uncover their tricks. >> two huge men show up. >> show up with a cate of money. >> it's all dyed black. >> and then turn the tables to scam the scammers. >> mr. grant, there's something you need to know. i'm chris hansen with dateline nbc. tonight "dateline" goes undercover as we follow the money. good evening, and welcome to "dateline." i'm chris hansen. if you've seen any of our earlier stories about internet scammers, you probably thought to yourself, that could never happen to me. the woman you'll meet tonight knew all about e-mail cons, but these guys are so good at what they do, she still fell for the scam and lost her life savings. her troubles started with a simple e-mail, and she's not alone. they come from internet boiler rooms overseas promising big money. >> $850,000. >> $10.7 million. >> but to get it, some people wind up paying a fortune. tonight our story starts in connecticut with this woman. she got one of those e-mails. we've agreed to use only her first name, sharine. >> when i received the e-mail he claimed to be a bear ster in new jeer ya. >> she was caught up in a scheme that stole her life savings, but she felt so foolish, they was reluctant to tell anyone. >> i was almost like crying and everything, and i was just taking money out from my ira. >> how hard was it for you to go to the police? >> very hard. >> i'm proud of her for coming forward. i don't know whether i'd come forward and face family members and friends to say i fell for this. >> gary mcnamara of the fairfield, connecticut police says when his department got the case, he could hardly believe it. here's an educated woman in an affluent community with family and gets taken by these guys? >> yeah. we're all vulnerable when it comes to hope. >> thousands of people fall for similar scams, but they rarely admit it. the scams can fool people you'd think would be too smart to be taken in, but sergeant james perez says that's because the thieves are surprisingly sophisticated and their scams may not be obvious at the start. >> most of the victims are well-educated. professors, doctors, it runs the whole gamut. >> how do they fall for these sca scams? >> they're extremely intelligent in psychological warfare. they're going to play the game and stroke her psychologically for as much as they can before they start the attack. >> like an online sexual predator grooms a potential target? >> absolutely. i like to see attack, because that's truly what it is. >> how does the scam work? for her it involved a he series of phony documents starting with a e-mail from a lawyer overseas about a tragic action. >> unfortunately they all lost their lives. >> he tells her here's the attorney for this family with a horrific accident and left behind a vast fortune of about $15 million. >> why would anyone believe that? well, to begin with, the lawyer sends this real-looking newspaper clipping about the accident. the people have the same last name as shireen. >> that would lead anyone to believe that maybe they have a relative out there with a fortune that really truly does belong to me. >> there's more than a newspaper. there's also a death certificate. >> it's a very real-looking death certificate. >> may i see it? >> sure. >> how believable are these documents? >> these are very believable. >> and shireen says there's something else that made the bar ster's story believe the fortune was from oil. >> he said the client died and he worked in a chevron oil in nigeria. >> she knew there were engineering in her extended family. she was born in bash la desh but has lived in the united states for most of her life and she had relatives all over the world, including some that worked in the oil industry. you had a number of engineers in your family? >> yes. >> your thought process was maybe one of my relatives had been working over there unbeknown to me? >> right. >> the scam works by promising you a fortune but forcing you to pay big fees to claim it. in order to get you hooked, the scammers start small. tell me about the first fee. >> he said that he needed -- i believe the first one is $250. >> $250? >> yes. >> did you sort of think, it's worth it. let's see where it goes? >> that's exactly what i was thinking. >> first a lawyer's fee and then a court fee, and now some bank fees. >> you as the beneficiary will need to send the sum of $2,150 for the office duty stamp. >> the fees are designed little by little to lure people in. >> she's completely invested now into this process. she can't just turn away and walk away, because now she loses that money. so in a way they have her on the hook now. >> and boy, did they. >> from ubs warburg, attention beneficiary. >> to convince shireen it was all real they poured it on sending her official-looking e-mails from the banks and lawyers. they were sending her these forms in color with seals and official-looking stamps allt allteliallte telling the same story about multi-million dollar inheritance. >> here we have a