Coups, Scams, & Counterfeit Bills | Trafficked with Mariana van Zeller MEGA Episode | Nat Geo

[♪ suspenseful music plays] [Mariana van Zeller] Back in September of 2001, I was a student at Columbia's Journalism School in New York, when the world as we knew it changed. As one of the few Portuguese journalists in New York, I was asked by a network in Lisbon to go live from the city. [speaking Portuguese]. [Mariana van Zeller] It was the first time I'd covered terrorism and it awakened me to the ways that extreme ideologies festering in distant places can impact so many in a globalized world. [overlapping chatter] My experience on 9/11 led to other stories, investigating terror networks in Syria, Iraq, Sri Lanka, Sierra Leone... You see the mine right here? ...Nigeria and Lebanon. In the hands of Hezbollah, how careful should we be? [Rami] Uh, you should be very careful. [Mariana van Zeller] I've tried to understand how these groups think, how they recruit, how they plan. It goes into the truck, yeah? And how they fund their operations. They're making money out of the selling and out of the transportation of oil. And recently, I've heard rumors of a new funding source, gold. That's what brought me to Niger. [gunfire] [bystander] Allahu Akbar! [Mariana van Zeller] I came here to learn how this dangerous trade works and how terrorists are profiting. But then, the world shifted once again. Hi, can you hear me? The communication is really bad. Communication is really bad. I'm sorry. [phone disconnects] [bleep]. [Darren Foster on phone] Hello? [Mariana van Zeller] Yes, so we just got word that there was a military coup, and basically it just happened a few hours ago in the capital. And we're just waiting for, for word on what to do. We're not sure. [inaudible]. What's that? Sorry, the, the connection. Yeah, and now it's not even going through. We have no idea what's happening. We're all really on edge and it doesn't look like it's very safe for us to stay here. [♪ theme music plays]. [singing foreign language]. [♪ upbeat music plays] [Mariana van Zeller] So, we're basically driving right in the middle of the Sahara. There's no, like, actual real roads here. And there's just miles and miles of just emptiness, nothing. We're in a convoy of three military trucks right now, with about, I don't know, like 20 guys carrying an AK-47, and they say that that's necessary here, because there's been an increase in attack in this region. Niger is one of the most remote and dangerous places in the world. The country is part of the Sahel region of Africa, a region that's become a breeding ground for the biggest brands in terrorism. Since the early 2000s, groups like al-Qaeda, Boko Haram and The Islamic State have killed tens of thousands of people in the Sahel, and displaced millions more. [Mariana van Zeller] It's all part of a violent attempt to expand their influence and spread their ideology. But that expansion is costly. And one newfound commodity here is helping to fuel it. So, there's been a huge gold rush in Niger in the past decade and there have been gold mines popping up all over the country. We're heading to one of the most recent ones. I want to know if these recent discoveries of gold are becoming a hidden source of funding for terror groups, so I'm starting at the source. You can start seeing some huts. You know, you drive in the desert for so long, you don't see anything and it seems like so out of place. So here it is. This is it. The gold Wild West. [laughter] [Mariana van Zeller] All those holes on the ground, that's all mines. So, they're basically going down in, under these holes. Wow. That is insane. [Mariana van Zeller] This is a familiar sight throughout the Sahel, young men prospecting in the desert with hand tools and little else. But the reason our army escort is on high alert is because deadly attacks on mining sites, like this one, have become alarmingly common. [Mariana van Zeller] In fact, this was one of the only mines in the entire country that they felt comfortable with us visiting. [Mariana van Zeller] So he's saying his mine is right here. But you can see all of these were, there's a bunch of holes around that are all, they're all essentially mines. Oh, wow. Holy moly. Okay. This, so this is the entrance to his mine, right here. Wow. [Mariana van Zeller] Oui. [Mariana van Zeller] Oh, wow, so there's a, one of the guys, one of the miners that's coming up right now, so we're at about 60 feet and we have to go over 200 feet down. The mine has been blasted with dynamite and dug out by hand. There are no supports to buttress the walls or ceiling. And yet, Issifou and his men navigate the shafts without any safety equipment and just flip flops on their feet. [groans] Okay. Oh, wow, it's getting really, really dark now. Super dark. You can barely see anything. You really do need these headlamps. All of this is unregulated. The sense I get from the miners is that the government is so strapped for resources, these mines can operate with impunity. I imagine there's a hope, too, that young men at work in the mines will be harder targets for terrorists to recruit. If that sounds rather desperate, it is. And indicative of the many challenges facing the country. [Mariana van Zeller] I mean, come and, come and see this. This is crazy how deep it gets. At this point, it's just so steep that we have to go with our bums down as if it's a slide. [speaking French] [Mariana van Zeller] I think we're getting close. You can start hearing the hammering on the rock here. [Mariana van Zeller] Oh, wow. Okay, so this is where they're digging right now. You can see them essentially hitting and basically digging for gold. See and then it all goes into these big, white bags and gets carried up. It's, uh, really hot here, very hot, and really dark. And you could see pieces of, basically, the ceiling falling down. So this is the vein. estimated that more than $5 billion in gold is extracted each year from small unregulated sites in the Sahel, like this one, a testament to the sheer willpower of miners like Issifou. And, uh, they're, they're telling us that we actually have to start going up because they, at, at 5:00 p.m., they start putting dynamites in the mines around, so there's a risk that this will all collapse. So they're telling us we have to head up. We have two minutes to get up there. Okay, okay. Okay. Okay, let's go, guys. [speaking French]. [Mariana van Zeller] If they reach a rock that is too hard to hit by hand, that's when they use the dynamite. And he says they use it quite frequently. Every workday at 5:00 p.m., Issifou and his men set off explosives. [rumbling] Whoa, did you hear that? When the dust settles, they'll descend back into the mine and work late into the night, hauling out the blasted rock. Much as I'd like to stay, the gold mines of the Sahel region are not a place to be caught after dark. The soldiers escorting us are adamant that we get back to our camp before nightfall, or risk finding ourselves in somebody's crosshairs. Kiari Liman-Tinguiri has served as the Nigerian ambassador to the United States since 2021. Back in 2002 and 2003, there were just nine terrorist attacks on the entire African continent. Fast forward 20 years to 2022, and that number jumped to 2,737 attacks in Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali alone. The attacks often entail large groups of terrorists roaring into villages and mining sites on motorcycles, and robbing and killing with abandon. [rapid gunfire] [Mariana van Zeller] Ultimately, it's this desperation that keeps the miners digging, despite all the risks. [grinding] [♪ upbeat music playing] [Mariana van Zeller] The rocks he brings here generally yield small amounts of gold. It's then sold to middlemen for cash, and the profits split evenly between the mine's owner and Issifou's crew. [Mariana van Zeller] So this is a gram of gold basically. This is after it's, the mercury's been burnt off. It will be sold for the equivalent of about $60. It doesn't look like much, but, uh, this is why all of this is happening. It's all because of this. -This is taken, then transported to Agadez. journey from here to Agadez is 100 miles of unpaved and punishing terrain. [singing in foreign language] [Mariana van Zeller] But waiting at the end is a city that serves as a stronghold of Tuareg people and a crossroads of the Sahel, where fortunes in ivory, salt, spices, and slaves have traded hands over the centuries. [car honking] Today, it's gold that feeds the local economy. [clinking] [sizzling] This is almost 600 grams of gold. It's worth, uh, $36,000. This is market day for Clickely, a gold broker who has come to the forge to melt down ingots that he and his men have bought from miners like Issifou. If terrorists are stealing gold, at some point, they must trade it... And I'm hoping Clickely can explain how and where that happens. [Mariana van Zeller] So today alone, he's processed $333,000 worth of gold here. That is incredible. [Mariana van Zeller] 20 million? So that's $33,000 that he's made just today from the golds that he was able to process. And that's liquid. Just pure money. Clickely has agreed to speak with us, but only for a short while. Especially in a country with poverty as desperate as Niger's, walking the streets with gold bars is an invitation to be robbed or killed. [♪ eerie music playing] [clicks] So many zeros. -Yes. -$2 million? -Yes. Yes. -Wow! [Mariana van Zeller] Wow. The Sahel wasn't always this dangerous. Ironically, it was an American and NATO intervention in neighboring Libya that created a power vacuum and opened the floodgates to militants. [Dr. Stephanie Savell] The problem really arose following the fall of Gaddafi in 2011 in Libya. [reporter] This final image, a violent end for a violent man. mercenaries who were fighting for Gaddafi, they looted his weapon stores. [reporter] Artillery, rockets, missiles, and chemical weapons agents that could make a terrorist's head spin. [Dr. Stephanie Savell] And came down south into Mali. [Mariana van Zeller] That influx of fighters and weapons made the Sahel less safe and less stable. Terrorist groups saw the region's increasing lawlessness as the perfect place to recruit, train, and plan attacks, both in Africa and beyond. Back in Washington, America saw uncomfortable parallels to Afghanistan and 9/11. [President Obama] We have to recognize that the threat has shifted and evolved from the one that came to our shores on 