Unsubscribe Podcast Ep 230

"History Stories You've Never Heard & The INSANE Scamming Industry"

Date: September 16, 2025
Hosts: Eli Doubletap, Brandon Herrera, Donut Operator, The Fat Electrician
Guest: Ryan Kelly ("Youth Pastor Ryan")

Main Theme:

This episode dives deep into fascinating, lesser-known stories from history, the wild inner workings of the global scamming industry, and the joys and pitfalls of content creation in the internet age. Special guest Ryan Kelly (aka "Youth Pastor Ryan") shares his experiences exposing scammers, hilarious behind-the-scenes stories from his viral videos, and the surprising psychology of scam victims. The crew weaves in quick-fire humor, weird weapons talk, tangents on internet culture, and reflections on human nature—making for a chaotic, yet insightful, conversation.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Introduction & Banter (04:05-04:48)

• Meet the Crew & Guest: The hosts introduce themselves and Ryan Kelly, noting his background in scambusting and content creation.
• Immediate Derailments: Standard Unsubscribe humor takes over early, including jokes about hair, ambiguous racial identity, and YouTuber personalities.
• Identity Clarification:
  "I'm not a real youth pastor. I just look like one. I went to Christian school for like 18 years. So I just became the most generic looking white guy. It's unfortunate."
  — Ryan Kelly [03:05]

2. Ryan Kelly’s Path to Scambusting (04:48-06:48, 18:27-22:27)

• Why He Started: Ryan got scammed out of $712.50 while shipping his car and used his Homeland Security background to investigate the scammers.
  "I have my master's in Homeland Security... I use OSINT techniques... to play the scammers off against each other."
  — Ryan Kelly [04:48]
• Process: Uses open-source intelligence (OSINT), social engineering, and sometimes more advanced cyber tricks to uncover scammers' info and scare them off.
• Effectiveness:
  "There was a geolocation service that would get your phone down to 3cm... I could tell you where this guy stopped for gas on his way home. My favorite was telling him: Hey, this is the pump you used, and also you sleep on the left side of the bed. Stop."
  — Ryan Kelly [06:25]

3. The Scamming Industry: Geography, Tactics, and Psychology

(07:32-13:43, 27:13-33:37)

• Global Specialization:

  • Scams by location:
    • Podcast invitation scams — Pakistan
    • Sextortion — Nigeria
    • Shipping scams — US
    • Fake PayPal call centers — India
  • "For something so global, why would these techniques always lead back to the same places? It's because it's their training centers, it's the governments and illegal bodies operating there that are teaching them."
    — Ryan Kelly [09:28]

• Government Involvement: Some scams are operated or tolerated for disinformation or money-making.

• Astroturfing & Disinformation:

  • Fake online controversies and protests can manipulate public opinion.
  • Hilarious and disturbing example: A company offered to fake a protest against raising the marriage age, indicating zero moral boundaries for the right price.
    "We can absolutely help you. We can definitely get you a protest."
    — Ryan Kelly [12:17]

• Dead Internet Theory:

  • The group riffs on the difficulty of distinguishing bots from humans in comment sections.
  • "Is this even a person?" — Cody [10:57]

• Memorable Moment:

  • "When you said astroturfing, I thought fake news articles... You're just a shill for grass. Big Lawn."
    — Ryan Kelly [11:35]

4. Craziest Scammers and Scambusting Stories

(27:13-33:37)

• Catfishing "Harry Styles":

  • Ryan receives a tip about a scammer pretending to be Harry Styles. He infiltrates the scam, gets access to the scammer’s Google account, and reveals his loneliness via search history (e.g., "What is Mormon?").
  • "This dude is the loneliest scammer in the history... it was just a freakin' list of [searches]... What is Mormon?"
    — Ryan Kelly [31:28]

• Unblocking Himself:

  • After being blocked by the scammer, Ryan “unblocks” himself using access to the scammer's Google account and continues taunting:
    "He blocks me, which is sad until you realize I'm still in his Google account. So I unblock myself and go, nice try. And he panics and deletes everything."
    — [32:20-32:26]

• Indian Call Center Bust:

  • After sending info to authorities, months later, at a college show, Ryan meets an Indian student whose friends were arrested due to Ryan's tip.
    "By the way, you put six of my friends in jail."
    — AK (Indian student relaying to Ryan) [26:31]

5. Psychology of Scamming & Internet Gullibility

(43:11-46:40)

• Sunk Cost, Delusion, and Community:

  • Many scam victims simply refuse to believe the truth even when presented with evidence. "It's easier to defraud someone than to convince them they've been taken advantage of."
    — Ryan Kelly, paraphrasing Mark Twain [43:11]
  • Compares scam victim mentality to cults—community and shared belief matter more than facts.

• Parasocial Relationships:

  • The hosts riff on the psychological feedback loop of internet communities and parasocial feelings—the false intimacy with online personalities. "All your brain chemicals firing—friend, person I trust—under no circumstance in millions of years was that possible before."
    — Brandon Herrera [104:09]

6. Generational Shifts in Scams, Culture, and AI

(15:46-17:03, 98:14-103:47)

• Gen Z Getting Scammed:
  • Statistics now show Gen Z scams are outpacing older generations, as they're on devices more.
• AI Advances:
  • Rapid growth in AI-generated content and scams; it's now much harder even for experts to distinguish "real" from fake (e.g. deepfakes, voice cloning).
  • Discuss the infamous "Will Smith eating spaghetti" as an AI benchmark.
• Tech Acceleration:
  • "100 years ago, no AC, no fridge... now we're talking quantum computing."
    — Cody [105:08]

7. Internet Culture & Content Creation

(49:03-56:07, 103:49-110:01)

• Accent Boundaries:

  • Ryan explains why, despite fan requests, he avoids doing "risky" accents for certain companies he covers (e.g., Nintendo, Samsung):
    "I've got a nice gradient of Caucasian I’m allowed to do. I stick with that."
    — Ryan Kelly [49:56]

• German Heritage Stories:

  • The group riffs on Brandon's German grandmother and wild family WWII anecdotes.

