Whole thing. Norah and Tonights Eye on america. How scammers are tricking americans into falling in love with them and then giving up millions of dollars. Which areas of the world are easier to catch . Easier to catch is americans. Norah the Cbs Evening news starts now. Good evening, and thank you for joining us. We have important new information just coming in about Hurricane Helene as, 75 Million americans across florida and the southeast brace for impact tomorrow night. Could potentially make landfall as a catastrophic category 4 hurricane. The new forecast means people on floridas Big Bend could experience winds of up to 130 miles per Hour And Storm surges up to 20 feet. The national Weather Service just put out a new warning that says in some areas the Storm Surge would be potentially unsurvivable. We have a team of correspondents in the storm zone, and Cbss Lonnie quinn Will Lead us off with the latest on this increasingly dangerous storm. Good evening, lonnie. All right, norah, we are looking at a storm right now that is a category 1. Not the biggest storm that we have ever seen. But all eyes on the state of florida and heres the reason why. You have the storm in the middle of the goal, top of water that is warm. This is going to get stronger fast. Possibly up to the category 4 status you are talking about. Landfall looks to be sometime late thursday, category 4 storm brings also to danger with that. Storm surge the most dangerous and deadly portion of a hurricane. Yesterday, i was talking about 1015 feet of Storm Surge. The new data suggest that number could be as big as 1020 feet of Storm Surge. Elevation is about 5 feet in that portion of the country. My goodness, that is 15 feet of water on top of peoples homes. Wins, this is a category 4 potentially with wins 120 miles per hour, breaking down to 110 as that storm encounters friction with the land, as it pushes and land, the wins get weaker, but as you are starting with those big numbers, even atlanta, georgia, 225 miles from landfall, has tropical Storm Force wins, 608. The rainfall, the numbers are going to be very large come on the shore i would say you are looking at about a foot of rain but as it goes in land and drags in tropical moisture with it, you could be seeing 20 inches and portions of North Carolina and the Tornado Threat from tampa anywhere up into south carolina. Norah, this thing is a beast. Norah really good information, lonnie quinn, thank you very much. Well, now we are going to check in with our reporters covering storms on the Gulf Coast of florida. They are positioned along the roughly 170mile stretch from the big Bend Region to the city of tampa, beginning with cbss jason allen. He is in the coastal community of steinhatchee. Good evening, jason. Reporter good evening, norah. Here on the Gulf Coast in steinhatchee, nearly every boat is moved out of this usually busy marina. The water here has surged as high as 8 feet during storms just in the past year. 6 feet up inside the house. Reporter 6 feet inside the house . Inside the house. 6 feet. Reporter George Edwards hired movers to take Everything Out of his home. The same thing he did a year ago. The mandatory Evacuation Order has been issued for this area. Reporter all morning, sheriffs deputies drove through the streets telling people to lead. Storms have hit here so regularly. Thy kingdom come, buy will be done. Reporter dream 11 gathered stormwary residents for a Prayer Session as helene closed in. We dont want to go through this anymore, but we will have to. Reporter im Nicole Valdes in Crystal River where businesses have heeded the warning. They boarded up, these streets are empty now, braced for what could be catastrophic Storm Surge. Helene could put a twostory building nearly underwater with the Storm Surge up to 20 feet. Last Years Hurricane flooded Pastor Cory Sauls Coffee Shop with 3 feet of water. Now he is moving equipment to higher ground. Getting Everything Out, so as long as it stays under 3 feet in there, then we dont have to do any Drywall Replacement or any electric stuff or anything. Reporter im Manuel Bojorquez at a Tampa General Hospital where this temporary barrier known as an Aqua Fence has gone up or on the ground floor. It is designed to stop Storm Surge from flooding this level 1 trauma facility. The hospital is on an island, and with 58 feet of Storm Surge expected in this area, keeping it open and operating during helene is critical. So we cannot evacuate. Our patients are too critical to move, and there arent any other hospitals that are critical enough to take care of them, so its actually safer to have them here with the care they need but dont risk transport. Reporter already in st. Petersburg, some of the most vulnerable residents are being evacuated from floodprone areas. And some counties in the Tampa Bay Area have now