9/11. With a decade of experience now to draw from, this is the moment to ask ourselves hard questions, about the nature of today's threats and how we should confront them. To try to stem it, they began pouring humanitarian and military aid into Niger. So, this is actually one of the largest U.S. military drone bases in the world, and we're in the middle of the Sahara Desert, in the middle of nowhere. On the outskirts of Agadez is an American military facility known as Air Base 201. Finished in 2019 by the U.S. Air Force at a cost of more than $100 million. American taxpayers also spend an estimated 20 to $30 million a year to maintain it. You can see it's all this barbed wire that goes on for a long time. There's a bunch of soldiers coming out. Well-armed. They want us to stop? Are they asking us to stop? Should we stop? I think we were driving too close to the base. So now we have a couple of, uh, soldiers coming to ask us questions. The U.S. has more than 1,000 military personnel stationed in Niger whose presence, along with drone surveillance and strikes, are intended to help keep terrorist groups in check. [explosion] But lawlessness remains rampant. Even here, on the perimeter of Base 201, less than a year ago, a vehicle carrying $40,000 in payroll for the base was robbed in broad daylight. So it's understandable why they'd ask us to stop the car. So we're with National Geographic, we're a television crew. I can show you my credential. After a few questions, they let us go. [soldier] Go, go. [Mariana van Zeller] Our plan was now to move closer to the capital, Niamey, to further investigate gold and terror connections. When we came to Niger, we knew that the gold trade was just one facet of a bigger story, about America's ongoing strategy for combating Islamic terrorists, and its battle with other global powers for influence in the region. But not in our wildest dreams did we expect what would happen next. [phone line ringing] -Hello? [Mariana van Zeller] So, we just got word that there was a military coup in the country. Just got back to the hotel and finally got access to cell phone service. And basically, it just happened a few hour, a couple of hours ago in the, in the capital, um, and we're just waiting for, Um, right, you know, right now, we're in Agadez. [reporter] Tonight, chaos in the capital of Niger... After what appears to be a coup attempt against President Mohamed Bazoum by his own security forces. [speaking foreign language]. [Lester Holt] In addition to growing threats from terror groups. [reporter] The U.S. is calling for the president to be released immediately. [reporter] Officers were closing the country's borders and establishing a curfew. [reporter] Niger is a key security ally for the U.S. in the region. [correspondent] This does not bode well at all. [Mariana van Zeller] Kamil? -Hey, Mariana here. [Mariana van Zeller] We got the news and it's, uh, I think we're all a little bit on edge here. We're all very nervous. How are you doing? [Mariana van Zeller] And what do you, what do you mean? What is happening in the capital? Oh, [bleep]. -Hello, sorry. -So, what happened exactly? Can you tell me? So, there were some shots fired, right, on the streets of, of the capital? So yeah, I think, we have no idea what's happening. We're all really on edge and waiting to hear what to do next. It doesn't look like it's very safe for us to stay here. [Kiari Liman-Tinguiri] I received calls and WhatsApp message and, uh. [reporter] Demonstrators who support the president scampered as gunshots rang out. [reporter] Why this coup is happening is unclear. [reporter] They've closed the country's borders and they've closed the airspace, so no flights are coming or going. [reporter] What was a fragile democracy, now appears to be heading towards full blown military dictatorship. the president is still being detained by the military? [Baba Toure] Yes. The president are detained by the militaries. [Mariana van Zeller] Baba Toure is our local producer, who's originally from Mali. [phone chiming] [Baba Toure] Sorry, sorry. [Mariana van Zeller] Are you getting a lot of messages from your family and people? [Baba Toure] Yeah. Yeah. -Worried? -I get, yes. [Baba Toure] Since yesternight, my family called me. [Mariana van Zeller] Mm-hmm. [Baba Toure] Friends, they try to know, they try to know if I'm fine, if everything is good. Everybody is worried, yeah. [Mariana van Zeller] Check these out, the ones responsible for the coup, yeah? [Baba Toure] Yeah. [Mariana van Zeller] I've been a journalist for over 25 years and this is the first time I've been trapped inside my own story. Overnight, airspace has been shut down, and land borders have been closed. That leaves us in a tight spot. We came here with army security provided by President Bazoum's government. And now that his government is gone, so is our security. We're in a small hotel in the desert, a 500 mile drive from the international airport in the capital, glued to the tv watching events unfold. [cheering] [Mariana van Zeller] This coup is a deep shock for the country and for the U.S. It was only four months ago that Antony Blinken made the first ever official visit by a Secretary of State to Niger. [Antony Blinken] Today, I announce nearly $150 million in new humanitarian assistance. What does it mean that only months later, this, "Model of democracy," has been overthrown? [reporter] Niger was in the process of shrugging off a reputation as part of the, "Coup-club," countries in this part of Africa. Rumors are swirling about what really motivated the coup. Did General Tchiani, the leader of the presidential guards, take action because he'd heard he was about to be replaced? Was president Bazoum to blame for fostering such close ties to France, which ruled Niger as a colony until 1960 and maintained an unpopular military presence? One of the first acts of violence to be broadcast is the riot where coup supporters chant, "Down with France," as they tried to set fire to its embassy in the capital. [reporter] Elsewhere in the capital, they hold aloft the Russian flag. [Mariana van Zeller] Or was this the work of Putin's Russia, a country that has much to gain from Niger's break with France and the U.S.? [reporter] Tailors in Niger's capital busy making more Russian flags to meet increased demand. Again and again, Putin has attempted to use the instability in the region to his advantage. The Sahel has experienced seven coups in just three years, ushering a new generation of military strongmen into Putin's orbit. He's hosted them at conferences in Moscow and provided Wagner mercenary troops to help them fight terrorists and maintain control. [reporter] Wagner and Russia's stock seem to be rising in West Africa. [reporter] "All the Africans know that Putin is ready to save us," this man says. In exchange, Russia has obtained valuable mining contracts to extract the Sahel's many natural resources, including gold. There is a concern that Putin might send troops to prop up the coup leaders, an action that could spark a civil war. It's also possible that terrorist groups could exploit these chaotic days after the coup to stage their next big attack. [automated voice] You are in the meeting now. -Hi, guys. -Hey, everyone. Mariana here. I think, at this point, we would all feel much better if we're actually discussing plans for our extraction, in case there is in fact a military evacuation. Yeah. We understand all that. We just want to know, if violence breaks out where we are right now, what is the plan? what exactly is it that you guys can do for us? What exactly is your role? Yeah. So that's what, we sort of want to have those, where would that be? When would that be and where? What, what's that point? And is there a plan already being set in motion? We're missing a little bit of a sense of urgency or plan, pre-planning, so we're not stuck in a war if military intervention starts. [Mariana van Zeller] Yeah, but do you guys have any idea where that is? Do, any, any idea, any idea where that would be? What's that safe location? Any, any idea? [Mariana van Zeller] I think the most troubling part of it all is the fact that we're stuck here. They say it's, it'll be, at least, another week before, um, there's, they open up the airspace. Maybe more. So we have no idea how long we're gonna be stuck here. Stuck in our little Agadez hotel, I find myself fighting two impulses. The first, to get out of the country as soon as possible, as there's a real chance of violence breaking out. The second impulse is to do what we've come here to do. We wanted to see the situation, so we've actually been out and about today. Things are pretty calm here. Niamey, in the capital, is not the same. They've been burning buildings. There've been a lot of protests, both supporting the coup and against the coup. A contact says a former member of a terror group has agreed to meet with me, but only in a location of his choosing, and that means leaving the relative safety of our hotel. I'm hopeful this man has insight into how these terror groups, the gold trade, and the coup are all intertwined. We're looking for this blue door, somewhere around this neighborhood. But, really, I have no idea what I'm walking into. [knocking] [Mariana van Zeller] Okay. How old were you when you joined the group? [Mariana van Zeller] Zakat is one of the pillars of Islam, a charitable offering required of Muslims each year. But in this case, what Moustapha describes, is more akin to a shakedown. [Mariana van Zeller] Moustapha explains that some of the gold is used as currency in Niger. The rest is sent to Dubai where it's traded for cash and used to purchase goods that are then imported back into the country. [Mariana van Zeller] As we head back to our hotel, it strikes me that he's wrong about one point. Not everything will come to a halt. If I learned anything over the years, it's that black markets thrive in instability. The lack of opportunities will only send more young men to the mines or into the arms of terrorist groups. Instability breeds more instability, especially in a region like the Sahel, which sits atop a treasure trove of untapped natural resources. Gold, yes. But also oil, uranium, and rare earth minerals. This coup is part of a much larger story about resources and power. Who's got them? Who wants them? And what people are willing to do to get them? [Mariana van Zeller] So the West African state leaders are discussing the situation in