• Content Virality and Fame:

  • They discuss "five seconds of fame," rapid viral ascents (like "Hawk Tuah" girl), and pitfalls of overnight internet celebrity.

• Rise of Movie Star Parallels:

  • "Mr. Beast might get recognized more than any person other than maybe Tom Cruise."
    — Cody [107:52]

• The Slow Burn of Success:

  • "I think the nice part... is success came kind of slow in the beginning. You get to adjust to it."
    — Brandon Herrera [109:02]

8. History Stories, Weapons, and Weird Facts

(70:01-91:00, 119:39-129:20)

• "Hey Buddy" Videos:
  • The "Hey Buddy" series peels back bizarre chapters of corporate history (e.g., Nintendo's love hotels, Saab's transition from planes to cars), always with darkly funny twists.
• Weapons and Nerd Tangents:
  • Wild ideas: portable miniguns, rocket jump math, arms museum tour invites.
• Real-World Historical Absurdities:
  • Russian Baltic Fleet disaster: attempted circumnavigation to support war, repeatedly sabotaged themselves, "bounced around from ports... taking all sorts of animals as pets."
• Disaster, War, and Perspective:
  • Comparisons of battle deaths:
    • Stalingrad = >2 million dead, more than all US wars combined.
    • WWII civilian deaths (50-55 million) vastly outpace military.

9. Internet Nostalgia, Childhood, and Social Change

(97:40-103:00)

• "Super Soaker" Memories:
  • Super Soakers were originally invented by a NASA engineer, sold for cheap, then royalties were hidden from the creator until he sued for $73 million.
• Changes in Play:
  • The crew laments the loss of outside play and sleepovers; notes kids' increasing loneliness, online time, and lack of real-world social practice.

Notable Quotes & Moments

• "If you could have any genie wish, what would it be? My wife just says: I wish instant karma existed for everyone." — Ryan Kelly [111:03]
• "My goal was to be the bad guy's bad guy." — Ryan Kelly [110:38]
• "I love drive tanks. It's like violent Disneyland." — Brandon Herrera [121:32]
• "Who knew you could boof vodka?" — [115:13-117:26]
• "History doesn't circle, but it rhymes." — Ryan Kelly [129:20]

Memorable Tangents & Running Jokes

• The “Harem of Dudes” & Brotherhood:
  • Endless recursion on forming an organization of OSINT "dudes" to fight scammers—often derailed by "harem" jokes [23:02, 24:51].
• HP Lovecraft and Historical Racism:
  • Riff on Lovecraft's legacy and how his "eldritch horrors" might just be projections of deep-rooted racism [40:29-41:43].
• "Drink the Kool Aid":
  • Running gag about the Unsubscribe community as a cult, complete with "Kool Aid" [47:03].

Timeline Overview (Key Segments)

| Timestamp | Segment | |-------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 04:05 | Introductions, guest background, early derails | | 04:48 | Ryan's origin story in scam busting, OSINT explanation | | 07:32-13:43 | Global scamming industry—localization, government ties, astroturfing | | 18:27-22:27 | How Ryan got scammed, tracking down perpetrators, viral content consequences | | 27:13-33:37 | Harry Styles scam, man-in-the-middle attacks, psychological tactics | | 43:11-46:40 | Sunk cost, cult psychology, not accepting you’ve been scammed | | 49:56 | The “accent line”—media, culture, and internet cancel mobs | | 70:01-91:00 | Hey Buddy content, weird corporate history, guns/weapons oddities | | 97:40-103:00| Super Soaker nostalgia, decline of play and outdoor childhood | | 103:09-110:01| Parasocial relationships, content creation perils | | 126:14-129:20| Russian fleet history, historical "rinse and repeat" cycles | | 129:20-end | Plugs, thank yous, wind down |

Final Thoughts & Where to Find Ryan

• Socials:
  youthpastorryan.com, @YouthPastorRyan (TikTok & YouTube), Ryan Kelly Comedy (Instagram)
• "No, still not a real youth pastor. It’s just this face." — Ryan Kelly [129:45]

Summary for New Listeners

If you missed the episode, you’ll come away with:

• A hilarious and revealing look at scam busting, from the deeply technical to the deeply absurd.
• Genuine insights about why people believe obvious lies online, how scammers weaponize psychology, and how generational shifts change scam patterns.
• The human side of internet fame, why slow success helps creators stay grounded, and the wild ride of viral moments.
• Fascinating, weird, and sometimes sobering stories from across modern history, always wrapped in the show’s signature chaotic, irreverent humor.
• Running jokes about cults, harems, and boofing vodka. Buckle up.

Listen for:

• Wild scam bust examples ([06:25], [31:28]),
• Astroturfing and fake protests ([12:17]),
• The "Community Kool Aid" cult jokes ([47:03]),
• History turning in circles ([129:20]),
• Attempts at being the internet’s "bad guys’ bad guy."

“It doesn’t circle, but it rhymes.” —Ryan Kelly