The Marijuana Manipulator w/ James Mastraieni (Fraud Friday)

Summary

Scam Goddess – "The Marijuana Manipulator" w/ James Mastraieni (Fraud Friday)

Original Airdate: June 19, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode of Scam Goddess, hosted by the ever-hilarious Laci Mosley, is a "Fraud Friday" classic featuring comedian and host James Mastraieni. Together, they explore scams both personal and historic, centering on tales of weed-related fraud, teenage capers, online swindling, and the wild world of Instagram drug deals. The episode packs signature wit with educational fraud-prevention tips and laugh-out-loud moments—ideal for fans who want the funny side of crime with a side of scam wisdom.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Personal Scam Confessions: James' Teenage Scam

[02:34 – 16:12]

• Setup & Context:
  Laci and James reminisce, joking about their longtime friendship and James’ claims of not being “a scam type of person.” Despite his claim, James confesses to a notable scam from his teenage years involving his disabled mother’s van and wheelchair.

• The Scam Story:

  • At 17, James and friends, unable to buy alcohol, concocted a plan:
    • He sneaks his mother's electric wheelchair (while she's asleep), complete with a blanket over his lap for "sympathy points."
    • Attempts to pass as disabled at a local liquor store—high and determined, he doubles down with fake infirmity when asked for ID.
  • Swindle Fails:
    The liquor store owner recognizes him ("I've seen your van"), and calls out the scam, telling him to leave or he'll call the police.
    • Highpoint: James gets stuck trying to exit the store in the wheelchair, making a cringeworthy and hilarious retreat.

• Reflection:

  • Laci points out the boldness of his plan but criticizes the lack of proper scam logistics (“You needed a consultant, James!” [15:39]).
  • James notes his embarrassment and relief his mother never discovered his use of her wheelchair.
  • Both agree: never try your scams at your usual spot!

Notable Quotes

• "It helped make her feel...needed, I guess. But...I turned it into this big smoking van.” – James [05:15]
• "That is an extreme amount of confidence." – Laci [08:33]
• "I know who you are—I’ve seen your van...Get the fuck out of my store." – Liquor store owner (via James) [12:12]
• "Why would you go to your local, James?" – Laci [14:06]

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2. What's Hot in Fraud: Romance Scams

[19:39 – 31:17]

• Segment Purpose:
  Laci shares current trends in fraud to help listeners avoid becoming victims, focusing on the surging romance fraud epidemic.

• Romance Fraud Stats & Tactics:

  • In 2018, Americans lost $143 million to romance scams (FTC statistics).
  • Scammers often pose as deployed military men on dating apps, playing on sympathy and patriotism.
  • Common methods include requests for money for emergencies, using fake pictures and backstories.

• Advice to Listeners:

  • Never send money or gifts to someone you haven’t met in person.
  • Check suspect’s photos via reverse image search.
  • Discuss new online relationships with friends/family for an outside perspective.

• Illustrative Vignettes:

  • Laci and James perform a satirical dialogue about classic scam excuses (“He said he ain’t got no FaceTime out here in Baghdad...”) [23:11].
  • Laci jokes about how the classic “sick aunt” excuse is a go-to scammer trope in both academia and fraud:
    “I've been killing off the same aunt for so many years..." [27:01]

• James' Near-Scam Experience:

  • James describes a Tinder match that felt “too enthusiastic” and started talking about financial troubles before even meeting—classic scam warning signs.
  • Ultimately, he deleted Tinder.

Notable Quotes

• "If you suspect a romance scam, cut off contact right away. Then report the scam to FTC..." – Laci [24:18]
• "A sick aunt is not going to get me to give you money." – James [25:41]
• "Dick is trash." – Laci [27:49], on why women “scamming” men for money is seen differently

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3. Historic Hoodwinks: Instagram Weed Scams & Creative Marijuana Manipulation

[34:51 – 56:51]

• Featured Scam:
  Laci explains a contemporary Instagram scam in which a con artist impersonates cannabis influencer Nyajio Bielam, using a fake profile to collect payments for non-existent weed shipments. Real case: victims wired thousands, only to receive nothing.

• Mechanics of the Scam:

  • Imposter creates "official"-looking Instagram with reposted photos and offers to ship weed “anywhere.”
  • Multiple duped buyers—one reported losing $3,000 for two pounds of weed [38:11].
  • Laci and James break down why these deals should always look suspicious—if the price is too good, it's a red flag!

• Reddit Testimonial:

  • Laci reads from a thread describing how a would-be buyer was ghosted after wiring payment for weed via Western Union.
  • Lesson: Wire-transfers and communication through apps like Kik are major scam indicators.

• Discussion of Online Drug Buying:

  • James shares personal stories about buying drugs via bitcoin or the "dark web"—sometimes it works, but customer service is terrible.
  • Both muse on the intersection of convenience, illegality, and scam risk.

Notable Quotes

• "Being verified is a great way to know if the person is legitimately that person. But not everybody can be verified." – Laci [39:55]
• "You're a blue collar scammer. I'm a middle class scammer." – James & Laci [43:28]
• "When you scam rich people, they be madder than anybody else." – Laci [43:42]
• "Is Bitcoin...just a good currency to do sketchy stuff with?" – Laci [46:37]
• "Even capitalism in general feels like it's just constantly walking the line of scam, right?" – James [47:20]

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4. Scammer of the Week: The Vermont Capitol Weed Grower

[48:16 – 56:51]

• The Scam:
  An unknown prankster plants dozens of cannabis plants in the flower beds of Vermont’s state capitol, creating an anonymous, protest-art spectacle.

• Analysis:

  • James and Laci celebrate this as a “victimless, creative” scam, likening it to anonymous street artist Banksy’s stunts.
  • Segue to Banksy’s infamous art-shredding scam at Sotheby's, with Laci fantasizing about unmasking Banksy herself for scamming collectors.

• Cultural Commentary:

  • Both hosts muse on why protest scams and scam-art appeal to the public imagination.
  • Discussion of art collecting and the highbrow world of white-collar “money laundering,” with Sotheby’s called out as a likely crime hub.

Notable Quotes

• "It's...the plant version of Banksy." – James [50:47]
• "If I pay a million dollars for something, Banksy, you getting your ass beat." – Laci [52:56]
• "Art is also a beautiful game of fraud." – Laci [55:09]
• "Scamming is a job...one of the oldest professions, and it needs more respect.” – Laci [57:04]

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Important Timestamps & Segments

• [02:34] – James’ childhood scam confession
• [14:06] – Laci’s scam consulting critique
• [19:39] – "What's Hot in Fraud": Romance fraud trends
• [23:11] – Satirical scammer dialogue
• [27:01] – “Killing off the same aunt” as an excuse
• [34:51] – "Historic Hoodwinks": Instagram weed scam breakdown
• [38:11] – Weed scam victim sends $3,000 for 2 lbs & gets nothing
• [43:28] – “Blue collar scammer” & scam math
• [48:16] – Vermont Capitol weed grower segment
• [50:47] – Banksy as “the plant version” in weed protest
• [52:56] – Banksy auction scam story & Laci’s reaction

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Memorable Moments & Quotes

• James' Scam Fail:
  "If my parents wake up right now and they see me in the middle of their bedroom in the dark, high, sitting in my mom’s wheelchair...are they gonna think I’m here to kill them?" [07:20]

• On Romance Scams:
  "He said, I ain't got no FaceTime out here in Baghdad." – Laci [23:11]

• On Social Media Scams:
  "If you gotta get on Kik for anything, you already need to know, like, it’s not on the up and up." – Laci [40:48]

• On Capitalism & Scamming:
  "Everybody’s just toeing that line of, like, how close can I get to f***ing people over." – James [47:20]

• Banksy’s Art Scam:
  "A few years ago, I secretly built a shredder into a painting...that is rude as hell. If I pay a million dollars, Banksy, you getting your ass beat.” – Laci [52:56]

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Closing Notes

The episode wraps with shoutouts to James’ podcast (I’m Too Effing High), TV recommendations, and a warm reminder from Laci that scams are everywhere—and require both vigilance and a sense of humor.

As always, Laci closes with her signature sign-off to the congregation: “Stay schemin’!”

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For listeners, this episode is a riotous walk through the world of weed scams, online fraud, and the endless creativity of scammers. Laci and James riff with humor and candid honesty, delivering both laughs and illuminating scam-spotting tips. From personal embarrassment to weed-advocacy protest art, this episode delivers quintessential Scam Goddess goodness.

Transcript

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[Pharmaceutical Announcer]

Ask your doctor about eglis and visit ebglis.lilly.com or call 1-800-LilyRx or 1-800-545-5979.