issued mandatory Evacuation Orders for some lowlying areas, as time to get to higher ground is running out. The first impacts from what is now expected to become a major hurricane could be felt here in just a matter of hours. Norah . Norah all right, manny, nicole, and jason, thanks to all of you. And we are following Breaking News out of central california, where a bomb exploded at a courthouse in Santa Maria this morning. Six people were injured and a man is under arrest tonight. Cbss Carter Evans joins us now with the new details. So carter, what happened . Reporter well, good evening, norah. First, here in Los Angeles right now, as a precaution, the sheriff here is adding extra patrols at Court Houses after what happened 150 miles away in Santa Maria. I want to show you video of the suspect being dragged away from the scene in handcuffs. Now we have confirmed that just after 8 30 this morning the man was able to throw a bag past metal detectors, where it exploded in front of a Courtroom Being used for criminal arraignments. Now investigators say it was an ied, an improvised explosive device. People were injured and taken to the hospital for treatment, as nearby buildings were evacuated. Now i spoke with an attorney who was there. He told me he heard the explosion, he saw smoke and saw people running, yelling its a bomb the attorney also set as the suspect was wrestled to the ground, he yelled something about the Fda Poisoning people. Norah . Norah Carter Evans, thank you very much. Turning overseas to several ominous development in the middle east, Israels Army Chief says the military is preparing for a possible Ground Invasion of lebanon after hezbollah launched a ballistic missile toward Tel Aviv this morning. Now heres what president biden says about the growing danger. An allout war is possible, but i think there is also the opportunity is still in play to have a settlement that could fundamentally change the whole region. Norah cbss Imtiaz Tyab reports tonight from lebanon. [explosion] reporter the lives of so many here have been shattered so quickly that the fear now is things are about to get far worse. While addressing troops on the northern border, Israels Army Chief warned of a potential Ground Invasion in southern lebanon. In just three days, over 600 have been killed and thousands more wounded here according to lebanese health officials, including soumaya moussawi. We are strong, she says. No matter what israel does, we will remain strong. According to the u. N. more than 90,000 people have fled israel strikes, as hezbollah continues to fire back. This ballistic missile aimed at Tel Aviv was intercepted, but israels leaders say their Campaign Wont End until residents displaced from Rocket Fire can go home. While hezbollah says it wont stop talking israel until there is a ceasefire in gaza. The idea of going into lebanon on the ground is pretty tricky for them because hezbollah is preparing for that, and its what they really want to happen because they feel they can humiliate the israelis, even though it will come at a price. Reporter and as these bitter enemies harden their positions, the region is bracing for an allout war. While intense Diplomacy Led by the u. S. Is underway tonight to prevent this Alreadydevastating Conflict from spiraling out of control. Norah . Norah a lot of diplomacy underway. Imtiaz tyab, thank you very much. Well, today, Donald Trump lashed out at iran, even threatening mass destruction, after being briefed by Security Officials that iran was plotting to assassinate him. U. S. Officials call the threats clear and say they are revenge for ordering the killing of iranian general Qassem Soleimani in 2020. Current and former administration officials are apparently also being targeted. Cbss Nancy Cordes reports. We are under threat. Reporter iran is no ally of the u. S. but at a rally near charlotte, North Carolina, today, former president Donald Trump took the tough talk to a new level. But if i were the president , i would inform the threatening country, in this case iran, that if you do anything to harm this person, we are going to blow your largest cities and the country itself to smithereens. Reporter his comments came one day after trumps campaign said he had been briefed by the office of the director of national intelligence regarding real and specific threats from iran to assassinate him in an effort to destabilize and sow chaos in the united states. Secretary of state Antony Blinken said today that the u. S. Is tracking an ongoing threat by iran against multiple u. S. Officials. I dont have any other other information to share but know that we are watching this. Reporter in pittsburgh, pennsylvania, Vice President harris was focused on the economy. Look, i am a capitalist. Reporter her top priorities, she said, were cutting taxes for the Middle