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  • He Used Her Photos, Her Chekhov, And Stole $4,000 from Trust

    He Used Her Photos, Her Chekhov, And Stole $4,000 from Trust
    2026/07/26
    He Used Her Photos, Her Chekhov, And Stole $4,000 from Trust

    In this episode, we follow the timeline from a February message about a Nabokov first edition to the purchase of a nineteen‑sixty‑four Penguin and a bonded shipment of forty‑three pre‑1960 Russian volumes, and we trace how friends, reverse image searches, and paperwork led to the question that finally cracked the case: which single verification exposed the deception?

    Person: Frances O'Brien
    Person: Rachel Donnelly
    Person: Detective Phil Acosta
    Event: Bond payment request for release of 43-volume collection
    Location: Dayton, Ohio (tracking number destination)

    - A fourteen‑year‑old courier, Troy Burke, found a book with Frances O'Brien's name under her welcome mat after she had been gone eleven days.
    - Frances ran an antiquarian business called Margin Notes from a coffee shop table on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, eight a.m, to noon.
    - The emailed correspondent "Kelly Hicks" closed every message with a different Photos quotation and referenced specific press runs and editions.
    - "Kelly" claimed a bonded shipment of forty‑three pre‑1960 Russian volumes held outside Toronto requiring a $4,000 bond to release.
    - A reverse image search tied the profile photos used by "Kelly Hicks" to Nina Feld of Ann Arbor, Michigan, and the shipment tracking number matched a domestic parcel delivered in Dayton, Ohio.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    20 分
  • She Sent Him $231,000: The Megan Bennett Romance Scam

    She Sent Him $231,000: The Megan Bennett Romance Scam
    2026/07/25
    She Sent Him $231,000: The Megan Bennett Romance Scam

    Fear that a life of quiet routine can be dismantled by a single online stranger: a 62-year-old woman sent $231,000 over 18 months to a man claiming to build an orphanage, and investigators later found 112 wallet-size photos of children balanced on a fence post with the note "They are safe. She knows now." Who placed that envelope and what did it reveal about the scheme?

    In this episode, we tell how a casual friendship on a faith-based social platform became a months-long transfer of savings, detail the discovery that prompted a criminal inquiry, and follow the threads that connect Megan Bennett, the man who called himself Steven Reed, and the envelope found at a county maintenance lot. How did routine care and attention to detail make Megan vulnerable to a carefully constructed deception?

    Person: Megan Bennett
    Age: 62
    Amount: $231,000
    Transactions: 41 separate transfers over 18 months
    Evidence found: 112 wallet-size photographs and a handwritten note

    - The envelope was found balanced flat on top of a chain-link fence post at 6:40 a.m.
    - The discovery occurred in April 2022 at the Hendricks County maintenance lot in Indiana.
    - Inside the envelope were 112 photographs of children printed on plain bond paper and held together with a rubber band.
    - Megan sent $231,000 through 41 transactions, including a home equity line refinance and an early retirement account liquidation with tax penalty.
    - Steven Reed used a profile photo that belonged to Thomas Prater, a retired civil engineer from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    24 分
  • They Stole His Face, Watched Her Rabbit: The Rotation Revealed

    They Stole His Face, Watched Her Rabbit: The Rotation Revealed
    2026/07/24
    They Stole His Face, Watched Her Rabbit: The Rotation Revealed

    Cold certainty: someone had been watching Gloria Callahan so closely they recorded her rabbit’s 6:45 a.m. feeding, and that mundane detail turned up in a tucked notebook written in three different inks - evidence of at least three observers. Who built this scripted, rotating courtship around her, and why did the operation run for fourteen months before a utility worker found the journal?

    In this episode, we follow the discovery, the people involved, and the moments that turned a routine blind date into a coordinated deception, leading investigators to a laptop that reframed the whole story. What did the notebook, the texts about “Biscuit,” and the shared identity of “Robert Long” reveal about the operation?

