Very fun. Thank you for having me.
- [39:16]
A
Thank you for being here. Is there. Where can people. Where do you want to be found? That's what we ask on the show. Where do you want to be found? Anything you want people to see?
- [39:23]
B
You mentioned it before, but check out the Weeknd. I'm very proud of that. I have a show called Woke that's gonna be on Hulu in September that I'm very excited about.
- [39:32]
A
Yes.
- [39:32]
B
With Lahorn. Yeah, he's been on the show.
- [39:35]
A
I love him.
- [39:36]
B
Oh, great. Oh, nice. Yeah, it's a good crew of people and I think it's gonna be really funny and timely. What else? I have a movie called Spree coming out in August that I'm excited about. It's like a thriller. Yes. Kind of.
- [39:49]
A
Okay.
- [39:50]
B
Thriller, thriller, comedy thing. Yeah. Branching out a little bit. Best friends podcast. Nicole Byer and I hosted a podcast on Earwolf about friendship. And we answer friends questions and. Yeah. Yes.
- [40:07]
A
And guys, you can always find this podcast@scamgodesspodmail.com if you want to email, snitch on your friends and family. Scamgodesspod on all platforms. Guys, I know I haven't put shit on the Instagram. I'm locked out of it. I've been fighting with Instagram about that. They're scamming me. We'll see when I ever am free. Y' all start tweeting Free Lacey at Instagram. And then if you wanna see my nonsense, D I, B A L A C I Diva Lacey on all platforms. All right, congregation, stay stunned. Scam Goddess. This has been an Earwolf production in association with Team Coco Scammed by the Stars and is hosted by me, Lacey Moseley, AKA Scam Goddess. Our producer is Judith Kargbo and our audio engineer is Rich Garcia. Research for the show is done by Kaelyn. Stay scheming.