Niger. And one of the possibilities is military intervention, which obviously is really bad news, because if things get violent here and if the war breaks out, we wanna be sure that there is an evacuation plan in place. We went to the airport yesterday, as well, to see if they had any news on possible planes leaving. You know, the airspace is still closed, so nothing there. just wanna be proactive and do as much as we can. [reporter] We begin the day with the possibility of war in Niger still very much on the table. [Omar Alieu Touray] Direct the community to activate the ECOWAS Standby Force with all its elements immediately. [Deane Smith] What I would say is that we are in the best position to being within Niger. [Deane Smith] Because we're away from the capital. We're away from the major towns. Obviously, we're here in Agadez. Yeah, but we're also away from an, an exit if... [Deane Smith] Yeah. Totally. Yeah. When that news came out that the West African states have given the coup leaders seven days to bring back President Bazoum, my thought process is we have seven days to figure out how to get out of this country. What happens if there's violence at the door of our hotel? Is it safe? Are the roads, has, do you know anyone, Baba, who's done this journey to the border with Nigeria? Is it at all safe for us to go? [Baba Toure] I cannot confirm the roads are safe. [Mariana van Zeller] We'd arrived in Agadez by plane, because thieves and terrorists made it too dangerous to travel by road without heavy security. [crew] What do you guys reckon? You think we'll be staying put or heading to Niamey? [crew] I don't know. Both are sounding equally unappealing with every day. [Mariana van Zeller] But we had only planned to stay for four days, quick enough to get in and out without drawing too much attention. Instead we're stuck. The most visible foreigners in the city. And a tempting target for a militant group or kidnappers. The question now is whether to take our chances on the roads and make our way to a neighboring country, which would require traveling without a military escort. So, ironically, after covering black market operators for most of my career, our best hope of escape from Agadez may be to hire one to smuggle us out. So we're, we're waiting for this guy who works in the gold business to come and meet us here at the hotel. It's very interesting 'cause there's a photo of the president in a lot of these business establishments. There's always a photo of the president. Oh, he's here actually. [in French] How are you? [Mariana van Zeller] I'm hopeful that Ismael might be our ticket out of Niger. Ismael tells us stories, as most everybody in Agadez does, about recent murders and atrocities he's witnessed on the road. [gunshots] Wow. You can hear the shots. They were coming your way, so you went to the ground. It's not the most hopeful starting point when looking for a viable escape route. [Mariana van Zeller] Hmm. [Mariana van Zeller] For Ismael, traveling with a group of Americans would make a dangerous trip even more so. But providing security isn't something we can offer, and without it, we run the risk of becoming another cautionary tale on someone's phone. more we explore possible exit strategies, none of them look particularly safe. The funny thing is, we're only two miles from Base 201, but despite many requests, the U.S. Military won't allow us to take shelter at the base, perhaps because the U.S. is in the middle of its own crisis. [Antony Blinken] We are condemning the actions that have taken place in Niger. [Mariana van Zeller] So far, the State Department has refused to label the action a coup, which would legally require the U.S. to withdraw financial aid. There are concerns that that might push the new government into the waiting arms of Putin. [Antony Blinken] Our economic and security partnership with Niger, which is significant, hundreds of millions of dollars, depends on the continuation of the democratic governance and constitutional order that has been disrupted. [Mariana van Zeller] That's the thing about a coup like this, it casts a spell of uncertainty over everything, big and small. For the people of Niger, it's unclear who will rule and if the chaos will spread. For the U.S., President Bazoum's ouster means losing our closest African ally in the war on terror. And for us, stuck in our hotel, it means trying to stay positive. Because while European governments are evacuating their citizens as fast as they can, the U.S. won't declare it a coup, and that means they won't help us get out. [Mariana van Zeller] We've been spending days on end, trying to find seats on humanitarian planes which could take us to the capital, Niamey, but even those planes in Agadez remain grounded. And these are supposedly the last planes that are taking Europeans out. And they're already on the runway about to leave and he was able to get us all seats, but the problem is that we're very far away so we're not gonna be able to make those flights. I just got a message from the, our U.S. military contact at the base here. [Paul] Mm-hmm. Does he say that they're anticipating the evacuation order to come? [Mariana van Zeller] Uh, "If the evacuation order is given, we are standing by to receive the order to come get you all and bring us back to the airbase here." -Okay. -So it's still an if. the Italians and the Germans have all given evacuation orders. -Mm-hmm. [text tone] -What's happening? [Mariana van Zeller] It says, "No, nobody has made any calls to consolidate Americans yet." We've got five more days before ECOWAS's ultimatum ends and possible military intervention by the West African states. Mali and Burkina Faso have said that they are ready to come and fight and defend the military coup. So a civil war could break out at any point, and we're in a race against time for this evacuation window that's happening, except that in our case, we're 1,000 kilometers away from the capital, Niamey, where those planes are leaving at this moment. I think we've all felt very emotional. Just the uncertainty of it all has really took, taken a toll. And they're really just missing our families, and that moment that's gonna happen very, very soon. We're gonna be able to hug um, our loved ones, is what's keeping us going. [phone dialing] [Mariana van Zeller] Hey, guys. We've got the whole team here. [Frank Harrison] All right. Just briefed the team before you came on board. We'll bring you up to speed, about... -Wow. That's, that's incredible news. I think we're all very happy. But it seems like it's firm, it's firm. Like this is actually happening. We're actually sure that this is happening now, right? We don't wanna give false hopes again to the team. With all other doors closed, a private extraction company will try to land a plane to get us out. [♪ dramatic music] Everyone in the car? [Paul] Yes. Let's pull out please. [Deane Smith] Okay. Let's go. Nice and steady. [Mariana van Zeller] The plane's supposed to land in 20 minutes. So our police escort didn't show up and there's a curfew that goes until 5:00 a.m. So today is actually Independence Day here in Niger. They've reported protests happening around the country in support of the coup, and, apparently, there's going to be a lot of anti-Western feelings around. People are afraid of foreigners being a target. So we were actually scared that because of this Independence Day, that the plane wouldn't be able to land, the airport here wouldn't be operational. But it's supposed to land in 20 minutes. It's been a really nerve-racking night. [Paul] We've got a little bit of a roadblock coming up here. [Mariana van Zeller] I think there's a full awareness amongst our whole team that we are the lucky ones. We've had a very uncertain one week. But for the people of Niger, for all the incredible people that we've met along the way, it's an uncertain future and, you know, one without democracy and possible violence on the way. I'm very concerned about, about the future and I'm, I'm very concerned for the generations to come. airport is on our right and I'm trying to see if I can see the plane coming in anywhere. [Paul] We're just getting out... on its way back. [jet engine rumbling] We're getting in. Thank you. The captain is checking with his ops. Okay. He said we're good to leave. Seems like we're good. [captain] Crew, Vector is the primary radio. spent much of the last week waiting for this moment. I think I was more scared than I wanted to admit. The relief of finally getting out hits me, along with the guilt of knowing that leaving is not an option for everyone. [tapping] Somewhere down there are the gold miners I met, and the people of Agadez, and President Bazoum and his family, still being held captive by unelected men who hold his fate and the fate of a country in their hands. [♪ emotional music] This is something very, very scary and very worrisome for the generation to come. If I tell you that I see a bright future, I wouldn't be honest. I don't see any, for the time being, I don't see any bright future. Yeah. [♪ intense music] MARIANA: I've done stories about scammers before. ANCHOR: Tax related scams. REPORTER: Warning the public about a new scam. MARIANA: Phone scammers. Binary options scammers. Romance scammers. Credit card scammers. Identity theft scammers. WOMAN: It's a scam. MAN: It's a scam. MARIANA: But I've never met anyone like these guys. They're all 20-somethings. And they all live like kings. ♪ Just hurry in the water ♪ ♪ There's a price to pay ♪ MARIANA: Mansions. Parties. Insane cars. Jewelry. Ak-47s that look like jewelry. It's a lifestyle that's made possible by their mastery of cryptocurrency scam called... REPORTER: The rug pull scam. ANCHOR: The rug pull. MARIANA: The rug pull. If you haven't heard of it, consider yourself lucky, because victims lost nearly $3 billion in 2021 alone. This is a journey. To the dark side. Of the crypto craze. (cheering) MARIANA: Okay. Let's do this. DIRECTOR: Okay. You ready? MARIANA: Um-hmm. Before I started reporting on crypto currency, I think I just thought that it was something that everybody else was making money on, but I was too lazy to get into it because I knew very little about it. MAN: Crypto currency. MAN: Crypto. WOMAN: Crypto. MAN: Crypto is a way of people taking control of their money. MAN: It's a safe and easy way to get into crypto. DAVID: And I'm never wrong about this stuff. Never. DAMON: Fortune favors the brave. MARIANA: Whenever