Have You Ever Been Scammed?

Have You Ever Been Scammed?

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Have you been scammed? Have I been scammed? Have you
been scammed? Some people say I'm scamming myself. What does
that even mean?

Speaker 2 (00:06):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (00:07):
I've probably been scam Oh I have been scammed. I
got well, long story, but yeah, I've been scammed. Let's
hear it. No, yes, I don't want to tell it.
I want to hear it.

Speaker 3 (00:15):
It's embarrassing.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
Okay, I'll tell you my scam story if you tell
me yours. I don't like talking about it, Okay, that's fine,
But I think it's good for the people that are
listening that we can give you my experience or our
experience to people.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
And people get scammed all the time.

Speaker 1 (00:32):
Like we're always warning people about scams, whether it's storm
chasing scams, yeah, tornadoes, you know, like the people driving
by and saying, hey, I can help your roof, pay
me this, and then they do a really terrible job
and then take your money and run away and you'll
never see you or hear from them again. Yeah, they're
they're the people on the phone that say, hey me, Ma,

(00:52):
I'm your nephew Johnny and I'm in jail. Please help me.
Is send me your credit card number? And you wire
money and all of a sudden, you were out a
bunch of money. And it was like, wait a second,
where did that go? Johnny said he was in jail, eh,
but he wasn't. You're gonna coax this out of me
and then you're gonna land base me for it, But.

Speaker 3 (01:10):
I don't care.

Speaker 2 (01:10):
I'm not gonna I'll go first.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
Just to make you feel better, I bought a Christmas
tree that had automatic lights on it, right, like these
lights that you can download an app and then program
the lights and they can do different things and you
can like schedule it and turn it on and off
on your phone. It was pretty cool, right technology, and
I was excited to try to figure out how to

(01:32):
use that. I went to the website and there was
a banner that said click here to activate, and I
clicked it and then it asked for my information, like
my credit card and all that stuff, and I put
in all my information because I was like, okay, I
don't know why you need all this. And the next
thing I know, this company had like pulled twenty five
dollars off my account for just like signing up, and

(01:53):
I was like.

Speaker 2 (01:53):
What the heck was that I've already bought the tree.

Speaker 1 (01:55):
What's going on the banner is an ad that somebody
else bought on that website, and it makes you think
that that's something you need to click on. Yeah, on
the website, like it's not the actual website. It was
different people. So I had to cancel my credit card.
I reported the twenty five dollars, which the card company
is a good credit card company that gave me my
money back or they avoided whatever the charge was because

(02:19):
it wasn't real money, you know, on your credit card.
And I had to get a new credit card. And
you know, it's just that was just me being a
little lackadaisical with the website and just thinking that the
thing I was supposed to click on was this thing
that said click here to activate.

Speaker 3 (02:32):
Easiest scam to fall for.

Speaker 1 (02:33):
I feel like, I mean like, if you aren't usually
on you know, a website like that, you're going to
have a you're going to have an issue, I think
in general, trying to detect what is or is it
what you're supposed to do, what is reel, what's not real?
And that's a problem and that's my problem, right It's

(02:55):
just like how do we create rules around not I
mean at I'm fairly website savvy, and I fell for
that one. I could imagine if my dad was trying
to do that. I mean, how much money would they
have been able to take from him on that?

Speaker 2 (03:07):
Who knows? All Right, there you go, there's there's me
being scammed. All right?

Speaker 1 (03:12):
You remember the CD trade posts? Do you ever go
to a CD trade posts?

Speaker 4 (03:16):
That?

Speaker 1 (03:17):
It's a place where you could buy music, But a
lot of times you music you bought some of it
was new, but it's a trade post, so it's a
place where you could go take some of your old CDs,
use that money to buy the new one.

Speaker 3 (03:27):
Kind of deal.

Speaker 2 (03:28):
So the kind of cool place where you might find
a gem here or there, sure, especially if you're into
that sort of thing. Right.

Speaker 1 (03:34):
I had a buddy. The store no longer exists, but
he is still my buddy.