document, a very real-looking document that's a fund release order. >> it has a stamp of approval. >> it has her name on it. it look lists -- >> it's customized for her? >> they list her as the beneficiary. these are convincing documents. >> for operations document, lagos, n nigeria. it lays out this whole $15 million transfer. >> of course she's elated because she's well on her way to get her fortune, and, of course, she's invested in it already. she has to continue. >> by now, shireen not only has sent money, she's even made a trip to london to meet face to face with people she thought were bankers handling her inheritance. she gave them another $10,000 hoping it was the final fee, and before long an e-mail from the bank with good news. >> dear madam, your foelgts sum of u.s. $15 million is expecte to be your act today. >> at this point everyone is signing off and everything appears exactly he the way it should be. >> she's so close? >> she's so close she can almost see the money. she can smell it and taste it in her bank account. >> the scammers managed to get shireen to be emotionally invested here. >> they're literally pulling the puppet strings. >> suddenly a problem. bank says the money transfer can't go through. >> our transfer of $15 million reflected back to our account. >> the bank says the fund is frozen until shireen provides some official documents. >> there's this thing called an inheritance clearance certificate. >> exactly. >> guess what? they're going to cost a bundle. crooks are moving in for the big score. >> these two items, of course, aren't going to cost a few thousand. it comes to a total of $165,000. >> $165,000? >> just to be able to reach out and grab the money, because it's right there. >> little by little, 300, 500, 1700, 15,000, 25,000, and now this is the big score. >> this is it. >> in the end shireen lost her life savings, more than $200,000 and chances are she'll never get a dime of it back. believe it or not, the scammers still think they've got shireen on the hook for even more. what they don't know if she's agreed to let "dateline" step in and try to turn the tables. we start by setting a trap of our own. >> i need to do a face-to-face meeting before i send anybody money. >> but guess who may spoil the party? ♪ i dreamed a time ♪ in time gone by". >> when follow the money continues. i hired someone to make my website... five months ago. we are building a website by ourselves. announcer: there's an easier way. create your own small-business site with intuit websites. just choose a style that fits your business and customize, publish and get found in three easy steps. sweet. all from just $4.99 a month, get a 30-day free trial at intuit.com. ♪ music plays ♪ [ sneezing ] ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] what are you gonna miss when you have an allergy attack? benadryl® is more effective than claritin® at relieving your worst symptoms -- runny nose, sneezing, and watery eyes -- and works when you need it most. benadryl®. you can't pause life. my me time is when i'm apologizing... for something i had nothing to do with. my me time is when my in-laws are in town. my me time is when my luggage went to the bahamas. and i didn't. discover me time any time. introducing mcdonald's new frappés. mccafé your day with smooth and icy caramel or mocha, blended just for you and topped with a decadent drizzle. ♪ ba da ba ba ba oh, i'm still here. yeah. make no mistake about it, we're at war. >> sergeant james perez has seen it firsthand. >> we're at war with a faceless enemy, an invisible enemy he that has the innate ability to get into the core of our country and try to scam people, and they're doing it at a record rate. >> he's been investigating the case of a connecticut woman who lost her life savings. >> attention beneficiary, the transfer will have affect tomorrow. >> the e-mail said she was about to inherit a fortune. the documents looked so real. shireen wanted to believe them so badly, even though at first she had her doubts. >> at one point she stopped them and said, i don't believe this. she basically told them she had seen a he "dateline" show on scams. >> shireen had actually seen one of our previous investigations? >> that's correct. >> my name is chris hansen, and you've just been caught. you've seen one of my stories, and you actually confronted barrister davis about these comments and said, are you one of these guys? >> yes. >> what did he say? >> he was very angry and said you better apologize. i'm not like that. >> she didn't realize she was being conned until it was too late. why didn't you just walk away from it. >> i know. i was going to. they kept saying, see, you already invested so much money. >> you figured i'm into it this far? >> yes, exactly. >> after shireen contacted local police, they contacted federal authorities. but international scams over the internet are tough to prosecute, so shireen asked "dateline" to help. could we crack the case