[Lacy Mosley]

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[Lacy Mosley]

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[Scam Goddess Host]

What's poppin Congregation?

[Lacy Mosley]

It's Ya girl.

[Scam Goddess Host]

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 epis, the Paywall. Enjoy this episode from behind the Paywall and as always, stay scheming.

[Lacy Mosley]

Scams cos Robberies and Fraud Scams Co Robbery and Frauds. Scam Goddess hi, welcome to Scam Goddess. As you've heard, I'm here with James Mastroianni.

[Pharmaceutical Announcer]

Yes.

[Lacy Mosley]

Oh my. I've known James for, oh, a few years now.

[James Mastroianni]

Like quite a few. Almost four years. I think longer than that.

[Lacy Mosley]

That's as long as I've been in la, so that's as long as we could have known each other.

[James Mastroianni]

Oh, really?

[Lacy Mosley]

Yeah.

[James Mastroianni]

Wow. I thought for sure. It seems like so long ago. I guess.

[Lacy Mosley]

I know. It really does.

[James Mastroianni]

Maybe I just know you well enough that it just. It seems like we've been friends for a while.

[Lacy Mosley]

Yeah, that's something a scammer would say, too. Guys, I've known you since childhood.

[James Mastroianni]

Yeah, we've known each other so long.

[Scam Goddess Host]

Believe that.

[Lacy Mosley]

Now, what I was saying about the Social Security number.

[James Mastroianni]

Scam. Scam.

[Lacy Mosley]

Yo. Well, James, you have to tell me, like, what's your relationship with scams? Have you been in any scams? Have you?

[James Mastroianni]

You know, I am. As an adult. I'm not really. I'm not really a scam type of person.

[Lacy Mosley]

Damn, Shade, you calling me a non adult? You're right. I'm a child.

[James Mastroianni]

No, I'm saying you're an adult with. With loose moral fiber. No, I. You know, my. My parents have been the victims of scams because my parents are, like, older, and I feel like a lot of scams target older people. For sure. For sure. But, you know, honestly, I just don't think that I'm. Would be very good at it, like, just in general. Scamming.

[Lacy Mosley]

Why not? Like, do you have an experience where you tried?

[James Mastroianni]

I do, actually. Yeah. I had. So. But this is like a. So this. This was a scam I tried to pull when I was in high school.

[Lacy Mosley]

Oh, okay.

[James Mastroianni]

And I was 17. And so just a little bit of backstory. So first of all, I should say. Audience.

[Lacy Mosley]

We're just gonna call our audience the congregation.

[James Mastroianni]

Okay, the congregation.

[Lacy Mosley]

Yes.

[James Mastroianni]

I would just like to say, first of all, we don't know each other, and this story makes me sound not great.

[Lacy Mosley]

Okay.

[James Mastroianni]

So I would say give me a little bit of the benefit of the doubt.

[Lacy Mosley]

Okay. You're 17.

[James Mastroianni]

I'm 17 years old.

[Lacy Mosley]

With a booming deep voice.

[James Mastroianni]

Exactly. With a booming deep voice. And so a little bit of backstory. My. So growing up, my mom was disabled. Right. She was in a wheelchair. And so if, you know, for a lot of people that are in wheelchairs, you have to have, like, very specific types of vehicles.

[Lacy Mosley]

Yeah. And handicap pass. So you got to park in the front of every.

[James Mastroianni]

Everything. Front, front line at every amusement park, which. Oh, here's a minor scam we used to do because my mom couldn't go on rides.

[Lacy Mosley]

Right.

[James Mastroianni]

But we would use her to get to the front of the line at an amusement park and then leave her. And then leave her and then just like, sort of let her sit there.

[Lacy Mosley]

I think you're. Now the thought of your mom having to sit there while you're on Splash Mountain is hilarious. And maybe a little sad, but I think your mom probably was also proud

[James Mastroianni]

that she loved it.

[Lacy Mosley]

She could help her kids lay down.

[James Mastroianni]

Absolutely. Yeah. It helped make her feel, you know, it felt like. Made her feel needed, I guess, but. So when my mom's insurance approved of a new disabled van, I got my mom's old van, which was a 1988 Dodge conversion van with a wheelchair lift out the side. Right.

[Lacy Mosley]

For a kid, this must have been a dream.

[James Mastroianni]

Oh, my God. It was a dream. And at this point, like, I'm a big stoner, and so I turned it into this big.

[Lacy Mosley]

And you kind of.

[James Mastroianni]

I turned it into this big smoking van. Like, I took the seats out and replaced them with beanbag chairs and put up, like, beads and black lights and all this stuff. And this story is also just seeping with white privilege because there's no. Like, I should have been arrested multiple times for all of this, but. So one night, we're in my basement. My parents used to go to bed very early, and I used to have friends over to come and hang in my basement and smoke weed.

[Lacy Mosley]

You were that friend who, like, host things and stuff?

[James Mastroianni]

Absolutely.

[Pharmaceutical Announcer 2]

Yeah.

[James Mastroianni]

My parents are asleep at, you know, 8, 8:30. Come on over. We'll get high, we'll chill.

[Lacy Mosley]

What kind of sleep is this?

[Scam Goddess Host]

They don't hear.

[James Mastroianni]

No, no.

[Lacy Mosley]

I mean, like, I crack my ass upstairs. My mom's like, hold it. Yeah, I was a petty sleeper.

[James Mastroianni]

That's really funny. No, my parents. Deep, deep sleepers. And. Well, we'll get. We'll get to that part of the story. So I.

[Narrator/Voice Actor]

We.

[James Mastroianni]

We were all smoking weed, but we decided, like. And so I'm all high and shit. And we're like, oh, man, you know, we're only 17. We're like, want to get some booze, Right?

[Lacy Mosley]

To the next level.

[James Mastroianni]

Exactly. Let's take this party to the next level. And I was like, how? We're trying to come up with an idea. Like, how do we get some booze? Right? We're not 21. None of us have fakes. Right.

[Lacy Mosley]

This is when the scam comes in.

[James Mastroianni]

This is where the scam comes in. So I'm like, okay, I think I have an idea. And so my mom had two different wheelchairs. She had a regular wheelchair, and then she had a really dope, like. Like a scooter wheel.

[Lacy Mosley]

Yeah, like an electric one.

[James Mastroianni]

An electric one, yeah. And which used to keep charged in her bedroom. So I tell my friend, like, pull my van around front and lower the ramp, and I'll be right back And I went upstairs and I went into my parents bedroom while they were sleeping, and I unplugged her electric wheelchair, and I slowly start scooting it, you know, out of the bedroom.

[Lacy Mosley]

Right, so you're like, doing it with like. It's like, exactly. You're like, we go back to see 100.

[James Mastroianni]

Like, I go back a little bit, and then they would stir, and I would just freeze. Because I'm also like, if my parents wake up right now and they see me in the middle of their bedroom in the dark highest sitting in my mom's wheelchair. 1. If I'm there, them I'm like, is like, is he here to kill us? Like, what is. What the fuck is going on?

[Lacy Mosley]

Totally. Menendez. Your parents.

[James Mastroianni]

Exactly. It's so freaky. And so, you know, I'm doing this thing. I'm slowly backing it out, and I'm going backwards, too, and I'm trying to back my way out in the dark. And so I finally get it out and I grab a blanket, because in this. In my head, this is going to help make it better. So I pull it into. Into the van. I'm like, all right, here's what we're going to do. Pull up to the liquor store, right? Make sure that the owner sees you. Lower the. The wheelchair ramp or the. Yeah, the wheelchair ramp out the side. I put this blanket on my lap because I thought it made me look more disabled. And I was like, there's no way that they're going to ask me for ID if they think that, like, I'm disabled. Right. And I'll just go in, I'll grab a couple bottles, and it'll be. It'll be great, Right?

[Lacy Mosley]

So this youthful teenage boy is now has a blanket over him in an electric wheelchair. I do have to say, James, that you are a scammer, because the confidence level of saying, I'm gonna go unplug an electric mobile vehicle, right? Then I'm gonna back it up in the dark. I'm also high, so I' impaired. And all this so that my parents don't realize that I'm doing it. Like, that's an extreme amount of confidence.

[James Mastroianni]

Yeah.

[Lacy Mosley]

And so now you're also the one who's the most confident enough to roll into this convenience store and play the sympathy card to buy alcohol.

[James Mastroianni]

Yep.

[Lacy Mosley]

Okay.

[James Mastroianni]

Yeah, I guess that's true. Maybe I am a scammer. And so I go in and immediately. And I don't know why this makes me laugh, but I guess it's just that age of, like, the kind of alcohol you drink. But I picked up a bottle of Captain Morgan's and a bottle of 99 bananas was like the two that I got for. For us.