Speaker 3 (03:38):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (03:39):
I had a buddy who used to work at the
CD trade post out there like one hundred and forty
fourth and L area. Okay, so we so action, yeah,
And I got the weird idea one night, this is
not me, This was very weird, but I don't know.
I decided to prank call him, Okay, and so I
called him up and buddy, yeah, and I was doing
my vet. This was when I was maybe like and

(04:01):
so I was trying to put on my best sort
of like older guy voice and was asking him if
he had if he had a catalog of Britney Spears
CDs and was just going really in on how in
on Britney Spears. I was but trying to trying to
talk like a Hank Hill kind of guy. I love
that Britney Spears, yeah, and all that kind of stuff.
Stupid stuff, really stupid stuff. Well, the guy I was

(04:23):
talking to sounded a lot like my friend, but it
wasn't him.

Speaker 3 (04:27):
He wasn't working that night.

Speaker 1 (04:29):
I thought he was. Oh yeah, So I was messing
around with this guy for a while. I thought my
friend was just having fun because I was getting him
good and this guy and he was I thought his
annoyance in his voice was him just kind of playing
into it because he knew who I was. You know,
I don't know, right, So anyways, I was messing around
with this guy. Okay, he didn't take too kindly to it.
I heard that I hurt that guy's ego. Okay, So.

Speaker 2 (04:52):
Once I realized, oh, this is not my buddy Tom.
This is somebody else. Okay, I I hang up the phone,
and then my my phone starts ringing. Okay, and how
do I tell this story?

Speaker 3 (05:04):
I don't even know.

Speaker 2 (05:04):
You're too deep. You just got to keep going.

Speaker 3 (05:05):
I know.

Speaker 1 (05:06):
So basically, this guy I don't even know. I'm the
dumbest person for this. But so I pranked this guy
and messed around with him, and he called me back, yeah,
and how'd you answer? And and he he wasn't too happy,
but he was trying to like he was trying to
mess around with me. I can't remember how he did
his little prank thing against me, prank wars. This was

(05:26):
like true TV like level stuff, you know, basically bad TV.

Speaker 3 (05:30):
Than nobody watches.

Speaker 5 (05:30):
Right.

Speaker 1 (05:31):
So anyways, so that came and went, and I was like, oh,
that was weird. That guy pranked me back. I forgot
all about it.

Speaker 5 (05:37):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (05:38):
Later on that night, my phone rings from another number.
I don't recognize the guy. Well, it was the same guy.
I didn't realize that he threw his voice. I was
messing with the wrong guy here. Okay, Okay, this guy's
got experience in pranks, maybe scams, because he calls me
back with a different voice, and he and he pretends
like he's my cell phone carrier. Oh no, he must

(06:00):
have googled my name or done something. He figured out
my cell phone carrier, which at the time was US Cellular.

Speaker 2 (06:06):
It is no longer, but okay, figured.

Speaker 1 (06:08):
It out, and and he started asking me these questions
and saying I was gonna lose service and something was
wrong and all this.

Speaker 3 (06:13):
And he got me.

Speaker 1 (06:14):
He got me. He got me good. So what did
you do? I gave him my info and what did
he do? He took it and did what with it?
And then he called very elaborate this guy. Props to him.
He got he got like some of my numbers and stuff.
This guy because he was because he was pretending to
be US Cellular and I was going to lose my
service and there was these problems with my phone, and

(06:36):
I fell for it. Okay, So he got some some
sensitive numbers, oh of other people, no, of me, of
the numbers that you need to buy stuff with. Oh yeah,
And then what happened? He bought stuff on your car.
And then at the very end of that conversation, he
broke out and started laughing. And I was so confused.
Why the US cellular guy was laughing in my face
after this whole long ordeal, and thankfully I saved my

(06:58):
phone coverage.

Speaker 3 (06:59):
And then it hit me.

Speaker 2 (07:00):
I was like, this guy's messing around, and.

Speaker 1 (07:02):
I couldn't believe it. My heart sunk. Yeah, yeah, you
got gout. And then what happened? And and and then
I just sat there on the couch and was like,
I I just like gave away my credit card number
to that guy.

Speaker 3 (07:14):
What did I used to do?

Speaker 2 (07:15):
Did he use it?

Speaker 3 (07:16):
Well?