and lure the thieves out from behind their computer keyboards into plain sight? >> mr. davis, i received your e-mail and noted the content. >> the first step, taking over her e-mail h. remember, the thieves have already taken $200,000 from shireen, but it doesn't take long to discover their greed has no limit. they want even more. >> dear shireen, get the balance of $5,000 before the end of the month. >> authorities say the thieves are master manipulators who know they almost never get caught. >> it goes to show you how bold and how confident they are that they're not going to be arrested for it. >> there's always an excuse? >> always an excuse. >> we're about to turn the tables. our chance comes when the thieves send this e-mail saying the money transfer is finally ready, but the bank is asking for more money than ever before. >> dear shireen, they say the only fee they will be collecting is the 10% of the $15 million. >> 10% is a staggering fee, $1.5 million. "dateline" is answering the e-mail now. we'll pay the money on one condition, the scammers have to meet me face to face. i'm a business man posing to give shireen the money to close the deal. at first they refuse to meet, but we dangle the offer to pay that $1 million fee. i'm willing to invest. i adore her, i want toe help her. i want to get this thing done. finally barrister davis takes the bait. >> dear shireen, want friend can see the fund face to face. >> it's off to london where he she met with the bankers once before. and that's where they finally agreed to meet me. "dateline" rents a suite at a prominent hotel. we started to wire it with hidden cameras, butter there's a last minute problem. apparently the bankers haven't arrived yet. they want us to send money in advance to pay for their plane tickets. >> dear shir he reason now we need to send them the 7,500 which their staff will use to travel down to london. >> we think that's just another con. >> i can't believe you don't have a representative already in london. remember, in earlier investigations we discovered the nigerian scammers already have people based in london. so i decide to call the barrister's bluff. you need to listen to me. if the bank will take a fee of more than a he million dollars, they can afford to get somebody here for a meeting tomorrow afternoon. shireen even called. >> hello, mr. davis. >> all but begging the barrister. without a face-to-face meeting, she says she has no hope of raising the money. >> my last hope is my friend mr. chris, willing to help me, but he wants to meet someone in person. >> while we're upstairs making those calls, ourl hotel is being invaded by reporters and photographers even from our own network. >> we'll talk a lot this morning about susan boyle. they're here covering that british singing sensation susan boyle. turns out we had scheduled our meeting right before the finals of "britain's got talent." it was crawling with reporters. >> it's terrible to disappoint shireen, but we have to meet face to face or the meeting won't happen. >> we don't know if it was the media frenzy or something else that stairs them off. in the end he backs out leaving shireen angry and disappointed. >> his name is davis. i think he's the devil. >> we're a lot way from throwing in the trail, and the trail will lead to a place we never expected. coming up, shireen's first brush with her $15 million inheritance, but why was this money funny? >> two huge men -- money funny? >> two huge men -- >> two g g would we eat better? [ rewinding ] at hellmann's, we search for the best sources to make our mayonnaise. we use eggs, vinegar and oil rich in omega 3. ♪ for the quality that could only be hellmann's. hellmann's. it's time for real. and, now introducing hellmann's light. it's made with 100% cage free eggs. so no one is available this time? >> even though barrister davis didn't show up for the scheduled meelgt in london. >> we have to meet face to face. >> e-mails show his ring of thieves still want to squeeze more money out of shireen. sgr >> the bank told me you have to pay more fees. >> "dateline" hasn't given up either. we've taken over her e-mail and are trying to lure the thieves into a face-to-face meeting. we write back that shireen has found a new friend with lots of money. >> i spoke with my friend today and he says he will definitely loan me the money. >> he takes the bait again agreeing to a face-to-mace meeting. wrl this meeting be? over the years we've tracked the internet thieves all over the world, to africa, london, amsterdam and even to switzerland. >> here's what i suspect. i suspect that you're part of a scam. authorities say most internet crimes are based overseas, and they're on the rise. did you or did you not lie to me? >> i lied to you. >> at the government's internet crime complaint center, the number of complaints is up more than 20% in just a year, and the fbi estimates that last year e-mail attacks bilked americans out of more than half a