[Lacy Mosley]

I used to get faded on some 99 bananas.

[James Mastroianni]

Absolutely. And like, it, 99 bananas, 99 berries was really bad, but I used to do the same shit. And so I take, you know, I take the wheelchair up to the counter and I put the. And so I'm, like, pretending to be, like, kind of frail, and I put the. Oh, it gets worse. It gets worse, Congregation. It gets worse. And I'm so sorry for this. And so I put the bottles on the thing. And by the way, I'm the only person in the liquor store.

[Lacy Mosley]

Wow. Okay.

[James Mastroianni]

Nobody else.

[Lacy Mosley]

Distractions.

[James Mastroianni]

No distractions. Which I wish there would have been. I feel like if it would have been busier, it would have been easier, right?

[Pharmaceutical Announcer]

Yeah.

[Lacy Mosley]

Like if you had some friends. If other friends had come in and maybe bought snacks or something. Exactly, yeah.

[James Mastroianni]

Yeah. So I go in and I put the bottles down, and the guy's like, hey, I gotta see some id. And in my head, I was like, fuck. Immediately, this is what he asked me. So I'm like, okay, pretend you didn't hear him.

[Lacy Mosley]

So now you're trying to make yourself deaf, dude.

[James Mastroianni]

Oh, it gets worse. It gets worse. So I pretend not to hear him, and I just push the bottles further towards him and I put some cash on the thing. And he goes, hey, man, I'm sorry, but I got to see some ID. I got to make sure you're over 21. And so this, at this point, I'm like, okay, I have to double down. So I then put on an affectation.

[Lacy Mosley]

No.

[James Mastroianni]

That I am mentally disabled.

[Lacy Mosley]

No.

[James Mastroianni]

And I still remember the exact thing that I said. Oh, go. And so, congregation, please stick with me here. And this is.

[Lacy Mosley]

Look, we all. We all stray, guys. Okay?

[James Mastroianni]

We all stray. I was 17.

[Lacy Mosley]

This is not 2014. Nobody was woke yet.

[James Mastroianni]

Yeah, nobody was woke. Nobody's woke. Believe me. I feel terrible about this. And I looked at him and I said, please, no. I was so much pain. Just like that.

[Lacy Mosley]

Now, James, this is all horrible, but I do have to say the dedication to not just bailing on this.

[James Mastroianni]

Oh, I know.

[Lacy Mosley]

Cause I think I would have just reversed that joint and been, like, out of the store.

[James Mastroianni]

Absolutely. And so he looks at me for a moment and he goes, I know who you are. He goes, and this is like an old, middle aged white guy. And there was this restaurant next door called Frish's. He was Like, I've seen your. I've seen your van. I've seen you and your friend smoking weed outside the restaurant all the time. I know you're not in a wheelchair, and I know you're not old enough to be in here. So I'm going to give you two seconds to get the fuck out of my store. Otherwise, I'm calling the police.

[Lacy Mosley]

Yo, he's petty as fuck, because he knew exactly what he was.

[James Mastroianni]

The whole fucking time. He knew. He was just like, I'm gonna let this dumb fucking kid. I'm gonna let this dumb kid just do this whole bit. I'm maneuvering my way through these narrow ass liquor aisles in this wheelchair, and I immediately fess up. And I was like, I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have done this. I just. My friends and I were just trying to have a good time. And he was like, get the fuck out. And but the funny thing is, I was like, yes, absolutely. And I started. I started moving the wheelchair, and I got it stuck in the door on the way to the exit, like, trying

[Lacy Mosley]

to leave here, please.

[James Mastroianni]

And I couldn't maneuver, and I had to get up out of the wheelchair and try to, like, drag it through this narrow door while this dude is staring daggers straight through me. And I just sheepishly, like, pulled back into. You know, back into the van.

[Lacy Mosley]

James, when the jig was up, why did you just get out of the wheelchair and push it out of the store?

[James Mastroianni]

Because it's heavy as fuck. Like, it's. It's this big motorized wheelchair. Like, you can't really push it, and you have to, like, use the handle. And then. Because when it got stuck, I had to, like, use the handle and then, like, maneuver it through the door because it was, like, a wide wheelchair.

[Pharmaceutical Announcer]

Okay.

[Lacy Mosley]

I appreciate this man's petty for letting you do all of this before he told you he even let you do another or he let you dig yourself into a deep asshole before he finally was like, I know who you are, James. I think that this scam would have worked if you had gone somewhere that wasn't a place that you go all of the time. You can't go to your local and hang out in front of this place, James.

[James Mastroianni]

Literally, the liquor store was next to the restaurant where, like, four of my friends worked.

[Lacy Mosley]

Oh, wow.

[James Mastroianni]

And so we would just go get free food there and get high around back, you know, almost every day. So for some reason.

[Lacy Mosley]

So you insulted that man's intelligence?

[James Mastroianni]

Absolutely. I insulted a lot of people's intelligence. I insulted my own Intelligence. I insulted my mother, who, you know, has to endure the suffering of being disabled, and I exploited that to try to get 99 bananas for me and my friends. She also has never heard this story. Wow.

[Lacy Mosley]

So you put the chair back. She never noticed.

[James Mastroianni]

She never noticed. I took the chair home. I took it back. I put it right back where it was. Plugged that shit back in.

[Lacy Mosley]

I think you got enough punishment from the liquor store, man.

[James Mastroianni]

Yeah, yeah, I think. I think I would love to hear his version of that story.

[Lacy Mosley]

I'm sure he loves that story because he goaded you on. He, like, he probably saw it from the second that you came in, knew exactly what you were doing, saw you pick up the liquor bottle, saw you driving around the store. He was like, okay. ID, please.

[James Mastroianni]

I know. He knew. Like, he probably saw the van and immediately was like, what are these fucking idiots trying to do?

[Narrator/Voice Actor]

And.

[James Mastroianni]

Cause he probably. My van was so recognizable. The outside was completely graffitied. Like, James, it was just tagged up completely.

[Narrator/Voice Actor]

So.

[James Mastroianni]

So there's no way you wouldn't know what this van was.

[Lacy Mosley]

Yo. All you needed was some. You needed a consultant. You had look, you had confidence, you had gumption. You just needed somebody to get you with the logistics. Like your friends. None of them were thinking they were all just along for the ride. You needed one friend to be like, okay, but we gotta park the van across the street. And also, we can't go to the place that we always go.

[James Mastroianni]

I know, I know.

[Lacy Mosley]

I think without those two major factors, you would have gotten your lips around some 99 bananas.

[James Mastroianni]

Probably. Yeah. I needed some scam. Goddess smartness. Yeah.

[Lacy Mosley]

But we knew each other back then, James.

[James Mastroianni]

I know, I know.

[Lacy Mosley]

I'm sorry.

[James Mastroianni]

That's right. We've known each other that long.

[Lacy Mosley]

Scams.

[Scam Goddess Host]

Ooh, it is summertime. And if you live in the US the living might not be easy, but that is no reason for your wardrobe not to be. Summer is a perfect time to rethink what your clothes are giving for every single day. And that's why you guys know I love quints.

[Lacy Mosley]

I can't tell you how many times

[Scam Goddess Host]

I've podcasted on this podcast talking about quints while wearing quints, including right now. I have on the overalls. And y' all know I like to

[Lacy Mosley]

leave one shoulder off.

[Scam Goddess Host]

Cutie cute quints. Focus on high quality essentials. Think breathable linen, soft, organic cotton, washable silk, but without the luxury markup. And it's like a rare balance where everything feels elevated, but it's still easy. And y' all know I am very hard on clothes and when I tell y' all I can put my Quinn

[Lacy Mosley]

stuff in the washer and the girl

[Scam Goddess Host]

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[Lacy Mosley]

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[Scam Goddess Host]

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[Lacy Mosley]

didn't put my makeup on in the car ride over at every red light.

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[Lacy Mosley]

so this is our segment. What's hot in fraud? Guys, we don't want you to get scammed, at least not by other people, okay? Now, if I call you and I need you to spit in a cup or give me a lock of your child's hair, you mail that to me, okay? Because it's for a good cause. But if anybody else is trying to run game on you, we just can't allow it. So this is a segment where we'll talk a little bit about a fraud, a scam, a hoodwink that's really popular right now. So today we're going to talk about romance fraud. Guys, we've talked about romance fraud before, but the reason I want to bring this up is because we actually got some legit numbers on romance fraud. James, do you know that romance fraud makes up about $143 million domestically in losses?

[James Mastroianni]

What? Okay, so first of all, what is romance fraud?