there's something out there that it seems like you can make so much money fast, there is a lot of people out there that are just willing to exploit those dreams or those hopes. XAVIER: Like, where do I start with crypto? Crypto. MARIANA: Actually, let's start from the beginning. So it started, so it started with one person. One day I got a message on Instagram from a fan of the show. Who was such a fan, he lived in LA, so I actually met this guy. And he showed up with a cheese board that he had made himself that said "Trafficked with Mariana Van Zeller" and he gives me the cheeseboard and then he says, "Hey." XAVIER: Hey. MARIANA: "Hey, what do you know about crypto scams?" XAVIER: What do you know about crypto scams? MARIANA: Crypto scams. One of which is called the "rug pull." XAVIER: Remember what I told you about crypto? Crypto, crypto. Currencies, coins, tokens, centralized financing, decentralized financing. But once you go defi, it's the Wild West. MARIANA: You do realize that half of the things you're saying I don't understand right? Uh, um. MAN: Shall I say what crypto is? MAN 2: It's a very... MAN 3: Um... MAN 2: A ver, a really. MAN 4: Uh... MAN: It's so hard, 'cause it's not like a two sentence thing. It's like a two hour thing. XAVIER: I don't even know where to start. I mean. MAN 2: And it's, uh, ah (bleep). HOST: Now, if you don't know what crypto currencies are, we're not entirely sure, either. It's okay. Experts say they are a digital currency that's exchanged online, that's not tied to a government. ANCHOR: Bitcoin is probably the most common crypto currency on the market, but there are many out there. MARIANA: So you have very little money in an actual bank account? XAVIER: Yeah. MARIANA: All of it is in crypto? XAVIER: Exactly. And I'm sure I'm not the only one. MARIANA: When was the first time you realized you'd been a victim of a scam? XAVIER: I think I've been in maybe seven or eight rug pulls. MARIANA: That many? XAVIER: Yes. The first time it was just a $500 investment. Then the next one, almost $10,000. MARIANA: And then what happened to the bit? Just, you lost it? XAVIER: You just move on. There's nothing you can do. Decentralized financing. So, there's no rules, nothing applies. MARIANA: Right. Okay, so the first time you lost $500. XAVIER: Right. MARIANA: And it was a rug pull? XAVIER: Yes. Let me explain how this rug pull works in the form of a margarita. MARIANA: Great, love margaritas. XAVIER: When we launch the token, the scam token, you have this amount of your actual token. So before scammers start to promote this new offering, they've already bought a big chunk of it at a very low price. XAVIER: As people are buying in and it goes up and up and up, there's no stopping, just keeps going up the charts. MARIANA: So that's the money I'm putting in. XAVIER: Exactly. Exactly. MARIANA: Filling up the coffers. XAVIER: Now you have more investors coming in. More shillers pushing the product. Nonstop, Twitter. Telegram, pushing it, getting paid to promote a certain token. So your average newbie investor sees that and is thinking, "Oh, I better get into it right now, it looks great." Going, and going, and going, people are buying in. MAN: Buy, buy, buy. XAVIER: Going, and going, and going, thousands of people. MAN: Going and going. MARIANA: They're all getting super excited. XAVIER: Correct. Next thing you know? The scammer walks out. MARIANA: He walks out? MARIANA: With all the money? MARIANA: That's right. Just when the excitement around the token reaches a fever pitch, the scammer pulls the rug, selling all of his holdings and sending the price crashing. And that's a rug pull? XAVIER: That's a rug pull. It's amazing to me that so many people can do this. MARIANA: Uh-hmm. XAVIER: And get away with it. XAVIER: Personally, I know some people that have lost their life savings. MARIANA: Who are the scammers? Who are these people that are making millions of dollars. XAVIER: Anybody. MARIANA: From other people. MARIANA: I can't quite believe that these scams are as big and as common as Xavier is telling me. XAVIER: Scams everywhere, crypto? Scams everywhere. MARIANA: But it doesn't take much research to see that he's absolutely right. ANCHOR: The FBI is warning about an increase in crypto currency scams. ANCHOR: The rug pull scam accounted for 37% of the illicit revenue. REPORTER: A Denver man thought he'd be able to retire early, after investing more than $1 million. ANCHOR: $1.6 million in total. MAN: They disappeared with about $3 million. NEWS GUEST: I mean, the bad guys all want crypto currency because it's not traceable. MARIANA: It seems like once people are burnt, they either quietly drop out of crypto entirely. REPORTER: It's not backed by any banks, so consumers have no protections and no way of getting their money back. MARIANA: Or, they pin their hopes on making it back on the next hyped up token. NEWS GUEST: It's really exciting. Maybe there are celebrities involved. So you want to get in early. MAN: I missed out on Google, I missed out on Apple, so I didn't wanna miss out on this. MAN: Oh, it went to zero. You've seen it live. A (bleep) rug pull, baby. MARIANA: If I'm looking into scammers, what do you suggest? XAVIER: Conventions. The conventions. MARIANA: The crypto conventions? XAVIER: Oh, correct. XAVIER: Miami, Dubai, you're bound to meet somebody that's trying to show off. MARIANA: When's the next convention? XAVIER: Dubai. MARIANA: Dubai? XAVIER: Yes, next week. MARIANA: Really? Next week already? MARIANA: And you think for sure there's gonna be scammers there? XAVIER: If you ask the right questions, you'll find somebody. XAVIER: You'll find somebody. This is the Wild West, decentralized financing is the Wild West. ♪ ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ Put your hands up if you in the building ♪ high to the ceiling ♪ MARIANA: Much like Dubai itself, crypto currency seemingly came out of nowhere creating obscene towers of wealth, a lot of it built on sand. ♪ Party all day I'mma get right ♪ MARIANA: The good, the bad, and the ugly of crypto come to these conferences. Everyone is vying for attention for their latest token. MAN: Crypto education... MARIANA: This is the first time that I've showed up somewhere without a lead. GIRL: With my heart glasses, our hearts. MARIANA: And without knowing what a scammer might even look like. So my plan is to get the word out that I'm looking for them and hope that our cameras will pique their interest. ♪ Let's go ♪ MARIANA: Hi, why are you dressed in a space suit? MAN: Crypto doesn't have any more "sky is the limits" mentality, so it's going to the moon. ♪ Get it ♪ ♪ Out of nowhere they start modeling ♪ MARIANA: Are you guys in the crypto business? MEN: Yes. MARIANA: What do you do? MARIANA: You invest in crypto? MAN: Yeah. MARIANA: So does your company have a token or how, what do you do? MAN: No, my company is all about fashion, crypto fashion. CLIFF: Right now crypto's not accepted for payment everywhere, as that adopts more, you're gonna see a whole flood of more people come in and these scammers are gonna be sitting out there waiting. MARIANA: There is a lot of scamming in crypto, too. Is that something that worries you? MAN: Yeah, but that's where you got to do your own research kind of thing. People don't like to read, people don't like to search, they follow influencers. MARIANA: I'm assuming there are scammers in here too, right? CLIFF: I would absolutely bet that, yes. MARIANA: Do you know anyone who's doing rug pulls? Any scammers? (laughing) Good luck. I leave the conference with nothing to show for it. (phone ringing) But later, my luck changes. Hey, can you hear me? MAN (over phone): Yes. MARIANA: When I finally hear from an elusive source I've been waiting on. Is there any way I can get his phone number and meet him and talk to him directly? He confirms that there is a notorious scam crew in town, headed up by someone he insists on referring to as "Mr. X." Okay, but he's definitely in Dubai right? It's rare for them to be in the same place at the same time, so I can't miss meeting them. Okay. Any idea on where he's staying? I mean if we have an address, if you're willing to share that address with me? Awesome, okay. Talk to you in a bit, bye-bye. Hello? MARIANA: Mr. X? MARIANA: Hi, Mariana here, how are you doing? MARIANA: I am so happy we can finally talk to you directly. MARIANA: Yes, ma'am. Okay. So we're on our way, I think we should be there in the next 15, 20 minutes. MARIANA: Great, okay. I'll see you soon. MARIANA: So, apparently he's staying in this big villa right on the water, sort of, one of the most expensive areas in Dubai and, uh, heard that he's driving around in all sorts of luxury cars and I guess we're gonna see. This is it guys, this is the house. We have a G, Mercedes G Wagon and a Rolls Royce parked out front. MARIANA: So we came all the way to Dubai, we got here and we started a hunt for a scammer. We went to parties, we went to this crypto conference, telling everybody that I was looking for a scammer which isn't the best way to go about this, but eventually we got a call. The scammer, he's here right now and he's willing to talk to us. The scammers are fairly paranoid about us identifying where they're staying, so it's cameras down until we're inside. (mumbling) MR. X: (bleep). You're not from here, bro. MARIANA: How many rug pulls have you done? MARIANA: But more than 10? MARIANA: More than 100? MARIANA: No. Have you been a victim of a rug pull? MARIANA: Oh, is that one of the reasons you got interested in it? MARIANA: Do you know a lot of other people rug pulling? MARIANA: So, setting the stage, where are we and why are you guys here? MARIANA: So you come here and they're going to tell you everything at these conferences about what they're doing, in terms of security, and you can always be a step ahead? MARIANA: You wanna be called Mr. X, right? MARIANA: What is it that you do? MARIANA: And you're the boss? MARIANA: All right. Can you tell me what each of you guys do? MARIANA: You're sort of the PR side of it? MARIANA: Is it easy? MARIANA: And what about you, what do you do? MARIANA: What's the most amount of money you've ever made on a rug pull? MARIANA: How much? MARIANA: Six zero? MARIANA: $60 million? MARIANA: You know I've interviewed many, many, many, many people that work in black markets, but I've never heard of anyone making this amount of money with one operation. MARIANA: So you guys, you guys