Class, lowering the cost of Child Care and eldercare, expanding access to paid leave, and providing more assistance to start up businesses and firsttime home buyers. Now, by contrast, Donald Trump has no intention of Lowering Costs for the middleclass. In fact, his economic agenda would actually raise prices. Reporter her speech comes as multiple polls show that Number One, americans are starting to feel a little better about the economy, and number two, that harris has begun to chip away at Donald Trumps advantage on that issue. Its something that president biden tried to do for months without much success, norah, when he was the nominee. Norah Nancy Cordes, thank you. Eye on america is next, with an undercover investigation into online Romance Scams targeting americans. Young men posing as women on the internet and then fleecing victims out of millions of dollars. S of dollars. With the ones you love. Ask your doctor about farxiga today. Farxiga can cause serious Side Effects, including ketoacidosis that may be fatal, dehydration, Urinary Tract or genital yeast infections, and low blood sugar. A rare, lifethreatening bacterial infection in the skin of the perineum could occur. 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Well, in Tonights Eye on america, Cbss Debora Patta takes us on a stunning Journey To The West African nation of ghana, inside the secret rooms where these multimillion Dollar Schemes are hatched. Reporter down a dusty alley in accra, Young Man cast off their true identities as they enter this apartment. They call it their hustle kingdom. Meet Ghanas Yahoo boys. Online fraudsters who Swindle Americans out of millions of dollars by luring them into Romance Scams. I go on online dating site. Find a male friend. Reporter abdullah, not his real name, is part of this syndicate that we filmed undercover. Late into the night, he scours online dating sites, preying on lonely older men over the age of 60, posing as this woman. Ill go on instagram, use a girls picture. I pretend to be a girl. Chat with him. Reporter the scammers pretend to be white american women residing in the u. S. Tricking Men Into Falling In Love with them. But these are smalltime hustlers, working for a boss who sets them up with phones, laptops, electricity, and internet. And there are hundreds more Underground Boiler Rooms just like this throughout. Im the mastermind behind the whole thing. Reporter that is syndicate boss voodu, together with a senior member who calls himself voodu. They have agreed to speak with us on condition we conceal their identities. I come from a poor family and a poor background. Reporter and in a world connected by the click of a button, they turned to cyber fraud. How am i going to survive . Reporter voodus between three is a University Graduate who can find a job. I feel disappointed. Like i didnt go to school to do this. Sometimes you take money from people, imagine that it is my dad. But hey, in our game there is no sympathy, because once you go on the synthetic side, you go hungry. Reporter at the very bottom of the syndicate, new recruits learned the tricks of the trade, starting out by trawling the internet for new clients. Once hooked, the closers like Voodu And Cola step in. I fish everywhere, everywhere in the world. Reporter which areas of the world are easier to catch . Okay, easy to catch is americans. Reporter here he is chatting with a 60yearold man, posing as sandra, living in new york, who will soon be visiting her grandmother in africa. The man asks what she looks like. Voodu pulls this image from a porn site. Here is what comes next. The illusion of a budding romance. It begins with sending little tokens of affection, like chocolates or a teddy bear. They message constantly, laying on the attention and flattery. Then it is more expensive gifts to create the perception they are independently wealthy. When a victim insists on a video call, voodu hires online porn stars and records them acting out scenarios that he directs, from the mundane to the more raunchy. They think are talking to this beautiful blonde woman here. I have paid to just have her on video call. Reporter if the victim gets suspicious, voodu works his magic. Here he uses the image of one of his porn stars to forge an american passport as proof of identity. For inperson visits, they hire escorts who get a cut of the profits. Building trust can take months. We do all that to get his attention and the trust. Boom, then we chip in business. Reporter its time for the Big Con getting them to part with huge sums of money. The set up often centers around ghanas globallyrenowned gold mines, the largest in africa. The scammer, still posing as a woman, claim they are in line to inherit one of these mines. The victim is invited to invest in the mine with the promise of huge returns that will secure the hap