Speaker 1 (07:16):
I took care of things before he could. Okay, so
we don't know if he but he did. Right after that,
call back again, okay, and what happened and pretended to
be my credit card This guy was in deep. He
called back again and pretended to be my credit card company.
He not have like a did he not have a life?
He's working at CD trade posts? What else is he
supposed to do? He's got nobody in there? Okay, yeah,

(07:39):
he's so he called me back again and he pretended
to be in my credit card company. And he pretended
like he pretended like I had like had somebody had
ordered a bunch of adult magazines on my card and
he was just checking the purchase with me.

Speaker 3 (07:52):
Did he was actually reading off the names of him
and stuff.

Speaker 1 (07:55):
Do you actually lose money out of this? I didn't,
but you just felt like an idiot. Yeah, this was
like no money lost, but just a shot to the ego.
I felt so stupid. And the whole thing started with
the most harmless, dumb, innocent prank that I was trying
to pull on my buddy, and I riled this guy up.

Speaker 2 (08:10):
But you did, you did your buddy everyone about this story.

Speaker 1 (08:13):
I told him the story. He was just wailing with
laughter because he wasn't there that.

Speaker 2 (08:16):
Did you ever see this guy ever? Or do you ever?

Speaker 1 (08:20):
That was the end of your interaction with That was
the end of it. I didn't even drive down that
street anymore. So I was so embarrassed. I still look
at that little strip mall and think, my goodness, the
shame that sits in there. Somewhere in the corner of
that place, there was a man pacing back and forth
steal in my identity one night in a CD trade
post to lose actual dollars. Right, yeah, hey, we've all

(08:41):
done stupid stuff like that. That's actually a funny story anyway.
It's a four nineteens. If you've been scammed, I got
a big scam story. It's called fire Festival too, and
I'll tell you about it. And if you want to
share a story of your own, callus at four h
two five five eight eleven ten, News Radio eleven ten
kfab he's have you been scammed? What's going on? Phil

(09:04):
is on the phone line of four two five five
eight eleven ten. Phil, What you got for me?

Speaker 2 (09:09):
So?

Speaker 4 (09:09):
Downtown Old Market get online to do your parking? And
I was doing getting that all set up. I didn't
go to the machine. I went to do it online. Yeah,
doing it and it pops up again, like you were
saying something pops up, end up clicking on that. Suddenly
I did a thing saying that forty five dollars is

(09:30):
out on my account and it's going to be reoccurring
each month. What it takes one of those? It was
an ad that pops up on that that part and
if you don't look at the right part, you end
up hitting the wrong button. Suddenly they're charging you forty
five dollars. Oh?

Speaker 5 (09:48):
Is that?

Speaker 1 (09:49):
Yeah? Is that? Is that? Like the monthly or the
weekly parking? And like what by the uh? Are you talking.
You're an old market. Were you next to one of
those parking garages? Yeah, okay, I get you. Yeah, that'd
be easy to fall for. Honestly, Like, I downloaded the
app because I had a similar app in to wine,
so I knew what I was looking for. I can
see how it's totally confusing for people who haven't used

(10:11):
it before.

Speaker 4 (10:12):
So I ended up just doing the machine nowadays. But yeah,
the first time, suddenly I got forty five dollars out.
It's not charged, not letting me partk. Yeah, Like this
is ridiculous.

Speaker 2 (10:22):
Did you figure it out? Did you get I did?

Speaker 4 (10:25):
I had to call them up a few different times
to get canceled.

Speaker 1 (10:29):
Interesting well, being on the lookout for that, Phil, That's
that's pretty crazy. I appreciate the call. Thanks for listening.

Speaker 2 (10:36):
Rob's on the phone line four two five five eight
eleven ten.

Speaker 6 (10:39):
What do you say, Rob, Well, I didn't really scam
this guy. I just kind of slightly let him believe something. Okay, So, well,
you know, I'm the guy who went over and plowed
your driveway. And you got to ask Scott, how I
know where you live? I know all sorts of things.
In ninety six, a friend Ry we were going to Cantun.
I didn't know till the day before that she had
had her passport stolen. Obviously, this is before nine to eleven.