are in your 20s, right? MARIANA: So then what do you do with the cash? I mean, if you're having, if you have millions of dollars in cash how do you, what do you do with it? MARIANA: How much does that chain cost do you think? The one you have. MARIANA: 75,000. And on a regular basis how much money worth of jewelry do you carry on you? P: Um... MARIANA: $250,000? MARIANA: I'm along for the ride with them today, to see where those millions end up once the rug has been pulled. This car alone cost, like, half a million dollars? MARIANA: How much do you think these houses are worth here? MARIANA: And you guys have six? MARIANA: They tell us they've rented six different villas, on Palm Jumeirah, a luxury development built on man-made islands. All of these are on the water then right? MARIANA: How many people did you guys travel with? MARIANA: Is this your first time in Dubai? MARIANA: And by utility you mean cash? MARIANA: Oh, so the people that you know are in high places here, so they're not. MARIANA: Get away with a lot? ♪ Gonna take myself out on a date ♪ ♪ Limousine of diamonds on the plate ♪ ♪ 'Cause you had ♪ MARIANA: Woo-hoo. ♪ Don't need no damn sugar daddy ♪ MARIANA: Do your friends and family know you're in this business? MARIANA: They know that you're doing. MARIANA: That you're stealing? MR. X: How do you, how do you... MARIANA: I mean, all these people are buying tokens thinking it's something and it's not right? MARIANA: So, you're selling them something that's actually not real. MARIANA: Yeah, but it's worth nothing. That's the point. MARIANA: But the people that are investing and buying the tokens MARIANA: Don't know that their money is going to disappear right? They're going to lose money. MARIANA: So, but if it is not illegal, why are you guys wearing masks, why not just be openly doing it? MARIANA: Right, it would. MARIANA: Basically put a stop to your lifestyle. MARIANA: Do you ever feel bad about the people that are losing all this money? You know we hear stories about people who've invested, you know, all their retirement, or sold their dream house or whatever, how do you feel about that? MARIANA: You don't care? MARIANA: It's pretty chilling how quickly these guys can flip between being almost likable and almost completely void of empathy. MARIANA: We heard that there was somebody who killed themselves after a rug pull, after being a victim of a rug pull, have you guys heard of that? MARIANA: But, I think there's a certain, it's also because you never meet your victims, right? I think that if you were to sit down in front of somebody who's lost a lot of money and is crying in front of you, and is telling you that they can't send their kid to college, or whatever it is. MARIANA: They can couch it however they want, but essentially, they're scamming people out of their hard earned money and they have absolutely no qualms about it. ♪ Baby, I'mma get you to stay ♪ MARIANA: I'm treading a fine line between challenging them and maintaining access to this world. It feels like they trust me now, but I still need the invite to the main event. This is really beautiful though, this is really beautiful. MARIANA: So, when you do your next operation, could we be with you? MARIANA: Did you ever think you'd be living a life like this? MARIANA: What is it that you most like about this life? MARIANA: You can do whatever? MARIANA: And you don't think this is going to end? ROBERT: A couple of years ago I had cancer and it kind of slowed me down a little bit, and so I spent more time with investments, and things of that nature. And my son came over and he said, "Hey dad, have you looked at crypto?" And I said, "Crypto? You mean that Bitcoin stuff?" ANCHOR: Cryptocurrencies. NEWS GUEST: This is pretty confusing stuff. REPORTER: So no Bitcoin investments for you? LL COOL J: I don't know nothing about that stuff. ROBERT: So I started looking, right? And so I got on the SHIB and did very well, and then you're ruined, right? You're kind of wrecked. 'Cause I went from saying things, like, "Hey, I made $29 today trading blue chip stocks." And it went to, "Hey, I made $6,000 today with crypto." And I thought, even then, man, this could be dangerous for people because of that FOMO, that lure. You know? HOST: Everyone's trying to get in this game. REPORTER: Investing in crypto currency is the buzz right now. ROBERT: The day started normally. It was a launch day. Altex was the name of the token and I had been involved with this project. It had been delayed a couple times. The devs were young. Not fully doxxed. I knew who they were and about where they live, but they still kept their last names kind of, you know, secretive. MARIANA: Despite the risk, Robert pressed his luck investing thousands in what he thought was a promising new token. ROBERT: At launch, the devs sold their entire bag, which looked like this huge rug pull. And that left all of the investors, including myself, you know, holding the bag. When all the smoke cleared, I had $86 left. I just, I was wrecked, wrecked. It's hard to describe. Emotionally, it's devastating. Knowing how that felt and that others were going through that, that's the point that I decided that something had to be done. Something had to be done. And it was gonna start with me. ROBERT: These are just new tokens that have launched. MARIANA: Just when? Oh, just today? ROBERT: Just, well, it shows today, over here at the last. MARIANA: Just today, yeah. ROBERT: Yeah. Here's a good indication that this is probably a scam. You see 3% down in the last hour? MARIANA: Yeah. ROBERT: But 85% in the last 24 hours. MARIANA: Which means that they're dumping? ROBERT: Something's going on. MARIANA: But then you see these actually, you know, up by 6%, up by 16%. ROBERT: But that's what they do, they hope that, just like you just did, you say, "Hey, some of these are up really big." They hope that you'll see that and go buy it. MARIANA: Robert Browning is a scam victim turned vigilante. After being taken in a by a rug pull, he now spends his time hunting down and exposing scammers. So explain what this is. What are these AM? ROBERT: This is an AMA. Now, AMA means "Ask Me Anything." MARIANA: And these guys use these AMA platforms, what for? ROBERT: To bump their token. MARIANA: To sell it? ROBERT: All the hype, all the garbage. All the.. CREATOR: We're here, we're here in chat, if people have any questions or anything. MARIANA: And so you go into these chat rooms, into these AMAs, what for? ROBERT: Because they're very suspicious. MARIANA: Yeah. Why do you think they're suspicious? ROBERT: Because Carl sent me a copy of a wallet that was involved in a scam. MARIANA: One of your guys? And it holds this token. MARIANA: So they've been involved in another scam? ROBERT: Somebody has been a bad actor on the team. MARIANA: When he finds a suspicious token launch, he questions the developers in public forums in front of possible investors and victims. ROBERT: Hey, what's up guys? CREATOR (over phone): What's up, man? ROBERT: Ah, nothing, man. Just checking it out. CREATOR (over phone): You're just new to the group? ROBERT: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Are y'all, is this, I mean, am I reading this right? I mean, visually, right, it looks an awful lot like a4rug. I mean, you can see that. I mean, the way, you know, the chart crashing out and then the liquidity. CREATOR (over phone): You know, that's not nice to say, because everything is in the pinned messages. Anyone who does, they can just read the pinned messages. ROBERT: Listen, I'm not. I'm just saying, I'm telling you. CREATOR (over phone): Visually. ROBERT: Visually. CREATOR (over phone): I understand, but please don't mention those things in the VC, because it's absolutely not true. ROBERT: Well, I understand that, but I mean if you could put yourself in an investor's position for a second, I mean, you would want, you would want somebody to ask that on your behalf, wouldn't you? I don't understand why you're getting so defensive. Rob, I apologize. ROBERT: You should lasso, you should pull your boy in there, man. If you're legitimate, he's making you look very, very bad. CREATOR (over phone): Who is looking, who is making. ROBERT: You! You are. You are, sir! You are. An investor sent me here who's got money in your project and asked me right because that's what we do. MARIANA: What happened? ROBERT: Now I'm banned. MARIANA: Oh, he banned you? MARIANA: They kicked you out and banned you? ROBERT: Yup. That's it, I'm out. MARIANA: So what do you think? What do you think? ROBERT: Scam, total scam. MARIANA: 100% scam? ROBERT: 100% scam. MARIANA: How do you know? ROBERT: I mean, who, why would, if I came to you, right? And you had a legitimate thing going, and I said, "Hey, my guy's got some money in your project, can you explain to me why it's not working out this way?" I would do anything and everything, right? To make sure that you understood that your money's safe. You know $14 billion last year, that's a lot of money, you know. MARIANA: Is that the amount that was lost? ROBERT: 14 billion, yeah. MARIANA: $14 billion? ROBERT: $14 billion. MARIANA: To scammers, to rug pulls, and honey pots. ROBERT: To scam. Yeah. MARIANA: Whoa. To be clear, the $14 billion in crypto that scammers stole in 2021 includes a variety of schemes. REPORTER: The biggest Bitcoin bust in US history, in connection with a 2016 hack of a virtual currency exchange. REPORTER: Delhi Police has busted a cyber fraud module transferring cryptocurrency. MARIANA: It's estimated that rug pulls account for nearly 3 billion of that total. ROBERT: And we calculate that we probably saved thousands of people, millions of dollars. Just us. MARIANA: But busting scammers isn't easy. The flow of crypto can be hard to track. MAN: It's virtually impossible to detect where they are and how to track them down. MARIANA: There's a lack of specific laws around rug pulls and a decent likelihood that scammers are operating overseas. REPORTER: One common complaint is that police aren't doing enough to track down these scammers. MARIANA: That's a big reason why vigilante groups, like Robert's, have taken off. ROBERT: We pay for bounties, and so we can. MARIANA: And bounties, you're basically paying people to tell you if they see some suspicious activity? ROBERT: It could be a dev, it could be an influencer. How much do you pay for these tips? ROBERT: Well, in the last 30 days of its existence, we paid about $17,500. MARIANA: Wow. That's a lot of money. ROBERT: It's a lot of money, yeah. MARIANA: Where does that money come from? ROBERT: Well, we have a token. SEEK Token and it's really there to fund our mission. MARIANA: Yup. Even the vigilantes who have been burned by crypto have their own crypto token. ROBERT: We have had death threats, and all the good things. MARIANA: You've gotten death threats? ROBERT: Oh absolutely. Yeah, constant. MARIANA: And they know who you are and they know where you live? ROBERT: Oh, absolutely. Yeah, my coordinates were in a previous article, my GPS coordinates. MARIANA: So, how do ROBERT: I mean, I keep my team safe, you know? I've taken security precautions at my home. MARIANA: You have? ROBERT: Yeah, oh yeah. MARIANA: Such as? ROBERT: Such as private stuff, yeah. I'm American, we have firearms. You know, so. MARIANA: Does your wife worry about the security aspect of this? ROBERT: You know, it concerns her, but at the same time, too, I don't, I don't tell my wife every time that somebody named the Buttcorn Bandit threatens to kill me. name that they use? ROBERT: That was one of my first death threats ever, was the Buttcorn Bandit. If you want me to be afraid I'm okay with that, but you gotta be something a little stronger than MARIANA: So, what would you say to the rug pullers and the scammers out there who claim that what they're doing is not illegal and, to some extent, they say it's not even morally wrong, because people are investing... MARIANA: It's like a bad investment, they're investing in something. ROBERT: You know you can't take something that doesn't belong to you and call that a bad investment, that's stealing. They put people in jail for that. In some places they cut your hands off, but in crypto, they think they get a free pass. AGENT: The FBI have seen a number of crypto currency scams. We certainly do hear a lot of tales of how crypto currency has a lot of gray areas and undefined areas that this isn't money, so money rules shouldn't apply. When individuals are under the understanding, or assumption of a particular promise, and then that's not delivered, that is fraud. Fraud is fraud. MARIANA: Aren't you afraid that you might get caught? MARIANA: There's not a lot of laws out there right now to sort of regulate what you guys do. MARIANA: Are you afraid that the law will catch up? AGENT: What we often find is that new technology is first adopted by predatory individuals and in the last year we've seen an exponential growth of crypto currency related fraud. ♪ I be playing with the money like, whoa ♪ ♪ Still got a lot more to go ♪ AGENT: Fraudsters who are engaged in rug pulls have to have an internal justification for the type of actions that they're taking. It can be that the victims should know better and not be victimized. It should be that, "Well this technology works this way, it's their problem. Their problem, that they weren't aware of that." The same argument would say that, "Well, because I can get into your house, I can rob you." They are a criminal enterprise, trying to remove folks from their hard earned money. ♪ Man with the money like a toddler ♪ AGENT: We'll make sure that those actors will be held to justice. ♪ Yeah Pull up on the scene ♪ MARIANA: Despite the best efforts of vigilantes and the FBI, Mr. X and his crew are still free to launch scams with very little effort or risk. ROBERT: We get about 1,500 tips in a 30-day period. That's a lot. ROBERT: Yeah, it's a lot. MARIANA: But there is one thing that can stop these scammers. The markets themselves. COLBERT: It's been a bit of a bumpy ride recently for crypto currency. REPORTER: Major crypto currencies have seen some steep losses. MARIANA: It was called the crypto winter. By mid-2022, cryptocurrencies had lost more than $2 trillion from their highs the year before. REPORTER: The crypto selloff has left investors scrambling. MAN: People lost their shirts in this crash. MARIANA: Predictably, investors were spooked, which meant that rug pulls were much harder to pull off. WOMAN: I lost over 450,000 USD, I cannot pay the bank. I will lose my home soon. MARIANA: Seemingly overnight, our access to Mr. X and his team had vanished. And I wasn't sure when or if we'd ever get it back. MARIANA: Mr. X and his crew ghosted us for a while after we met them in Dubai, but now they've resurfaced in Houston, Texas. We're here to meet Mr. X. He sort of disappeared on us for a while, but he finally came through. We started talking to him again. ♪ You took my day, you stole my life ♪ ♪ Two million, two million, two million, two million, uh ♪ MARIANA: It's definitely an interesting time to be with him, because crypto has crashed dramatically since the last time we were with him in Dubai. ♪ The way they think is minimal ♪ ♪ We got hot when the wind is cold ♪ ♪ I'm just down for the inner soul ♪ ♪ Dream more water, mineral ♪ MARIANA: My first stop with Mr. X though, has nothing to do with how he's making money, and everything to do with how he's spending it. This is him, last seen in a bull mask. Good morning. Now leading me into his favorite jewelry store. Bitcoin on top of a rocket. That's what you were hoping would be happening right now, right? It's curious to me that even though the crypto market has crashed, these guys all still seem to be living large. What is this one? ASSISTANT: Um, that's a crypto coin we're kind of cultivating into. So, that should be out pretty soon, as well. MARIANA: Even Mr. X's jeweler has a token that he's promoting. JOHNNY: You don't want to miss this, (bleep) on me, available October 14 on (bleep) dot com (bleep)! What's up? How you doing, man? MARIANA: Johnny Dang is apparently the go to guy for those who want to turn crypto, or cash, into gold and diamonds. JOHNNY: Got the diamond around that with engraving. Perfect gold. MARIANA: Or if you want to bedazzle a fully functional AK-47. Oh, wow, it's a little heavier than the common AK, right? Can I ask you how much that cost? MARIANA: It cost some money? JOHNNY: All right. MARIANA: I don't think Johnny Dang knows how Mr. X makes his money. Never say no to champagne. Or that he might be using his store to launder his profits. ♪ Aye, aye ♪ ♪ You jumped in the hooptie, I hopped in a Benz ♪ MARIANA: But I've been itching since Dubai to see how these guys actually set up a rug pull. ♪ What you gonna do to red, what you gonna do red, ♪ ♪ what you gonna do to red, look I hopped in the back as you ♪ ♪ driving this steer ♪ ♪ Here go I dropped to the ops ♪ MARIANA: Another member of X's scam crew has surfaced. MARIANA: S, The Shiller, is in town. So when you do your stuff, when you do your shilling. MARIANA: You use Twitter, what else do you use? MARIANA: With my phone? MARIANA: New tokens. Okay. Let's try that. MARIANA: How many of these things are there? Lists. MARIANA: Crypto moonshots, crypto moonshots, a lot of hype around this one. Bullish! S: There's a (bleep) one. MARIANA: Kermit Inu is the next generation, Republic Inu is an upcoming influencer backed, take the world by storm. MARIANA: Yeah, there's a bunch of rugs every day. Not even these scammers know which of these tokens are real and which are fake. And that's exactly the point. How does it work? MARIANA: And people, people actually believe, believe these lines? MARIANA: So make it seem like it's. MARIANA: Much bigger than it is? MARIANA: All right. MARIANA: People that work for you? MARIANA: So you want them to promote stuff. STRAHAN: Kim Kardashian, she has agreed to pay nearly $1.3 million for promoting crypto currency on social media, without providing necessary disclosures. REPORTER: In addition to paying the fine, Kardashian also agreed to cooperate with the SECs ongoing investigation. MARIANA: The list of celebrities facing criticism for pushing crypto is growing. In most cases, no legal lines were crossed. But these influencers are often getting paid big money to hock crypto projects they know very little about, which is why their fans and followers who have gotten burned are so upset. MAN: To the moon. MUSK: To the moon. REPORTER: I think Musk is manipulating the market, and I think you're doing exactly the same thing. PORTNOY: The answer is SafeMoon. It could be a scam, I don't think it is. Invest with your own money. MARIANA: So why do people still trust them? MARIANA: So when is your next rug pull? MARIANA: So it could happen tomorrow? MARIANA: Hmm. Oh, so you can do it in a day? MARIANA: Hmm. In 15 minutes you can get this all done and you can launch it right from here, right now. MARIANA: Right now? MARIANA: I've been waiting for this moment since we first met in Dubai. Finally. Thank you. Mr. X has agreed to demonstrate how easy these rug pulls are to set up. MARIANA: He takes me to a tattoo shop with good Wi-Fi. MARIANA: Sit right here? MARIANA: Okay. So how is it done, what do we, what do you? MARIANA: He just finds a crypto project that's doing well, snatches the computer code that makes it special and renames it. MARIANA: It's a simple copy and paste job. Like stealing the text of someone else's novel and then telling everyone to come and buy your new book. So, you can be at a coffee shop, at a tattoo parlor, wherever it is, in 15 minutes you can get this all done and you could launch it right from here, right now? MARIANA: So why are you not doing it? MARIANA: Would it be smart for you to launch a token right now, with the markets down, like they are? MARIANA: But, if I wanted, if I was a newbie starting at this, I could just go on there. MARIANA: Find this and do it myself? MARIANA: So, that's not illegal? That's totally. MARIANA: Right. MARIANA: But now it's the first time that you're saying that it's not, it's the first time you're saying it's not right, because. MARIANA: Did you change your mind? Did something? MARIANA: Okay, but now you're. MARIANA: You didn't go that far last time. MARIANA: I think you changed your mind. (chatter) MARIANA: When trying to understand scammers of any kind, you never quite know which way is up. On our last day in Houston, I hoped to meet up with Mr. X one last time, but he bails on me. I mean, it's been really just difficult to work with these guys. Particularly X. He's been promising all this access and telling us he's gonna show us this and that, and then, last minute, either doesn't show up, or nothing of what he promises actually happens. The night before, off camera, Mr. X admitted to our producer that despite earlier denials, they've continued scamming. But, of course, he