[Lacy Mosley]

So romance fraud, which I already told you guys, love, is a scam. Stay woke. Look, it's one we all participated in. It's still a fucking scam. But romance fraud is where people talk on things like Bumble, Tinder, Christian Mingle, Grindr, and they talk to people who are looking for love and commitment as a means to defraud them out of small or large amounts of money.

[James Mastroianni]

Interesting.

[Lacy Mosley]

Yes. So in 2018, romance scams were the most expensive type of fraud scam. And that's where we got that $143 million. And this actually comes from the Federal Trade Commission, because you can report. If you guys get scammed, you can report it to the Federal Trade Commission. Will you get your money back? Probably not, but maybe you're gonna save somebody else. Like, come on, guys. That's. That's good, right?

[James Mastroianni]

Yeah.

[Lacy Mosley]

So some of the biggest scams are often military men on Tinder, which I think is a good one, because it's like men who are saying they're deployed, fighting for their country overseas.

[James Mastroianni]

Wow, that's fucked.

[Lacy Mosley]

And so it's like, how can you really say who's in the military or not? Yeah, yeah, a lot of people in the military.

[James Mastroianni]

And, like, that feels like it could easily appeal to, like, any sort of, like, MAGA type of person on Tinder. Hell, yeah. You know, like an uber patriotic type of.

[Lacy Mosley]

Now, if you're scamming maga. People shout out to you. Yeah, keep doing that.

[James Mastroianni]

Yeah, why not?

[Lacy Mosley]

I will never discourage it, and I will never report you, but I want to read one of the reports of somebody who actually got scammed by this. All right, guys. So I'm on the Federal Trade Commission website, and they actually have consumer information because this is so popular, people getting scammed by online lovers or whatever. So their advice is, one, never send money or gifts to a sweetheart you haven't met in person. That seems obvious, right?

[James Mastroianni]

Yeah, that seems super obvious.

[Scam Goddess Host]

Take it slowly.

[Lacy Mosley]

Ask questions and look for inconsistent answers. Check the person's photo using a search engine like Search by Image, Google. If the same picture shows up with a different name, that's a red flag.

[James Mastroianni]

Oh, yeah, that makes sense.

[Lacy Mosley]

Talk to someone about this new love entrance and pay attention. If friends and family are concerned,

[James Mastroianni]

that seems impractical, right?

[Lacy Mosley]

Is it?

[James Mastroianni]

Maybe. I don't know. I feel like if. Well, no, I guess that. Yeah, I'm trying to think of, like, if I were talking to something, like I'm talking to somebody on hinge or whatever.

[Lacy Mosley]

Are you gonna tell people that you matched with someone on Hinge?

[James Mastroianni]

How would they know if they're. How would somebody else know if they're a scammer?

[Lacy Mosley]

I think because what they're saying is, like, maybe you don't realize this shit is weird, but if you say it out loud to somebody else, that's true. You're like, oh, yeah, talking to this new man. His name is John Doe. He in the military. He said he needed $6,000 for his medical bills. I said, let's FaceTime before I send the money. He said, I ain't got no FaceTime out here in Baghdad. And I was like, are we still in Baghdad? He was like, yes, we are. We definitely are. For sure.

[James Mastroianni]

That's really funny. That makes sense. Yeah.

[Lacy Mosley]

He said, they're trying to get garbage to tear down that wall. And I was like, okay,

[James Mastroianni]

I'm here in Hanoi, Vietnam, and I've been stationed here for 40 years.

[Lacy Mosley]

Yeah. They never brought all of us back.

[James Mastroianni]

They never brought us back.

[Lacy Mosley]

They didn't tell you, but we're still fighting in the Vietnam War. So y' all remember Normandy? Yeah, he's still at Normandy. So I wired him $6,000.

[James Mastroianni]

Oh, my God.

[Lacy Mosley]

Yeah. So maybe your friend will be like, hey, girl, that war's been over for a long time.

[James Mastroianni]

Let's open up the history book, shall we?

[Lacy Mosley]

And then the last one is, if you suspect a romance scam cut off Contact right away. Then report the scam to FTC, which is ftc.gov complaint and notify the dating site where you met the scammer too. So, guys, if this has happened to you, you don't have to tell us, but also you should tell us email scam Goddess Pod because we'd love to hear about it, but yeah, it's crazy. So the website went further. They made an instructional safety video for people who are online dating. And it's right behind you, James.

[James Mastroianni]

Oh, I love this.

[Narrator/Voice Actor]

Looking for love in all the right places like popular dating sites, mobile apps and social networking sites. Ron seems like a perfect match for you. He's thoughtful and says he can't live without you.

[Lacy Mosley]

Ron looks like a serial killer.

[Narrator/Voice Actor]

He says he's from the US but works out of the country. He says he wants to visit but says he can't afford it. It he asks you to send him money. Last month it was medical bills for his sick aunt.

[Lacy Mosley]

Ron looks evil as fuck.

[Narrator/Voice Actor]

Fix his car next month.

[James Mastroianni]

That ant didn't look sick at all.

[Narrator/Voice Actor]

Ron wants your money. Don't send it. The person pretending to be Ron is a scammer. He'll tell you anything to get you to wire cash right away. He'll never run out of excuses. If an online love interest asks you for money, walk away, no matter how compelling the story. Report [e-mail] impostors it's so funny and

[James Mastroianni]

maybe this says a lot about my own personal relationship to my family, but like, a sick aunt is not going to get me to give you money. Like, why an aunt?

[Lacy Mosley]

Too far away.

[James Mastroianni]

Yeah, it's like thinking about all my aunt, like, all my aunts. Like, I can't. I mean, you know, I don't want them to be sick. But also like, so you wouldn't even

[Lacy Mosley]

help your own sick aunt is what you're saying? Like, they could be like your sister's

[James Mastroianni]

like, I mean, I don't have the money, first of all, to help a sick aunt. Second of all, I haven't talked to ants in years. Yeah.

[Lacy Mosley]

So because of your own close or not close personal relationship with aunts, you will be giving no money for some.

[James Mastroianni]

If somebody was like, I have a sick aunt, I'd be like, yeah, maybe a sick mom. Like, why? Why'd you choose an aunt? Why not?

[Lacy Mosley]

Because I think aunts, like you said, aren't people that you have to materialize. If it's the mom, it's like, you should know where your mom is. But if it's your Sick aunt. You can be like, oh, she's like, in Albuquerque. I don't have any pictures.

[James Mastroianni]

Oh, it's just far enough removed to. I see what you're saying.

[Lacy Mosley]

That was a college excuse. I remember like in college if I couldn't get a paper done in time. You kill off a n.

[James Mastroianni]

Kill off

[Lacy Mosley]

an aunt you like. I'm so sorry, professor, but my aunt died, and so I can't turn in this paper.

[James Mastroianni]

Yeah, and see, if I were your professor, I'd be like, lacy, I think I've talked to my aunts once in the last 10 years. So you still got to do the paper. An aunt's not good enough.

[Lacy Mosley]

Oh, listen, I've been killing off the same aunt for so many years. And when your mama do the funeral program, easy Photoshop on that sunset date, you know, it'd be like sunrise they birthday and then sunset whenever I need it to.

[Scam Goddess Host]

That's so funny.

[Lacy Mosley]

But also what struck me about this video is that one, it's a woman who they're warning about these scams, and I'm like, so are they not including men in romance scams? Because is that just, like, culturally normative for women to, like, scam men out of money, pretending that they love them?

[James Mastroianni]

Oh, interesting.

[Lacy Mosley]

Because, like, it's about a woman, and I'm thinking about it and I'm like, I know so many women who are out here just getting shoes and bags and boob jobs and Range Rovers from dudes, and no one calls that a scam.

[James Mastroianni]

Yeah, that's interesting.

[Lacy Mosley]

You know, maybe it's because the woman's not getting anything in return because everybody knows that dick is trash. Right?

[James Mastroianni]

Dick is trash. I do think. You know, I wonder if it's. You know, maybe it's not the word scam in that situation, but it's more the idea of, like, some people enter into a more transactional relationship as opposed to a relationship of, like, mutuality. Right?

[Lacy Mosley]

Yeah, you're right.

[James Mastroianni]

Some like rich old dudes. Or just be like, hey, like you said, love can be a scam where it's this thing of, like, you know, this is a transactional relationship. I'll pay for your apartment or whatever.

[Lacy Mosley]

Yeah, yeah, you're right. And I think you're. For the most part, the women are actually, like, materializing, like, they're showing up. They're not just, like, using, I guess, a fake photo.

[James Mastroianni]

Right?