(11:01):
You didn't have to have a passport and just a
birth certificate. So the ninety six Senate race, I gave
twenty five bucks to Ben Nelson ended up not voting
for him. But you know, time as money money is
time on campaigns. So I called him up on Saturday
the sender twenty first to ninety six and said, hey,
this is Rob. I don't know if you remember me.
I worked on your campaign. Yeah, I remember you. I've

(11:22):
never met you anyway, So I explained the situation. I said, hey,
friend needs a birth certificate. Oh, let me take down
your name and information like cant Oh. By the way,
my palms were sweating like you wouldn't believe I was
twenty one and so like ten minutes later, his secretary
called me and said, hey, called this guy. He is
deputy director of Vital Statistics and Lincoln to open up

(11:44):
the State Office building and print a bur certificate for you.
And then I get a speeding ticket on the way
to Lincoln. But you know what my favor was used, So, Hey,
things happened? Did I work on his campaign again? Time
is money, It's all the same.

Speaker 1 (11:58):
Yeah, something like that. And we'll see if that would
hold up in a court of lot. But hey, I
appreciate you sharing that story with it.

Speaker 2 (12:06):
Yeah, I hear that.

Speaker 1 (12:07):
Hey, buddy, appreciate the call. Thanks for listening. Yeah, that's
pretty funny. Some people are real creative out there. You
know who else is creative? Billy McFarland, the guy who's
putting together fire Festival two, the guy who put together
Firefest one. And if you didn't know about that story,
I'll try to tell you the best that I can
when we come back on news radio eleven ten kfab.

Speaker 3 (12:27):
Em Marie's songer on news Radio eleven ten kfab.

Speaker 2 (12:30):
How do you feel about music festivals? Are you a
music best guy?

Speaker 3 (12:34):
No?

Speaker 2 (12:35):
I am not even well, okay, come on, a music guy.

Speaker 7 (12:38):
I love music. Music maybe was even my first passion.
I was passionate about being a musician, being in bands.
I used to be in a band and they used
to play some concerts here in town.

Speaker 1 (12:49):
Yeah, and I do get out to open mic and
play my acoustic guitar. Ever once in a while, all
that said, I'm very very picky and selective about even
the live music that I consume. Why I weigh what
is uh, what's the what's the wheelhouse like, what's your
preferred like a typical thing that you'd go out of
your way to Or do you go to places and

(13:12):
you're just going there to hang out and they just
happen to have live music? Or do you care about
who the live music is when you go into places?

Speaker 3 (13:19):
I care? I care?

Speaker 1 (13:20):
And also I uh, I don't know. I don't say this.
I'm not some sort of snob. Or maybe if I
am snobbish, it's my own right to be. So I
you tell them exactly if I could be a snob
if I want to. All right, I'm just telling you
I've You know, when I was in the music scene,
I would go to some concerts and these these are
at these dive bars here in Omaha that are not

(13:42):
set up to hold the kind of music these bands
wanted to play, these these hard rock bands that would
just blow the doors off the darn place and explode
my ear drums. And yeah, I was like twenty two
years old sitting there like a cranky old man, you know,
plug in my ears because it's ridiculous. But it's so
loud you can't even hear the music. All you hear

(14:02):
is just noise.

Speaker 2 (14:03):
Yeah, I've been there, I've done that.

Speaker 1 (14:05):
And so for me, like no thanks. I made an
agreement with myself, I'm going to go to live music
only when it's an experience that enhances and is quantifiably
better than what I could get driving in my car
listening to them by myself. So music festival, the environment,
the experience of seeing them live, and all the fun
that could come from seeing multiple people at the same

(14:26):
place just doesn't do anything for me. All right now,
it context matters. I've seen some of my favorite musicians.
I love a good setting like the Sumpter Theater, somewhere
where you're kind of sitting out in the open like that,
and well, you're close enough to the stage and the
music just sounds great. I went to Hinterlane Music Festival,
which is in a big Amphitheater natural Amphitheater in Iowa.

(14:47):
They're moving that to another part of that property. It's
like Americana bluegrassy type. It's not really big time, loud,
heavy rock and music generally, but they have you know,
a variety of different music. I've seen the Band of
Horses there. I've seen Churches there. I've seen Hosier there.
I've seen Zach Bryan there. I've seen Orville Peck there,

(15:11):
Brandy Carlisle, Casey Musgraves, on.