didn't give us any details. They've come clean to us, and they said that they have been rug pulling this whole time. They've just been, basically, lying to us. These days, you just can't take professional scammers at their word. Do your friends and family know you're in this business? MARIANA: Do your parents know you do this? MARIANA: What do they think you do? MARIANA: Are you? MARIANA: Does your family know what you do? MARIANA: Do you think they're proud of you? MARIANA: (bleep) no. AGENT: Have to be careful what we say. I would say, for those interested in crypto currency scams, there are very few individuals who have run a fraudulent empire and are living comfortably on the beach in retirement, with a large bulk of funds. MARIANA: Hi, P. Where are you right now? MARIANA: Oh, you're in Ibiza. MARIANA: You know, the market has been crashing, it's really, crypto is really low right now. Has that affected you at all? MARIANA: Millions of dollars? Really? But do you still have enough to be partying in Ibiza? MARIANA: We can't confirm any of this, but clearly this is how he justifies his decisions. ♪ It was over before it even began ♪ AGENT: It's often been said that the FBI always gets their man, whether it's today or tomorrow. AGENT: Those looking to victimize U.S. citizens should always keep an eye looking over their back. ♪ Eye to eye ♪ MARIANA: I think one thing is very clear, is that they will keep doing this. Are there people still buying tokens and still investing in crypto right now? MARIANA: They will keep stealing your money. They'll keep scamming. XAVIER: People are buying and buy, buy, buy, buy. MARIANA: They'll keep spending your money at Johnny Dang's, and buying gold and diamonds. MR. X: Yes, sir. ♪ What should we do? ♪ MARIANA: That is guaranteed. ♪ I'm gonna find all the words to tell you ♪ XAVIER: You need to do your research, heavily, before you get into anything. ♪ You in my life, I had favored you ♪ ♪ To keep you ♪ ♪ Oh, yes ♪ ♪ You're the only one who knows why I'm gone ♪ MARIANA VAN ZELLER: Every city has its secrets. Lima is no different. MARIANA: Over the last decade a new criminal enterprise has taken root. MARIANA: And a new breed of gangster craftsman has emerged. MARIANA: But how they work and who they are is a mystery to me, and I'm not the only one looking for them. (banging) (yelling) This footage is from the Peruvian National Police... ...who have turned up the heat and turned Lima into the frontlines in the war on counterfeiting. OFFICER: ¡Policía! MARIANA: That's how I landed here at Lurigancho Prison, one of the most dangerous prisons in all of South America. The Peruvian National Police tipped me off to a counterfeiter they recently nabbed, a man they'd been chasing for years. MARIANA: He's wearing a mask for two reasons: He doesn't want to be known as a snitch in prison, and he doesn't want his young daughter to know that he's locked up. He's told her that he's taken a job abroad. MARIANA: Incredibly, it's estimated that 60% of all fake U.S. bills are produced in Peru. MARIANA: He says it was an informant that ultimately got him busted by the police. But the hunt for this man actually began 3,500 miles north. Two weeks earlier, I paid a visit to the Secret Service. The agency we associate with these guys in crisp suits protecting the president is also in charge of protecting our money. When fakes are detected, anywhere in the world, they're sent here for the monetary equivalent of an autopsy. (buzzer) I watch as analysts examine each of the bills' component parts. The paper, the ink, the colors. Within each fake hides clues about its origin. Telltale markers are discovered. The chemical makeup of a certain ink or the density of a certain paper stock. Each bill then gets catalogued, helping the Secret Service identify the world's biggest players in the counterfeit game. AGENT: What happened in the early 2000s, the first Peruvian-produced notes started popping up, and in Peru there were no counterfeit laws at the time. It just caught everyone by surprise that it started there. MARIANA: This field agent wants to remain anonymous for safety reasons. He tells me the agency first opened a Lima office in 2012 because the counterfeit scene was booming. AGENT: These guys are artists. The workmanship's there, and the skills are there. It's being produced at high numbers and very high quality. NEWSCASTER: Tonight, the real cost of fake money. NEWSCASTER: Officers want everyone to be on the lookout after a batch of bad bills has turned up in the city. NEWSCASTER: Another counterfeit money bust in Limestone County. AGENT: When it comes to counterfeiting, it's pretty much a crime that hurts everybody. From nations' economies, to businesses, to your mom and pop stores. Things that are being passed there are worthless. You're at the bank, and next thing they look at you like you're the criminal. It's almost like a mugging that you didn't know happened. (man shouting in Spanish) MARIANA: We tend to think of black markets as a world apart, but the truth is, they're all around us, hidden in plain sight, difficult to see, until someone lets you in. That's especially true when tracking this counterfeiting story in Lima. The leads are literally everywhere. Seemingly everyone has been a victim of fake bills, with the walls of some shops looking like a gallery for the city's criminal artisans. In a cash society like Peru, anywhere money changes hands is an opportunity for a counterfeiter. (horn honking) And nowhere does more money change hands than here, among Lima's cambistas, or street-side money changers. Sometimes it's the customer trying slip fake bills to the cambista, and sometimes it's the other way around. FERNANDO LUCENA: The cambistas, the money exchangers, I never go to those. You never know what's real and what's fake. It's a very murky world, put it that way. MARIANA: I contact my friend, Fernando Lucena. He's a local investigative journalist who said he could get me in touch with one of these crooked cambistas. The man I'm meeting is akin to a neighborhood drug dealer. He's my entry point to the underworld. I'm hopeful he might introduce me to some of the bigger players in the game, the ones moving millions in fake bills into the U.S. (Mariana speaking Spanish) MARIANA: Okay. He doesn't want his face revealed. (laughs) MARIANA: He just asked me if I was a buyer, if I was an undercover buyer. MARIANA: He's gonna show us some of the fake dollars that he sells. MARIANA: This looks pretty great to me. MARIANA: This sounds like money to me, no? MARIANA: Pull the bill out, turn it over, feel it, there's texture, it's rough and smooth, there's a watermark security thread, layers and layers of detail. Each element presents a new challenge for counterfeiters, but the better their handiwork, the more they can charge. And the more their services will be in demand. MARIANA: So, touch, look and turn. We all have intimate relationships to money. We chase it, we spend it, we save it, we make big life decisions because of it, and yet it's so common, I've never really looked at it. The best fake bills are so exquisitely crafted, they aren't noticed at all. MARIANA: Before the money changer left, he confirmed what the Secret Service told me in D.C., that once the designs for the fake bills have been produced, there are essentially three key positions in any counterfeiting operation: the printer, who is the master artisan in charge of bill production; the finisher, who adds the necessary texture and polish to the bills to make them passable; and the burrier, who transports the fake cash out of the country. I want to find all three, something an outsider has never done before. It's the best way for me to fully understand the inner workings of this black market and the circumstances and motivations of the people who run it. (engine revving) Enter another of my contacts. A local producer who shares a nickname with Peru's national dish, Ceviche. MARIANA: Over the last several years, he's been building connections in Lima's underworld, specifically through a man we'll call Diego. Ceviche tells me that the counterfeiting racket in Lima is run by a handful of families. And Diego's gotten tight with one of them. Each of these families controls underground workshops, where old-school offset printers churn out sheet after sheet of fake bills. MARIANA: Criminal organizations bound by blood are notoriously difficult to penetrate. Getting inside one of these operations, especially with cameras, is next to impossible. MARIANA: In this business there are always risks, but I felt okay with a daytime meeting, hopefully somewhere public. That is, assuming they call. Three hours pass, and still nothing from Diego. (dog barking ringtone) MAN: Hello? MARIANA: When the adrenaline kicks in, I know things are about to get good. MARIANA: We're on our way to meet with a gang of Peruvian counterfeiters in one of the shadier neighborhoods in Lima. MARIANA: At the last minute, they change the meeting spot. MARIANA: They're waiting for us already. With a location change, we'll be late to the meeting. Part of me wonders if these guys are looking for an excuse to bail on us. Lima's counterfeiters are extra skittish these days. I would be, too, if I was being hunted. There have been a series of huge busts recently, including one only days before we arrived that intercepted $5 million in fake bills. gave us this footage. It wasn't at all what I'd expected. I'd imagined these counterfeiting operations happening in warehouses or factories in dark corners of the city, but much of it seems to be happening in residential neighborhoods. On quiet streets, inside garages, hidden in plain sight. Okay, cameras down. For obvious reasons, we couldn't record this initial meeting, but let me tell you how it all went down. I've been on a lot of these underworld first dates over the last 15 years. You never know exactly what you're walking into. At an outdoor cafe, Diego introduces us to the boss and his bodyguard, who is covered in tattoos. One on his arm reads in English, "Only God can judge me." The mood is tense, suspicious. As I always do in these situations, I order beers. Soon after, I'm sharing my unofficial résumé: photos on my phone of me hanging out with men like these from all around the world. Then, the food arrives. More talk. More drinks. I then explain that I've heard they're the most talented counterfeiters in the world. You'd be surprised how many doors