[Lacy Mosley]

Like, okay, that makes sense because I

[James Mastroianni]

was actually going to say I think I almost was the victim of this, really. Of a. Of a romance scam, maybe Like, Like. So I very briefly used Tinder a few years ago, and this instance is what got me off of Tinder. I haven't used it since. I had a woman, like, match with me on Tinder, and we started talking from the beginning. I was skeptical because, like, she was just way too enthusiastic. And, like, you know, I'm 35. I. I pretty. I. I know my place in the world. I know I'm not. I know I'm not attractive enough to have a woman over the Internet be that enthusiastic. Like. Like, I'm almost 6 foot. Maybe if I was 6, 3, maybe that would be a thing where. But it's not. I'm not tall enough. I'm not handsome enough. I'm bald. I know. I know my place.

[Lacy Mosley]

And, James, I'm not gonna agree with any of this.

[James Mastroianni]

And she was being really enthusiastic, and she was like, what did she do

[Lacy Mosley]

that was, like, showing you, like, over enthusiasm?

[James Mastroianni]

She wanted to meet that night. She wanted to come see my place. She wanted to. And I was like, you know, I don't know if I feel comfortable. Like, I was like, maybe we can meet at a bar for a drink or something like that. And I was like, I'm not really big into, like, having somebody come straight over to my place. Anything like that. And then I changed the subject, and I was like, so, what do you do for a living? And her response was, that's what I want to talk to you about. And I was like, what? We don't. Huh? What do you mean? We don't know each other. What do you want to talk to me about? And then she was just like, Started talking about her living situation and started talking about her. She. She was like a preschool teacher, and, you know, she just gotten laid off and, like. And I was like, where the is this heading? And I kind of got freaked out, and I just deleted the app right there because I didn't ask any more questions. I was like, I don't know what kind. Like, is it possible come to your house immediately and talk to me about her work situation?

[Lacy Mosley]

Maybe she was homeless, and she was like, this is how. Like, I'll just get on Tinder, and then I'll find somebody, and then I'll go to their house that night, and then I'll. I'll sleep at their house and I'll live there.

[James Mastroianni]

Oh. Which is a different. Oh, different kind of scam, I guess. I don't know.

[Lacy Mosley]

It has to work. I'm sure there's some people on Tinder who are just like, oh, I just really need the company. Was she cute?

[James Mastroianni]

I mean, if that was her. You know what I mean?

[Lacy Mosley]

Like I don't know about that in the beginning.

[James Mastroianni]

Well, I don't know if it was her. I don't know. Like she was cute, but I don't know if like I'm assuming that that was not her. I didn't do the Google image image

[Lacy Mosley]

search like FTC told you. Yep, gotta do that Google image search.

[James Mastroianni]

I know now. I wish I knew then.

[Lacy Mosley]

Well, James, so that's our hot and fraud right now, guys. If you're on dating apps, any dating apps, it put Christian mingle on here as a warning. Like all the dating apps.

[James Mastroianni]

Oh man.

[Lacy Mosley]

Just beware. Like if people are trying to get money from you and you've never met them. Yeah, not a good look. Also, if anything is happening with anybody's aunt, never believe them.

[James Mastroianni]

Don't believe them.

[Lacy Mosley]

Yeah, nobody's aunt has ever had anything bad happen to them. Ever. Mm.

[James Mastroianni]

Mm. And unless your aunt raised you than just not good enough. Not good enough.

[Lacy Mosley]

Too far away. Familia from the tree says James Robbery.

[Scam Goddess Host]

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[Lacy Mosley]

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[Scam Goddess Host]

Okay. And also what I love about it is for me personally, sometimes I get a food delivery driver who's not followed the instructions.

[Lacy Mosley]

They don't knock, they don' ring the doorbell.

[Scam Goddess Host]

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[Pharmaceutical Announcer]

Ask your doctor about eglis and visit ebgliss.lilly.com or call 1-800-lillyrx or 1-800-545-5979.

[Scam Goddess Host]

Nobody wants to work anymore.

[Lacy Mosley]

Okay, that's my best Kim K. Vocal Fry But Kim may be right in some respects.

[Scam Goddess Host]

But according to the cnbc, nearly half of hiring managers say candidates enthusiasm about the job is the most important factor when considering them for a role. So if you need to hire for your business, ZipRecruiter is the perfect place to separate candidates from who are really excited about the opportunity and those who are like I'mma just clock in and imma go home. And now you can try it for [e-mail] Goddess ZipRecruiter's new feature puts the most interested qualified candidates at the top of your list. No wonder ZipRecruiter is the number one rated hiring site based on G2. Use ZipRecruiter and find enthusiastic talent. Four out of five employers who post on ZipRecruiter get a quality candidate within the first day. And now you can try it for free at ziprecruiter.com goddess that's ziprecruiter.com goddess meet your match on ZipRecruiter and Fraud.

[Lacy Mosley]

All right guys, we are gonna get into the biggest segment, the craziest segment of this show. Historic Hoodwinks. All right, so I kind of picked this one with you in mind because James runs a very dope podcast and also it a live show called I'm Too Effing High, which destigmatize weed. And it also is a very fun show where comedians get high and do comedic challenges. I've done it. It's super fun. It's also very fun to listen to while high.

[James Mastroianni]

That's great. Gotta have you back on for a live show.

[Lacy Mosley]

Yes. Oh, my gosh. Even though when I'm at a high live show, it's just me, like, holding onto the chair for dear life.

[James Mastroianni]

You're so funny. You're so funny. You kill it every time.

[Lacy Mosley]

Just putting the mic in my bosom and being like, are you talking to me? I need to talk now. All right, guys. But so there's a new scam out right now, which is Instagram weed fraud. So people are doing fraudulent Instagram drug deals. Okay, so basically how this works is the one that we're gonna talk about in, like, more detail is this guy named Nyajio Bielam. He's a writer and a comedian and a resident connoisseur on the Netflix show Cooking on High. He's been a recent victim of a fraudulent Instagram drug. So basically, a friend sent this guy a screenshot of an Instagram program. So basically his whole. This could happen to you, James. Yeah, because this guy's whole business is kind of, like, surrounded around weed or being a connoisseur or being like, you know, one of the first movers in entertainment in weed. And someone made a fake Instagram profile of him. And so one of his friends screenshot it, but it had been up for a minute. Cause the account had 12 images on it that were stolen from Dom's real account. And the bio offered pot for sale with shipping available to. To any location.

[James Mastroianni]

Wait, can you say that again? Pot.

[Lacy Mosley]

Pot for sale with shipping available to any location. So it's like, you go on his Instagram, you see photos of the guy, and it says, we selling weed. We'll send it anywhere in the country. Yeah, it says any location. So I guess that means, like, Papua New Guinea. You can get your weed wherever. Yeah, so Balm obviously had a friend who noticed this. And so he notifies Instagram, and he posts screenshot on his own profile and says, like, please don't follow this guy and please report this guy, et cetera, et cetera. But this was happening for at least six months because the imposter had multiple direct messages from people who had wired him money for weed that they'd never received.

[James Mastroianni]

No way.

[Lacy Mosley]

So he had been running this.

[Scam Goddess Host]

Which is weird.

[Lacy Mosley]

Cause it's like, if you know this guy's, on tv. Why do you think that he had. Okay, he had 2600 followers, though. But why do you think that this guy wouldn't have more followers than that?

[James Mastroianni]

Way more followers. And then also. Yeah, like, why would he. Well, I guess I could see him getting in the business of, I guess, distributing, but that. Yeah.

[Lacy Mosley]

And there's. So there's one.

[James Mastroianni]

God, I could see myself falling for this. This is terrifying.

[Lacy Mosley]

This is terrifying.

[James Mastroianni]

The show is terrifying.

[Lacy Mosley]

So there was one scam, big in particular, who contacted this guy after sending an imposter over $3,000 for two pounds of weed that never arrived. And this guy was getting an average of three to five messages a week. So he was doing this.

[James Mastroianni]

Okay, so first of all, two grand for two pounds of weed? Is that what you said?

[Lacy Mosley]

Yeah, three grand.

[James Mastroianni]

Three grand for two pounds of weed is like, an amazing deal. Deal that already is like.

[Lacy Mosley]

Yeah, yeah.

[James Mastroianni]

I mean, most of the time, a pound of weed is like three to four grand.

[Lacy Mosley]

You hear that, guys?

[James Mastroianni]

Yeah.

[Lacy Mosley]

Just so you know how much a pound of weed costs. Yeah, because I don't.

[James Mastroianni]

That's crazy.

[Lacy Mosley]

Yeah. So I guess people are probably. That's why they're like, oh, I'll pay for this deal.

[James Mastroianni]

Of course.

[Lacy Mosley]

Too good to be true.

[James Mastroianni]

If somebody was like, two pounds of weed for three grand, I. Yeah, that is an amazing deal. Yeah. Especially if it's good shit.