    Person: Gloria Callahan
    Date: March 14, 2019
    Location: Whitmore Lane, Clement, Ohio
    Case: Rotation of at least three men using the identity “Robert Long”
    Occupation: Dental hygienist

    - Gloria fed her five-year-old rabbit Biscuit at exactly 6:45 a.m. every morning.
    - The operation had been running for fourteen months before Gloria was targeted.
    - The notebook found by utility worker Holly Norris contained three entries in three different ink colors.
    - The blind date with the man using the identity “Robert Long” took place on February 22 at Cotter's Grille.
    - The photographs used for “Robert Long” were taken from a LinkedIn profile from around 2015.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    20 分
  • A Jogger Finds Her Secret Folded Into a Crane: The Lisa Murphy Case

    A Jogger Finds Her Secret Folded Into a Crane: The Lisa Murphy Case
    2026/07/23
    A Jogger Finds Her Secret Folded Into a Crane: The Lisa Murphy Case

    Fear that your private life could be turned into evidence - and left for a stranger to find - hits in the first sentence: a runner discovered a tiny paper crane on a bridge that contained a Western Union receipt for $4,200 sent to Lagos, Nigeria. How did that receipt travel from a car center console to a bridge railing, and what did the cranes mean to the people involved?

    In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from the first discovery through the investigation and conviction that followed, following every concrete detail reported in records and interviews to ask whether a folded crane was a clue, a message, or something else entirely.

    Person: Lisa Murphy
    Location: Harwick, Ohio
    Date: January 19 (wire transfer), early February (receipt found)
    Amount: $4,200.00
    Finder: Troy Young

    - A Western Union receipt for $4,200 sent to Lagos, Nigeria was folded inside a small paper crane found on Briar Creek bridge.
    - The transfer date printed on the receipt was January 19 and the sender's name was Lisa Murphy.
    - Lisa Murphy worked as a billing coordinator at a regional orthopedic group and was 48 years old when investigators first contacted her.
    - Lisa first connected with a profile named Harvey Erickson on the NutriPath app in August, two years before the arrest.
    - A man was arrested, convicted, and sentenced to seven years; he appealed twice and lost both appeals.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    23 分
  • The Postcard Said "I Will Be Home Soon" - He Wired $4,000

    The Postcard Said "I Will Be Home Soon" - He Wired $4,000
    2026/07/22
    The Postcard Said "I Will Be Home Soon" - He Wired $4,000

    Fear that someone you trusted was watching you, learning the rhythm of your life, and stealing everything grows cold when you hear how long it went on: fourteen months, three CDs cashed, and $4,000 wired in a single visit. How did a postcard, a prepaid phone ping, and nightly calls lead one man to give away his savings before anyone realized something was wrong?

    In this episode, we tell the story of Kent York and the online relationship that cost him his inheritance and savings, following the timeline from the first airport-shop postcard to the notebook found in a Cheyenne storage unit - and ask how the pattern of extensions and wire transfers mapped to the exact maturity dates of his father’s certificates of deposit.

    Person: Kent York
    Age: 31
    Land: 412 acres
    Cattle: about 90
    Amount wired: $4,000

    - A postcard reading "I will be home soon" was rubber-banded to uncollected mail on a gravel drive in January.
    - Kent stopped bowling with his Tuesday league in early November and was unseen for weeks while his cattle stood unmoved for 18 days.
    - Kent inherited 412 acres the previous spring after his father died suddenly of a cardiac event.
    - A prepaid phone bought in Scottsbluff pinged a Graford cell tower four times in the two months before the first wire transfer.
    - Kent liquidated three certificates of deposit totaling roughly $41,000 across October, January, and June while making penalty payments.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    15 分
  • The Laminated Move: How a Chessboard Became a $61,000 Romance Trap

    The Laminated Move: How a Chessboard Became a $61,000 Romance Trap
    2026/07/21
    The Laminated Move: How a Chessboard Became a $61,000 Romance Trap

    Grief, trust and a chess move combined to turn careful accounting into a $61,000 transfer that flowed through a prepaid card network in Accra, Ghana - and the man Wayne believed he was helping had been dead for two years. How did a retired civil engineer who kept handwritten ledgers and double-checked spreadsheets end up wiring six-figure sums to a stranger he met over 31 moves?

    In this episode, we trace the timeline from a laminated note tucked under the white king to the nine-week series of transfers, and follow the online friendship on a mid-level chess platform that became the conduit for the fraud. What was the method Robert Ford built, and how did it feel, from inside Wayne Fitzgerald’s life, to discover the friendship was never real?