Speaker 2 (15:14):
And on and on and on.

Speaker 1 (15:14):
There's been a lot of good people that I've seen there. Cool,
and I don't know. It's more for the time than
it is for the music. I happen to have great
memories of a lot of the music, but it's really
for the time. Right enter Fire Festival, which in twenty
what was this, It's like twenty seventeen, Is that about right,
twenty sixteen? Yeah, that sounds right. Yeah, let me just

(15:40):
check this real quick. Yeah, April twenty seventeen. So Billy
McFarlane was a young hot shot. It was like twenty
six twenty seven years old, and him, along with his
newfound buddy rapper Jah Rule, promoted this event, if you
didn't know, on a island in the Bahamas, in that area,
and they had promised all this money, or sorry, not

(16:02):
all this money, all this food, all this big time music,
and these really cool little villas that you lived in
for a few days while you were there, it just
looked like a paradise, so utopia. And they had all
these major players, like the Kendall Jinners of the world
on social media pumping this thing out. Like they paid

(16:23):
all these big time people. I don't know how Billy
McFarlane I had to go back like he's an EPO baby, right,
Like that's how he got his money in his status.
You sure would think so, like yeah, like what's a
I mean, this guy is a fraud first of all.
Like I just got to tell you, everything that he's
ever done is super sketchy.

Speaker 2 (16:45):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (16:45):
So he was born in New York City and his
parents are both real estate developers, and he founded an
online advertising platform and was the CEO of that, and
I don't know, he somehow was able to get a
bunch of invests starts to help fund what he wanted
to do with his life. He borrowed over seven million
dollars to fund the festival, this fire festival. And then

(17:09):
if you watch there's documentaries on this on both there's
documentaries on Netflix and I think Hulu two separate documentaries
about the whole thing. And it it's kind of fascinating
how many young influencer types fell for this thing, and
that's the only people that went because the prices were
outrageous and you had to get on a plane to
fly there. And they landed there and all they had

(17:30):
what were like cheese sandwiches or something for food, and
they had all the music had canceled like last minute,
because none of the people felt comfortable about, you know, traveling,
because you know, they we they were had agreed to
play and then had pulled out for whatever reason in
the days and weeks leading up to it. And eventually
Billy McFarland was convicted of fraud and sentenced to six

(17:53):
years in prison.

Speaker 2 (17:54):
Well he's out of prison.

Speaker 1 (17:55):
Now, and I think he served like two and a
half years of prison and he's out and now he's
organizing Fire Festival two.

Speaker 2 (18:02):
You know when Fire Festival two is supposed to take place?

Speaker 3 (18:04):
Is it this summer? It is?

Speaker 2 (18:07):
Okay, there's the date? Where the date go? Where's the date?

Speaker 4 (18:11):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (18:11):
Yeah, late May coming up, late May May thirtieth to
June second, So Friday to Monday. Where is it at?
Billy on his website says it's in pliadel Carmen, Mexico.
That's news to Plodel Carmen, who went on the record
and said, that's not happening here.

Speaker 4 (18:26):
What.

Speaker 1 (18:27):
Yeah, the city of Pliadel Carmen says, we have no
contract with anybody from this group.

Speaker 2 (18:33):
This is not happening here.

Speaker 3 (18:34):
It's happening again.

Speaker 1 (18:37):
The Fire Festival two is sold as an electrifying celebration
of music, arts, cuisine, comedy, fashion, gaming, sports and treasure hunting,
all set in the stunning location of Pliadel Carmen, Mexico.
Experience unforgettable performances, immersive experiences in an atmosphere that redefines

(18:58):
creativity and culture. I gotta tell you, you would think you
would know exactly what's going to be happening here. So
I looked up the musical acts that are being promoted
for Fire Festival two.

Speaker 2 (19:10):
Do you know what that is? You know who they are?

Speaker 3 (19:13):
Some big ones?

Speaker 2 (19:13):
Yeah, go ahead, and guess I'll say Marshmallow wrong.

Speaker 1 (19:18):
There are zero musical acts that have been confirmed on
the website or anywhere on the internet, and it's like
six weeks away.