flattery can open. I knew I'd passed the test when the bodyguard gave me a nickname. He pointed at me from across the table and said, "Mi reina," my queen, "you're gonna see amazing things tomorrow night." In any city, there are people who play by the rules and people who don't. (echoing laughter) Usually it's hard to tell the difference. Finding my way into the criminal underworld is always an adventure. That's why I love what I do. It's also knowing that once you're in, you get to witness what very few outsiders ever do. A universe governed by its own laws and power structures that teaches us a whole lot about our own. MARIANA: Okay, let's do this. (man speaking Spanish over loudspeaker) MARIANA: Game time. MARIANA: In Peru, like many places in Central and South America, "gringos" is synonymous with Americans. In this case, the counterfeiters are on guard that any gringos could be Secret Service agents trying to infiltrate their operation. CEVICHE: Hello? MARIANA: They've told us to meet them here at a downtown park. Ironically, only blocks from the Palace of Justice. Somewhere in these surrounding buildings fake money is being made. They've set two rules: Only the crew they met with are allowed inside; and once inside, we stay the entire shift, from 8:00 PM to 8:00 AM. No one leaves. I imagine it's a rush to see your net worth growing with every new sheet of bills coming off the press. You could print yourself out of debt or into a new car or a new house. It's not hard to see the allure or the desperation that would cause someone to enter this line of work. One hour, no call back from Diego. Two hours, Diego's phone is off. MARIANA: Things aren't looking good. It's been over three hours and they still, they haven't shown up. I think it's pretty safe to say that we've been stood up. No chance this is going to happen tonight. MARIANA: There's nothing worse than getting this close and not coming home with a story. But giving up isn't an option. They're still out there, and I'm going to find them. MARIANA: Stories go cold. Sometimes you can't explain it. You make a connection, you make plans, things seem to be falling into place, and then you find yourself staring at your phone for a call that never comes. In these moments, I always remind myself that nothing's changed. The story is still out there. Somewhere in the city, offset printing machines are churning out sheet after sheet of fake dollars. MARIANA: I just need to find a new way in. MARIANA: Nothing happens as fast as you want it to. This isn't the safest neighborhood, so we should try to avoid showing off our cameras. But I have faith that another door will open. MARIANA: They were definitely, like, sussing us out. MARIANA: Until I can find some of these counterfeiters in the wild, I lean on the contacts I've already made. MARIANA: So, he's showing us how he works. MARIANA: El fantasma. The watermark. FERNANDO: Okay, seems that everything is in place. MARIANA: Yeah? FERNANDO: So far, so good. MARIANA: Fingers crossed. It's 5:00 AM. And my initial contact in Lima, Fernando, has a new lead on a printer who seems willing to meet with us. We got this meeting set up in a legal printing operation where we're going to meet a guy who is supposedly an ink master and finally see what these printing operations look like. What can and can't we do? FERNANDO: What he's told me is basically keep the team as small as possible. Don't call his name in front of anyone. Just keep it low key. MARIANA: We just want to actually be absolutely sure that we play by their rules, because we want to be able to get this in the bag. Everybody's anxious and nervous and hoping that this is, that this will all go as planned. We park outside a shopping mall and wait for word from our contact. Okay, there are two guys walking. Is that him? FERNANDO: Yeah, that's him. MARIANA: Right? Like, he just came out. MAN: Fred, be careful. MARIANA: Yeah, Fred, if he sees you, we're (bleep). Okay. He's here. Okay. Let's go, guys. MARIANA: This is it? Wow. This is incredible. And they're just printing fake money. MARIANA: It's early morning in Lima, and the smell of fresh ink is in the air. I found my way to a printer who specializes in counterfeit U.S. dollars. It's like no underworld scene I've accessed before. It's so out in the open, that I'm actually nervous for them. Wow, this is incredible. This is amazing. I mean, we're in a printing mall. It's too early, so all the shops are closed. So it's this surreal scene where we walked down these corridors, and everything was closed and then suddenly there's a bright light here, and they're just MARIANA: Printing is the most daring aspect of fake note production. It's loud, it's long, and it's often done in public locations like this. It's also very difficult. It takes years to learn the secrets of this trade. The inks. The paper. The machine. The process of forging bills is equal parts art and science. Very few have the right combination of talents. MARIANA: This is the beginning of everything they do here. Every single hundred-dollar bill that's done here starts with this metal plate. And it's essentially the watermark. La, el fantasma? These plates are made by coveted designers and are critical to the whole operation. MARIANA: Check this out. All the bills coming out. MARIANA: Ah, the second part is the off-white color of every banknote. MARIANA: Wow. That is crazy. So the whole process takes a month and a half. MARIANA: Holy (bleep), that's a ton of money. That is crazy. They can make $6 million with a machine that costs them $7,000 to buy here. MARIANA: The later it gets, the more nervous the printer becomes. We can hear other shops opening, voices echoing down the hallway. MARIANA: The mood totally changed, and they're super nervous, because you can see the hundred-dollar bills here, the metal plate, and so they wanna do this process really fast. MARIANA: Wow. Check this out. We've got the watermark, the background color of the banknote, and now Franklin's face. Yeah, okay. (man speaking Spanish) He's hiding everything. They heard that there's somebody walking down the corridors. MARIANA: We have to go. As we head for our van, it hits me that what surprised me most about the printer is something that also surprised me about the prisoner. They were both conflicted about their decision to get into counterfeiting, but both realized that perfecting their craft was the best way to stay in demand. MARIANA: Once the bills come off the printer, there's still work to be done to make a convincing fake. Fernando is able to locate another of Peru's finest underworld artisans: the finisher. His role is to add texture and weight to the bills so they will pass the touch, look and turn test. We're driving to Villa El Salvador on the south side of Lima. An area that locals describe as "picante," meaning hot; hot with every criminal enterprise you can imagine. (barking) FERNANDO: Because the murder rate is not particularly low. MARIANA: Is that him? Just keep the camera up and rolling. MARIANA: He's going to show us the stuff that he just got. MARIANA: So it's a sponge, a regular. MARIANA: Oh, this is for cutting the notes, to make a straight cut. MARIANA: The U.S. spends millions and millions of real dollars to deter counterfeiting, and these counterfeiters get around it with school supplies. In an effort to look less conspicuous, we plan to meet back up in his workshop. (dog barking) We sneak in our cameras in bags. I wonder if his neighbors have any idea what's happening inside this room. If they only knew. MARIANA: My search for the makers of the finest counterfeit bills in the world has brought me to this working-class neighborhood outside of Lima. And to this man. They call him "the finisher," and his skills are in high demand. MARIANA: It's a painstaking process all done by hand. With a popsicle stick he applies glue for weight and texture. MARIANA: To get the feel just right, he adds what he calls English cornstarch. MARIANA: Which I recognize instantly. MARIANA: You can really feel the texture, it's changed. It's amazing. He says he also works on 100s and 50s, but 20s are easier to fake and much less scrutinized. With just a few items you can get at any corner store and a whole lot of patience, the touch, sound and smell of the bills are totally convincing. (siren) FINISHER: No. MARIANA: It's always fascinating to me how people end up working in black markets. In many ways, counterfeiting is just another crime of opportunity. A driver by day discovers he has the extraordinary patience and craftsmanship to finish bills by night. A printer specializing in calendars and business cards realizes he can deploy the same machines and skills to produce stacks and stacks But all the time and work that goes into making a convincing fake is worthless if those bills don't reach the legal economy. And that's where this man comes in. They call him "the burrier," a Peruvian mash-up formed from the Spanish word "burro," meaning donkey, and the word "courier." MARIANA: Counterfeiting networks know that some portion of their shipments will be confiscated. So, they employ an army of ants who transport fake bills into the U.S. by airplane, by car, by boat, on foot, they even ship fake bills through the mail. But getting these fake bills into the country isn't enough. They need to get them into circulation. The counterfeiting game is all about getting change. AGENT: What you might do is hit different shopping centers. Going down a highway corridor, you could hit malls on the north side of town and malls on the south side of town, one fast food place, one convenience store, you spend, you know, $8, $9, and then you pay with the 100, and that means you're coming back with, you know, 90-some dollars of genuine. MARIANA: Of real money? AGENT: Yeah. AGENT: You could, you know, pocket a thousand dollars by the end of the day, and you're not really doing much. It's like an ATM that doesn't belong to you. MARIANA: When counterfeiters do get busted, their stash of fake bills gets sent to the Secret Service where they are examined, catalogued, used in prosecution, and then destroyed. Some of these fake bills are probably from Peru. Maybe they even passed through the hands of the guys I met. MARIANA: But even if the Lima scene is shut down, there will be others. MARIANA: Nadie, nadie. Nobody's coming. MARIANA: It's an old con and an old truth: If you're desperate enough to make some money, one option is to make some money.