    Person: Wayne Fitzgerald
    Date: December 11, 2019
    Location: Wayne's front porch, Coleville
    Amount: $61,000
    Platform: Castlepoint

    - Wayne was 52 years old and retired from civil engineering after nearly three decades of municipal projects.
    - Wayne created his Castlepoint account in spring 2019 and lost the first game against "Robert Ford" on September 4, 2019 after 31 moves.
    - Between mid-October and early December 2019, Wayne wired $61,000 to accounts routed through a prepaid card network in Accra, Ghana over nine weeks.
    - The profile photo used by "Robert Ford" was taken from an obituary for Patrick Dunn, who died in 2017 at age 61; Dunn's widow confirmed she never gave permission for the image.
    - On the evening of December 11, 2019, volunteer Karen Mason found a laminated card under the white king reading "Move twenty-three. Nc6. For Wayne, with love, always - Robert."

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    25 分
  • The Mug in the Frost: How a Fake Lover Stole Her Recovery

    The Mug in the Frost: How a Fake Lover Stole Her Recovery
    2026/07/21
    The Mug in the Frost: How a Fake Lover Stole Her Recovery

    Fear of being betrayed again by someone she trusted - and the mug that proved it - begins on a winter morning when a clean ceramic cup labeled SURVIVOR sits alone in the frost on a trail she walks every day. The mug belonged to Cheryl Vogel, who did not know it had been taken from her home four months earlier; who put it there, and why, is the question that unravels a two-year manufactured relationship.

    In this episode, we follow the timeline from Cheryl’s daily ritual walks and her remission from breast cancer to the online bond she formed in the private Facebook group Ribbon and Recovery, and the way a stolen object on Ridgeline Nature Trail forced the truth into the open. How did an online persona become a lifeline and then a mechanism for exploitation?

    Person: Cheryl Vogel
    Location: Dalton Court, Portsmith, Ohio
    Date: November 9, 2021
    Topic: manufactured relationship and theft
    Case: online impersonation using persona of a retired physician and a fraudster

    - Cheryl found a pale blue ceramic mug with a teal hand-painted ribbon and the word SURVIVOR fired into the clay on Ridgeline Nature Trail at 6:30 a.m.
    - The votive candle at the mug’s base had been burned entirely to the wick and the frost around it was undisturbed except for Cheryl’s footprints.
    - Cheryl had joined Ribbon and Recovery, a private Facebook community of roughly 300 members, in fall 2019 after a colleague recommended it.
    - The online profile "Kevin Andrews" claimed to be an oncology nurse practitioner in Dayton and messaged Cheryl in December 2019; their first phone call lasted three hours.
    - The image used for Kevin’s video calls belonged to retired physician Leonard Coss in Portland, Oregon, while the voice and plan were attributed to Dennis Caulfield, 41, of Terre Haute, Indiana, who had a prior conviction for fraud.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    24 分
  • The Letters in the River: How a Fake Lover Cost Him $11,200

    The Letters in the River: How a Fake Lover Cost Him $11,200
    2026/07/21
    The Letters in the River: How a Fake Lover Cost Him $11,200

    Fear that the person who loves you might not exist - and that your trust could be buried in a river - starts this story: forty dry handwritten letters found in a cinder‑blocked tote pulled from the Saller River, and $11,200 gone from a man who believed their writer was real. Who saved those letters, and who tried so hard to make them disappear?

    In this episode, we follow the sequence of events from the first pen‑pal flyer to the river recovery and the financial losses that followed, presenting the facts and unanswered threads that connect a handmade photograph, a decades‑old volunteer program, and repeated money transfers. How did two years of careful correspondence turn into a sunk cost of $11,200 and a tote weighted to the riverbed?

    Person: Kent Vogel
    Location: Saller River, near Carver Street bridge
    Date: October 2021 (discovery); first letter May 2018
    Amount: $11,200 total lost
    Correspondence length: 26 months, letters every 2-3 weeks

    - A sealed plastic tote weighted with a cinder block was found roughly a quarter mile from the Carver Street bridge.
    - Inside were roughly forty handwritten letters bound with a rubber band and a photograph labeled "Kent - Portsmith, 2019."
    - Kent began corresponding in May 2018 through a pen pal program and exchanged letters for 26 months.
    - The first monetary request noted was a "processing fee" of $340, sent by Kent in summer 2019.
    - By the time the case drew attention, Kent had lost $11,200 sending money to the person identified in the letters.

    To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

    © 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
    This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
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    21 分