[Lacy Mosley]

Right. That's like how anytime you click on a news article because the online news is fucking struggling, there's always, like, ads for shit on the side. It's like, Louis. Louis Vuitton bag, $30. That's what almost gets me. I'd be like, $30. I need that Louis Vuitton bag. That shit is not real. Yeah, but, yeah, so he pays this much for it and never gets any money. Also, I think wire transfers are just a weird method for paying for shit. I've never had to pay for anything with a wire transfer. I've only received a wire transfer once in my life, and it was from my parents when I was in London. So I'm like, I don't think they're real.

[James Mastroianni]

Like, I would. Do you do it at a bank? I've never done it.

[Lacy Mosley]

You do it at, like, Western Union. Western Union, the shadiest money place ever.

[James Mastroianni]

Yeah. It almost seems like, is this is me being ignorant? Because I don't know, Is. Is Western Union also a payday loan type of place? Or is it. Yeah, it is.

[Lacy Mosley]

It's just like, where you can go do, isn't it? Am I Wrong.

[James Mastroianni]

Talk about a scam.

[Lacy Mosley]

I feel like it's just a shady scam organization. The cops should just loiter around Western Union and just randomly like pick people up.

[James Mastroianni]

Right.

[Lacy Mosley]

But so Instagram got contacted about this story and an Instagram spokesperson noted and an Instagram spokesperson noted, claiming to be another person violates the platform of community guidelines. And Instagram says, we care deeply about the quality content on Instagram and we take spam and inauthentic and other abusive behavior very seriously. Being verified is a great way to know if the person is legitimately that person. But not everybody can be verified, which is true, right? Like you have to have like fill a certain amount of qualifications to be verified. And this Guy was on TV 57,000 followers and wasn't verified. So people were taking advantage of that.

[James Mastroianni]

Crazy. Why Wasn't he very 57,000 followers?

[Lacy Mosley]

Because it doesn't have anything to do with how many followers you have. You have to like, I guess apply or have a PR agency apply for you or have enough credits and things online that Instagram starts to get curious about if you are really the person.

[James Mastroianni]

Yeah, gotcha.

[Lacy Mosley]

So there's one person on Reddit because there's a whole subreddit about this guy who tells his story of buying weed through Instagram. So some of you out there might be familiar with popular social networking app called Instagram. In the past few months there have been accounts popping up on Instagram that claim that they will ship weed to you out of places like Washington, California, et cetera. These profiles may look very convincing with pictures of large amounts of weed uploaded or orders getting shipped out. How it works is this person will leave their phone number or Kik messenger id. If you gotta get on Kik for anything you already need to know, like it's not on the up and up on the profile and you can contact them and ask them to place an order. Prices are usually advertised as fairly low and reasonable. Like you said, that was really cheap for those two pounds of weed. Now there may be some profiles out there that are actually genuine and will ship you the product. I've had weed shipped to me before, no issues. So I know it's done every day. But most are just plain scammers looking to get your money and leave you with nothing. Here's how my experience went. I kicked a dealer asking for one of his best indicus. He said the price was 180 an ounce and that I only owed him half up front to ship it. He claimed that after the payment was shipped, I would Get a tracking number and his phone number to keep contact and track my package. The next morning, I. Western Union, tim. Western Union, $90. And two hours later saw that Western Union tracking had picked up the payment. I texted him asking him for a tracking number. No response. I waited two hours, texted again. Again, nothing. After that, I started calling him. Then an hour later, I realized he had blocked me from his Instagram page, blocked me on kick, and somehow blocked my number from contacting his phone. That's, like, the easiest one to do. Now, I know what you're all thinking. Wow, you're such an idiot to give this guy your money and expect him to send you weed. Yes, that was a naive mistake on my part, but I've had success in transactions in the past. But, guys, please don't do this. You will get screwed over and you will feel like an idiot.

[James Mastroianni]

Oh, man. Yeah, absolutely. And that's a good deal, too. 180 for an ounce. Yeah, that's a really good deal.

[Lacy Mosley]

Isn't that like. I feel like that's small potatoes, though, to be like, here, send me half of this amount. So you're just getting 90 from everybody you scam. Is that enough? I guess it depends on how many people you scam in a day.

[James Mastroianni]

Yeah. I mean, if you can. If you scam 10 people.

[Lacy Mosley]

10 people a week, that's 900 a week.

[James Mastroianni]

That's 900 bucks a week. Yeah, that's. Yeah, maybe that's pretty good. And I wonder too, if the strategy is, like, if I scam 90 bucks out of people, they're gonna be looking for me with less urgency than if I scam, like, 3,000. 3,000. Yeah.

[Lacy Mosley]

Yeah. Oh, yeah, that's right.

[James Mastroianni]

Yeah.

[Lacy Mosley]

And then that just becomes your job, I'm sure. Just every day, like, gotta set up a new Instagram profile. Gotta create more hotmail email addresses.

[James Mastroianni]

You're a blue collar scammer. Blue collar.

[Lacy Mosley]

I'm a middle class scammer.

[James Mastroianni]

Yeah. I'm a middle class scammer. Yeah.

[Lacy Mosley]

They probably survive the longest. Cause I feel like when you start getting into bigger deals, that's when people start getting their eyes on you.

[Pharmaceutical Announcer]

And.

[Lacy Mosley]

And when you scam rich people, they be mad.

[James Mastroianni]

Oh, yeah.

[Lacy Mosley]

No one's more mad about getting scammed than someone who has a lot of money for some reason, which makes zero sense to me.

[James Mastroianni]

Yeah. They have so much, so many more

[Lacy Mosley]

resources to lose, and they're still more mad. And they also have more time. I feel like if I'm a rich person, I have more time to hire Someone to look for you and get angry with you.

[James Mastroianni]

That's true.

[Lacy Mosley]

Hey, I'm into it.

[James Mastroianni]

That's crazy.

[Lacy Mosley]

Isn't that insane? Yeah, but I mean, I don't know. I think buying anything online. Although I do have a friend who buys, like, acid on the Dark Web. And they've never had a problem.

[James Mastroianni]

Yeah, I've bought drugs on the Dark Web as well.

[Lacy Mosley]

How do you get to the Dark web? Is like www.darkweb. i've never known how you actually get to the Dark Web. And I wanna go.

[James Mastroianni]

I should say. I don't know if this is the Dark Web or not. Not where I go is this illegal website where I can purchase different types of drugs. And I use bitcoin to get it. And so I go to a bitcoin ATM machine, which is down the street for me, and I get some Bitcoin and then I. I buy, you know, the drugs. And the one time I thought I was getting scammed and I kept emailing them and being like, hey, where. Where is the product? Where's my stuff?

[Lacy Mosley]

Where's the product?

[James Mastroianni]

Where's the product?

[Lacy Mosley]

Yeah, you don't want to get caught up. Where's the product? Where are the things that I had

[James Mastroianni]

been watching the movie Blow all weekend and Johnny Depp and no, I. And. And they never got back to me. And I was like, fuck, I got scammed. And then one day in the mail, they were there and I was like, oh, okay. I guess they just have terrible customer service. But it worked.

[Lacy Mosley]

Look, we don't pride ourselves in customer service here. Okay? Yeah, you'll get your things when you get your thing.

[James Mastroianni]

Yeah, just relax. We're not going to respond.

[Lacy Mosley]

Yeah, that's very, like. That's interesting to me. Cause, like, I remember when I was in Brooklyn and. Is weed legal in New York yet?

[Scam Goddess Host]

No.

[Narrator/Voice Actor]

Right?

[James Mastroianni]

Yeah. No.

[Lacy Mosley]

So when I was in Brooklyn years ago, it was probably extra, even more illegal. But I had a weed delivery, like a courier service that would, like, come to my house, and it was always like, some guys or a girl on a bike.

[James Mastroianni]

On a bike. I've heard of this.

[Lacy Mosley]

Yeah. And like, one time, it was, like, during Pride, I think, and it was, like, so busy, and so I, like, ordered, and they, like, couldn't get to me. And I was like, what is this? I've been ordering from you guys for years.

[James Mastroianni]

Yep.

[Lacy Mosley]

And they're like, you know what, ma', am, we're so sorry. We're going to give you 30% off of your next purchase. And I was like, this is a legal drug company that is running themselves.

[James Mastroianni]

Like, a good customer service.

[Lacy Mosley]

Yeah, excellent customer service. I didn't have to email the dark web a bunch of times. Like, hey, it's me again. You know who.

[James Mastroianni]

Yeah.

[Lacy Mosley]

Wait, what's your alias on there? Because I know you don't go by James.

[James Mastroianni]

No, I don't. I think.

[Lacy Mosley]

Do you have to have an alias, or is it just like, you. You just don't communicate with any.