billion dollars. how often do you rip people off this way? so based on our other investigations, we think we have to travel overseas again, but this time we're in for a surprise. >> to shireen, the diplomats will prepare and move your funds to south carolina for delivery. >> south carolina. this ring of thieves apparently is brazen enough to operate right here at home on u.s. soil. the barrister tells us to contact a man he calls a diplomat, somebody by the name of jeffrey grant, to work out the details. mr. grant i'll calming for shireen. we don't want to let shireen meet the thieves alone, so we make up a story she's in the hospital. a "dateline" producer is pretending to be a relative to help her with the trip. >> do you physically have the fund that she is supposed to receive? >> everything is here. that's why they sent me here. >> okay. we'll see you friday. >> okay, sir. thank you. >> the meeting has taken nearly a year to set up, but we're about to meet one of the thieves face to face. we call to let the so-called diplomat knowing we've arrived. >> mr. grant? >> yeah. how are you? >> good. how are you? it's shireen's brother-in-law. we actually got in a little early. >> hi, mr. grant. >> how are you doing, ma'am? >> i'm fivenne. thank you. >> shortly after the phone call mr. grant arrives in our hotel in greenville, south carolina. we've rented a room on the fifth floor and our hidden cameras will report our every word. you're about to see something rarely captured, even by federal authorities, an international crime ridge at work right here in the united states. just moments earlier barrister davis called all the way from nigerian to check out the deal was progressing. >> i just got a call from mr. davis, and he said that as soon as you come here to give him a call. >> okay. >> just as we suspected, the scammers seem to be part of a sophisticated overseas network. how does it work? >> bring it over here. >> bring what over here? >> the boxes with the money? >> yeah. >> for mr. grant this first meeting seems to be a scouting mission to make sure we're not the police. he tells us he'll come back later with the paperwork and money. >> give me an hour and i'll be back. >> one hour and you can bring the money actually up here? >> yeah. >> before he leaves, there's another phone call from the barriste. r. >> yeah, mr. grant is here sitting in front of me. >> it's almost as if the crook overseas is checking up on his partner in america. >> we'll meet back here in an hour, and let's do that. >> okay. >> okay. when he comes back we hope to get a look at one of the crook's favorite tricks. remember shireen had flown to london in hopes of claiming her money. during that trip she met with people she thought were bankers and lawyers and she remembers they gave her a sneak peek on what they said was her fortune. >> they brought a big trunk. it was sort of like a bundles of money or whatever. they were all covers with black. >> to bundling the black bills? >> yes, yes. >> police call it the black money trick. >> two big guys show up with a cate of money? >> exactly. >> but it's all dyed black? >> it's all dyed black. >> the scammers have an explanation for that. >> apparently they had to dye it black to smuggle it out of africa. >> exactly. they explain it has torre converted into useable noen, and the only way to do that is to dip it into an extremely expensive chemical in order to make the money legal so that you can use it. >> sergeant perez says most of the so-called money is just plain black paper, but in a magic trick fit for houdini he shows us how they say it was real by washing a couple of select bills before her very eyes. >> he he clean twod bills. >> when he cleaned those bills what was revealed? it was two $100 bills. >> exactly. >> they hand her the money so for the first time she can see and feel the money in their hands, and they go so as to tell her, hey listen. you don't have to take our word for it. take this money and go out to the store and spend it so that they can really convince her this money is so real and it's all right there. >> of course, it's all a trick to get more money. the scammers use simple supplies, elm measuer's glue an iodine. after it dries the black is easy to wash out. but the thieves say they're using special chemicals and they're very expensive so it's another big fee to pay before you can actually spend your fortune. when we call mr. grant earlier to set up the meeting, we asked about the chemicals. >> she said something about chemicals or a person with chemicals needed? >> that's what i'll do. >> okay. >> so is that black money trip what the drip mat has up huz sleeve. coming up, shir convenient told her inheritance is just a car ride away packed in a trunk stored in an underground vault. do you think it's filled with money, with gold? do you think it's filled with valuables or what? when "follow the money" continues. 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