Speaker 3 (19:25):
Yeah, oh, do.

Speaker 2 (19:29):
You want general access?

Speaker 1 (19:30):
How much do you think the general access is to
go to Fire Festival too and allegedly apply a del Carmen, Mexico.
Probably like three thousand bucks. It's fifteen hundred. How much
for VIP access probably like two thousand bucks, five thousand bucks.
You have artist access if you get the Phoenix package.
It says create the fire, be part of the creation.
How much to be in the Phoenix package and have

(19:53):
artist access?

Speaker 3 (19:54):
Oh, seven thousand bucks.

Speaker 1 (19:56):
Twenty five thousand dollars. And then finally the Prometheus Pass.

Speaker 2 (20:03):
Ah, Yes, the Prometheus Pass.

Speaker 1 (20:04):
The origin of the Prometheus Pass is shrouded in secrecy.
Legend has it that it was inspired by the titan Prometheus,
who defied the gods to gift humanity fire, a spark
of creation and innovation. This pass is not for the
faint of heart, nor is it for the casual attendee.
It is for those who seek to rise above, who
don't just want to witness history, but aspire to shape it.

Speaker 2 (20:27):
How much for the Prometheus Pass?

Speaker 1 (20:30):
For the Prometheus Pass, that probably just gives them one
extra cheese sandwich, I will say thirty seven thousand dollars.

Speaker 5 (20:37):
One point one million dollars, So yeah, I don't they're
selling merch The first shirt that it's a T shirt
that says fire Festival two is real. It's a white
T shirt that says Fire Festival two is real. How
much for the Fire Festival two is Real?

Speaker 2 (20:58):
T shirt?

Speaker 1 (20:58):
Ooh man, you can buy online. You don't even have
to go, you can just buy it online. Forty bucks,
seventy dollars. It's this whole thing has to be just
come some sort of joke that Billy McFarland's playing.

Speaker 3 (21:11):
It's got to be.

Speaker 1 (21:11):
He's like, he's pranking people, but he's going to come
out with the documentary on how easy it is to
prank people. That's what this is, right, And we talked
about how he's gone completely out of his way to
like make sure that they got all of the disclaimers
pretty accurate of just like, hey, if this gets canceled
or moved or anything like that for this reason or
this reason or this reason, we owe you no money

(21:33):
kind of thing. Remember, It's just like this seems like
he's kind of just baiting stupid people, right, or he
spent the last six years plotting this. All he's got
to do is get one very poor sucker of an
influencer to buy that Prometheus package, and that man's a millionaire.

(21:53):
Well yeah, but Also he's kind of high profile. I
can't believe he's like not being investigated as we speak
for even kind of advertising this. It's got to be
a joke. That's the only thing I can think of.
It's just him playing a joke on people. In twelve
years fire Festival three, Oh no, it's gonna be litd
well not It's four forty nine news Radio eleventh in KFAB.

(22:17):
Local authorities in Pliad del Carmen, Mexico have publicly denied
having any knowledge, let alone approval for the event. They
didn't even know this was being stated, this happening here,
and they say no such festival as register or planned
in their entire city. Documents shared by McFarland indicated a
permit for a small event at Martina Beach Club, which
would have allowed for a maximum of two hundred and

(22:38):
fifty people and only twelve hours of recorded music over
three days. So if that's the permit that they have here,
it is absolutely just a prank on stupid people. And
he only assumes that only two hundred and fifty or
so people will actually show up. And also Billy McFarland
also owes approximately thirty five million dollars in restitution in

(22:59):
taxes for the first Fire Festival that he still owes.
He owes people, he owes thirty five million dollars in restitution. Still,
so is this some way to grab, you know, a
little bit of that money while also making himself maybe
some more money by doing his own documentary about how
stupid people are. He might quite literally be trying to
rob Peter to pay Paul. So what I'm saying is,

(23:22):
I'm gonna go ahead and tell you probably not a
good idea to buy Fire Festival two tickets.

Speaker 2 (23:28):
That would just be my guess.

Speaker 1 (23:30):
But hey, we talked about Millian McFarlane today and I'm
sure he's happy about that.

Speaker 2 (23:34):
So way to go, Billy loser.