[James Mastroianni]

Everything is through. Like, it's all through Bitcoin. Like, it's. You don't use a name. Like, it's just my address. There's no, like, name.

[Lacy Mosley]

Is Bitcoin even, like, becoming, like, a successful form of currency, or is it just a good currency to do, like, sketchy stuff with?

[James Mastroianni]

I think it's that. I think it's, like, people are hoping that it becomes a thing, but I just don't think it will. I think it's, like, right now, I think it's just a way to get shit anonymously because it's untraceable. That's the. That's the thing about it is, like, you can't trace it. So I don't know. Yeah, I know some people got rich real fast from it when it.

[Lacy Mosley]

When it exploded. Yeah, they bought it and then it, like, exploded, and now it's, like, normal again.

[James Mastroianni]

But that feels like a scam, maybe.

[Lacy Mosley]

Oh, hell yeah. Yeah, online e currency is definitely a scam because, like, where did it come from?

[James Mastroianni]

Yeah.

[Lacy Mosley]

And we just all gave you money for it, and then you told us how much it was worth.

[James Mastroianni]

Yeah.

[Lacy Mosley]

What?

[James Mastroianni]

Even. Even capitalism in general feels like it's just constantly walking the line of scam, right?

[Lacy Mosley]

Oh, yeah, absolutely.

[James Mastroianni]

Everybody's just toeing that line of, like, how close can I get to people over.

[Lacy Mosley]

I mean, that's why we had to have, like, antitrust laws and things like that, because otherwise, like, people. I mean, we're still. Amazon's gonna own all of us pretty soon, and it's fine. I willingly give Facebook all of my information. Now I'm like, you have it anyway.

[James Mastroianni]

Here.

[Pharmaceutical Announcer]

What?

[Lacy Mosley]

You want my retina cut? Hold on. Let me open my eye up.

[Narrator/Voice Actor]

Shit.

[James Mastroianni]

Let me open my eye up.

[Lacy Mosley]

You need me to take my contact out? Fuck. All right. Damn it. Mark Zuckerberg. I just want to send. I just want to post about my comedy show tonight.

[James Mastroianni]

I know. No.

[Lacy Mosley]

Oh, my God. I'll give them whatever they want. Booty hole.

[James Mastroianni]

Retina a booty hole.

[Lacy Mosley]

What do I have used? I have no use for it.

[James Mastroianni]

Let me open My booty hole up.

[Lacy Mosley]

Oh, gosh. I need these likes.

[James Mastroianni]

Yeah.

[Lacy Mosley]

This week, our scammer week goes out to a mystery person. We actually do not know who this person is, but there is a weed grower at the capitol building of Vermont. Love it. Who has planted 34 cannabis plants and counting that have been found growing in the flower beds of the Vermont capital.

[James Mastroianni]

Oh, I love it.

[Lacy Mosley]

Yes. And we actually have. Oh, my God, so much media. We have another video. We'll describe it to you guys. So this is a weed plant.

[James Mastroianni]

Yeah. And it's like, it really is hidden in a garden.

[Lacy Mosley]

And they look like they're growing very well.

[James Mastroianni]

Yeah. Yeah. Wheat is hard to grow, right.

[Lacy Mosley]

Doesn't it need, like, a lot of

[James Mastroianni]

water, a ton of sunlight, a ton of care? Yeah.

[Lacy Mosley]

And these are, like, on the main street in front of the Capitol. So the plants are too immature to test them to see if they're, like, THC plants.

[James Mastroianni]

Right.

[Lacy Mosley]

And they also have confirmed that the plants are not in the state's horticultural

[James Mastroianni]

plant, But I don't think they included this in their annual rollout. They asked just some random police officer

[Lacy Mosley]

who had no information.

[James Mastroianni]

Yeah.

[Lacy Mosley]

He was like, I don't think they meant to plant these. So there's all these weed plants.

[James Mastroianni]

Honestly, I love that. That's like.

[Narrator/Voice Actor]

That.

[James Mastroianni]

That's a great scam. That hurts nobody.

[Lacy Mosley]

Right.

[James Mastroianni]

Like, it's like, let's go plant. And, you know, if you're for legalization, I. I guess it's kind of like a message, but I like that. That's great.

[Pharmaceutical Announcer]

Oh, right.

[Lacy Mosley]

Cause it's in the. It's at the Capitol building.

[James Mastroianni]

Totally.

[Lacy Mosley]

This is like, being like, hey, guys, we're already. There's so much weed out here. Just let us grow it.

[James Mastroianni]

Yeah.

[Lacy Mosley]

And also, like, it's kind of like,

[Scam Goddess Host]

it won't bother you.

[Lacy Mosley]

Look at how much weed we have growing right next to you. And it's never bothering you.

[James Mastroianni]

And you have no idea it's even there.

[Lacy Mosley]

Yeah, that's a good point. Maybe it is, like, an artistic statement, too. But how is the plant growing so well?

[James Mastroianni]

I don't know. That's a really good question.

[Lacy Mosley]

Cause they need a lot of water, right?

[James Mastroianni]

Yeah, they need a ton of it. Like. Well, I guess it depends on if they're trying to grow it to some sort of, like, to actually have the flower be good. That's when you have to put in a lot of work. But it is a weed, so it'll just grow. But if you want, like, good bud with, like, you know, good thc and high quality. You got to put in so much work.

[Lacy Mosley]

Okay, yeah, so maybe it's someone who's, like, planted it, and then they're like, we'll just use the capital's water. I'm sure they water those. Those plants looked so healthy.

[James Mastroianni]

They looked great.

[Lacy Mosley]

They looked refreshed. So I'm sure that they're watering them so, so much.

[James Mastroianni]

It's. They're. They're like the. The green, I guess, the plant version of Banksy, it feels like.

[Lacy Mosley]

Wait, explain that to me.

[James Mastroianni]

So Banksy is, you know, the anonymous person that. That goes around graffitiing all these different sort of, like, social justice.

[Lacy Mosley]

Which ones? Like that. That Obey guy.

[James Mastroianni]

No, Banks.

[Lacy Mosley]

I should know who Banksy is.

[James Mastroianni]

You should totally know.

[Lacy Mosley]

Such uncultured swine right now. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[James Mastroianni]

O. He has. Yeah, he. He has. Very, very. He's British, but he's anonymous. Nobody knows who he is.

[Lacy Mosley]

So no one's caught Banksy paint and shit. I find that hard to believe.

[James Mastroianni]

Some people think that Banksy is more than one. More than one people. More than one person.

[Lacy Mosley]

Banksy is a group. It's an artist band.

[James Mastroianni]

But he also famously. Oh, he had a great scam.

[Lacy Mosley]

What?

[James Mastroianni]

Where he tried to. Somebody tried to sell a Banksy original at a. At an auction, and when it sold and they tried to bring it off the wall, it ripped in shreds. And, like, that was the whole purpose of it. But the funny thing is, it actually upped the value of it. Yeah, it was like an original Banksy,

[Lacy Mosley]

so it was really an original.

[James Mastroianni]

Yeah. Oh, here we. Yeah, watch this. It's pretty interesting. And it got.

[Scam Goddess Host]

Art connoisseurs could only watch in horror as an expensive piece was shredded before their eyes. No sooner did the gavel come down to mark the sale of Banksy's Girl With Balloon for a record $1.4 million. Did the picture start to slip out of its frame into shreds? Below, the anonymous artist claims to be behind. Behind the stunt. On Instagram, he posted a photo of his prank with the caption, going, going, gone. In a later post, he explained how he did it.

[Lacy Mosley]

A few years ago, I secretly built a shredder into a painting. Yeah, bruh.

[James Mastroianni]

Yeah. Pretty.

[Lacy Mosley]

That is rude as.

[James Mastroianni]

Yeah.

[Lacy Mosley]

If I pay a million dollars or something. Banksy, you getting your ass. That's when the scene became a brawl. Like, this story would have went completely differently. Like, no, you need to go. Go paint it again.

[James Mastroianni]

I would love it if it was Lacy that unveiled Banksy. Because of this, like, nobody knows Who Banksy is Lacy gets fucked over. Gets. You can't scam the scam goddess.

[Lacy Mosley]

No.

[James Mastroianni]

She will unveil you.

[Lacy Mosley]

I would ruin his whole mystique. I would spend the rest of my days trying to figure out who the fuck he was, where he lived, so I could air his ass out on Instagram Live.

[James Mastroianni]

Yup. That's really funny.

[Lacy Mosley]

Blaze is going live with Banksy right now.

[Scam Goddess Host]

That's crazy.

[Lacy Mosley]

And of course some art buyer was like, oh, this is even better. Because now it's a spectacle.

[James Mastroianni]

Of course. Yeah, I'm sure it raised the value.

[Lacy Mosley]

Yeah. But also, if you're an art collector, that's already a flex of like, I'm about to spend a ridiculous amount of money on. Yes, yes, art has value. I make art. It has so much value. I want to be paid a million dollars to come perform somewhere.

[James Mastroianni]

Please.

[Lacy Mosley]

But we all know it's a flex to be like, I'm spending a million dollars on a piece of paper.

[James Mastroianni]

Oh, absolutely. Such a flex.

[Lacy Mosley]

So I think it is probably even more of a flex if you're non phased by ripping apart.

[James Mastroianni]

I guarantee you whoever bought that is like, that's such a conversation piece. Everybody that comes over there like, oh, this is the Banksy I purchased. He shredded it.

[Lacy Mosley]

You know, see the millions of views on YouTube?

[James Mastroianni]

Absolutely.

[Lacy Mosley]

The one very angry black woman who beat him up.

[James Mastroianni]

Yeah.

[Lacy Mosley]

Also, did Sotheby's know this was going to happen?

[James Mastroianni]

Oh, that's a good question.

[Lacy Mosley]

Were they in on the scam?

[James Mastroianni]

I don't think so. If I remember correctly. I don't think so.

[Lacy Mosley]

I would have loved if Sotheby's was in on the scam because Sotheby's feels like a scam organization. Like they have to be involved in, like, so much crime.

[James Mastroianni]

I'm sure.

[Lacy Mosley]

But like the sexiest kind of like white collar crime that you want to

[James Mastroianni]

make movies about money laundering and like all that. Yeah.

[Lacy Mosley]

It's money. Dry cleaning, you know what I mean? That's a different level.

[James Mastroianni]

Yep.

[Lacy Mosley]

Yeah, we're not actually touching the money with our.

[James Mastroianni]

No, we don't touch money.

[Lacy Mosley]

I haven't touched money in 15 years.

[James Mastroianni]

Yeah, you're right. Like, money to them is just electronic. Right. It's just that they have enough of it. It just exists.

[Lacy Mosley]

Right. Oh, man, I don't know. But art is also a beautiful game of fraud. So I'll take it, I'll take it. But yeah, this guy is planting these weed plants. Shout out to this mysterious weed grower because I will probably never know who you are. I mean, I would first probably look at the gardeners, but then again, like, if I, if I was someone who was gardening the Vermont white, I wouldn't waste my seed weed on that.

[James Mastroianni]

Yeah, yeah. I, I, it's probably a protester or somebody that's trying to send a message, I feel like.

[Lacy Mosley]

Yeah, yeah, I think you're right about that, like, being artistic.

[James Mastroianni]

I mean, I wish that I had a garden that they could toss some weed seeds and be. I'd be very appreciative.

[Lacy Mosley]

I don't.

[Scam Goddess Host]

Where do you get weed seeds?

[James Mastroianni]

You can get them online. You can. Can get them online. You can. You know, some dispensaries sell seeds. Some dispensary sell clones as well, which is like sort of a, A little baby plant that they've cloned off of another plant. So you're already starting with something and you sort of, like, transfer it over.

[Lacy Mosley]

Yeah.

[James Mastroianni]

I tried to grow a clone one time.

[Pharmaceutical Announcer]

Really?

[James Mastroianni]

It didn't go well.

[Lacy Mosley]

It didn't go well. I don't think I could do it either. Like, I killed a succubus, so. And that's really hard to do.

[James Mastroianni]

You killed a succubus or a succulent? Succubus. A succubus is, Is like an old timey word for, like, a, A. A woman who is promiscuous and, like, seduces men is like a succubus.

[Scam Goddess Host]

Oh, wow.

[Lacy Mosley]

Yeah. No, no, no. I kill the succulent.

[James Mastroianni]

Yeah. Lacy killed a succubus.

[Lacy Mosley]

I am a succubus.

[James Mastroianni]

That's really cool.

[Lacy Mosley]

Oh, my gosh. Well, James, this is so amazing to have you, man.

[James Mastroianni]

This show is great. I love. Thank you for having me. This is. I feel like, honestly, just being on this show and hearing about all of these things, I'm like, holy. Scams are everywhere.

[Lacy Mosley]

Yeah. No, scamming is a job. It's a profession. It's one of the oldest professions, and it needs more respect.

[James Mastroianni]

It needs. Yeah, it really does. Because now I'm thinking of, like, oh, wait, is government as scamming?

[Lacy Mosley]

Oh, yeah. Government is one of the biggest scams.

[James Mastroianni]

Of course.

[Lacy Mosley]

I mean, think about taxes. They literally are like, hey, we know you made money. Give us some, and you better give us the right amount, otherwise we're gonna put you in jail. But also, we're not gonna tell you how much you need to give us.

[James Mastroianni]

And we're not gonna tell you what we're gonna use it on. We'll pretend like we're gonna use it on this.

[Lacy Mosley]

We're actually never gonna Tell you exactly where your tax dollars are going. Yeah, like, so no worry, but hand them over.

[James Mastroianni]

Yeah, that's true.

[Lacy Mosley]

It's crazy. Cause and then they start taking a lot of money from you. Like, but they don't. I think that they should take more money from the people who have an insane amount of money. We all think this, but, like. But I will say that, like, as a black person, I was always wondering, like, well, if the police are gonna keep killing us, could we stop our money, stop going like. Or can I get a refund for the police specifically? It's like, here's your money from just the police taxes because we know that they are harming you.

[James Mastroianni]

Yeah, that's completely fair.

[Lacy Mosley]

They're protecting and serving everyone else but you. So here's your money back.

[James Mastroianni]

I was. I also feel like, you know, we sell. We spend all this tax money for them to create, like, all of these big weapons of war to sell to other countries, and we don't get any

[Lacy Mosley]

of that money back.

[James Mastroianni]

You just sold all these airplanes and tanks and shit. I don't get any of that.

[Lacy Mosley]

Where is my cut of the AR15

[James Mastroianni]

I and I invested to have those war machines made. Where's my investment?

[Lacy Mosley]

Yeah, we don't get any return on that.

[James Mastroianni]

You sold that shit to, you know, Saudi Arabia, and I don't get any of it.

[Lacy Mosley]

I don't get anything. I'm getting oil. I don't get a discount on gas. Gas is very expensive.

[James Mastroianni]

Very expensive.

[Lacy Mosley]

I guess sometimes they do discount us on gas. Like, the price went down. Here you go.

[James Mastroianni]

Yeah, OPEC will throw us a little. Yeah, a little something to keep us quiet for a month.

[Lacy Mosley]

That's like. That's how our gas prices get lower. It's OPEC Keep us. Keeping us quiet. Oh, my goodness. Well, James, where can people find you?

[James Mastroianni]

Oh, man, people can find me. So please check out. I'm too f. Ing high. It's, you know, on Instagram and Twitter, I'm 2F'. ING. Hi. We do a live show at the Upright Citizens Brigade every month. And, you know, we're a podcast as well. And check out Florida Girls on Pop TV. And you can. I'm on all platforms. JMAZ 1111.

[Lacy Mosley]

Yeah. And, guys, as always, you can find [e-mail]. tell us about how you've been scammed or if you tried to run a scam like James did.

[James Mastroianni]

Oops.

[Lacy Mosley]

And also, guys, I'm on every platform at Divalacy. D I V A L A C I.

[Scam Goddess Host]

And Yes.

[Lacy Mosley]

Please watch Florida Girls on Pop tv. James was on Florida Girls. I'm on Florida Girls. It's a very fun show.

[James Mastroianni]

Yeah, it's great.

[Lacy Mosley]

Yes. All right, guys, we'll see you next week. Hi, I'm Jenny Slate, and believe it or not, someone is allowing us to have a podcast.

[James Mastroianni]

I'm Gabe Liedman. I'm Max Silvestri. And we've been friends for 20 years. And we like to reach out to kind of get advice on how to live our lives.

[Lacy Mosley]

It's called I need you guys.

[James Mastroianni]

Should I give my baby fresh vegetables?

[Lacy Mosley]

Can I drink the water at the hospital?

[James Mastroianni]

My landlord plays the trombone and I can't ask him to stop.

[Lacy Mosley]

You should make sure that you subscribe

[James Mastroianni]

so that you never miss an episode.

[Lacy Mosley]

I need you guys.

[James Mastroianni]

Support for this podcast comes from Progressive, America's number one motorcycle industry insurer. Did you know Riders who switch and save with Progressive save nearly $200 per year. That's a whole new pair of riding gloves and more. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. National average 12 month savings of $197 by new customers surveyed who saved with Progressive between October 2024 and September 2025. Potential savings will vary.