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

0:01 suspenseful music plays] [Mariana van Zeller] Back in September of 2001,

0:07 I was a student at Columbia's Journalism School in New York,

0:11 when the world as we knew it changed.

0:16 suspenseful music plays] As one of the few Portuguese journalists in New York,

0:27 I was asked by a network in Lisbon to go live from the city.

0:30 [speaking Portuguese].

0:35 [Mariana van Zeller] It was the first

0:38 time I'd covered terrorism and it awakened me

0:41 to the ways that extreme ideologies festering in distant

0:45 places can impact so many in a globalized world.

0:50 [overlapping chatter] [Mariana van Zeller] My experience

0:58 on 9/11 led to other stories,

1:00 investigating terror networks in Syria, Iraq, Sri Lanka, Sierra Leone...

1:06 You see the mine right here?

1:07 ...Nigeria and Lebanon.

1:09 In the hands of Hezbollah, how careful should we be?

1:12 [Rami] Uh, you should be very careful.

1:14 [Mariana van Zeller] I've tried to understand how these groups think,

1:17 how they recruit, how they plan.

1:19 It goes into the truck, yeah?

1:21 And how they fund their operations.

1:23 They're making money out of the selling and out of the transportation of oil.

1:32 [Mariana van Zeller] And recently,

1:33 I've heard rumors of a new funding source, gold.

1:39 That's what brought me to Niger.

1:41 [gunfire] [bystander] Allahu Akbar!

1:44 [Mariana van Zeller] I came here to learn how

1:46 this dangerous trade works and how terrorists are profiting.

1:54 But then, the world shifted once again.

1:57 Hi, can you hear me?

1:59 The communication is really bad.

2:00 Communication is really bad.

2:01 I'm sorry.

2:02 [phone disconnects] [bleep].

2:05 [Darren Foster on phone] Hello?

2:07 [Mariana van Zeller] Yes, so we just got word that there was a military coup,

2:09 and basically it just happened a few hours ago in the capital.

2:15 And we're just waiting for, for word on what to do.

2:18 We're not sure.

2:20 [inaudible].

2:21 [Mariana van Zeller] What's that?

2:23 Sorry, the, the connection.

2:25 [phone disconnects] Yeah, and now it's not even going through.

2:30 We have no idea what's happening.

2:32 We're all really on edge and it doesn't look

2:34 like it's very safe for us to stay here.

2:37 theme music plays].

2:53 [singing foreign language].

3:00 upbeat music plays] [Mariana van Zeller] So,

3:15 we're basically driving right in the middle of the Sahara.

3:17 There's no, like, actual real roads here.

3:20 And there's just miles and miles of just emptiness, nothing.

3:26 We're in a convoy of three military trucks right now,

3:30 with about, I don't know, like 20 guys carrying an AK-47,

3:35 and they say that that's necessary here,

3:37 because there's been an increase in attack in this region.

3:40 Niger is one of the most remote and dangerous places in the world.

3:45 The country is part of the Sahel region of Africa,

3:48 a region that's become a breeding ground for the biggest brands in terrorism.

3:53 Since the early 2000s, groups like al-Qaeda,

3:56 Boko Haram and The Islamic State have killed

3:58 tens of thousands of people in the Sahel, and displaced millions more.

4:03 [bystander] Allahu Akbar!

4:04 [Mariana van Zeller] It's all part of a violent

4:06 attempt to expand their influence and spread their ideology.

4:10 But that expansion is costly.

4:12 And one newfound commodity here is helping to fuel it.

4:16 So, there's been a huge gold rush in Niger in the past

4:19 decade and there have been gold mines popping up all over the country.

4:23 We're heading to one of the most recent ones.

4:33 I want to know if these recent discoveries of gold

4:36 are becoming a hidden source of funding for terror groups,

4:40 so I'm starting at the source.

4:44 You can start seeing some huts.

4:47 You know, you drive in the desert for so long,

4:49 you don't see anything and it seems like so out of place.

4:56 So here it is.

4:58 This is it.

4:59 The gold Wild West.

5:03 [laughter] [Mariana van Zeller] All those holes on the ground, that's all mines.

5:11 So, they're basically going down in, under these holes.

5:15 Wow.

5:16 That is insane.

5:45 [Mariana van Zeller] This is a familiar sight throughout the Sahel,

5:47 young men prospecting in the desert with hand tools and little else.

5:53 But the reason our army escort is on high

5:56 alert is because deadly attacks on mining sites,

5:59 like this one, have become alarmingly common.

6:05 [Mariana van Zeller] In fact, this was one of the only mines in the entire

6:08 country that they felt comfortable with us visiting.

6:17 [Mariana van Zeller] So he's saying his mine is right here.

6:18 But you can see all of these were,

6:20 there's a bunch of holes around that are all, they're all essentially mines.

6:27 Oh, wow.

6:28 Holy moly.

6:28 Okay.

6:29 This, so this is the entrance to his mine, right here.

6:34 Wow.

6:43 [Mariana van Zeller] Oui.

7:02 [Mariana van Zeller] Oh, wow, so there's a, one of the guys,

7:04 one of the miners that's coming up right now,

7:06 so we're at about 60 feet and we have to go over 200 feet down.

7:14 The mine has been blasted with dynamite and dug out by hand.

7:18 There are no supports to buttress the walls or ceiling.

7:23 And yet, Issifou and his men navigate the shafts without

7:27 any safety equipment and just flip flops on their feet.

7:32 [groans] Okay.

7:35 Oh, wow, it's getting really, really dark now.

7:38 Super dark.

7:39 You can barely see anything.

7:40 You really do need these headlamps.

7:42 All of this is unregulated.

7:45 The sense I get from the miners is

7:47 that the government is so strapped for resources,

7:50 these mines can operate with impunity.

7:53 I imagine there's a hope, too, that young men at work in the mines

7:56 will be harder targets for terrorists to recruit.

8:00 If that sounds rather desperate, it is.

8:02 And indicative of the many challenges facing the country.

8:08 [Mariana van Zeller] I mean, come and, come and see this.

8:10 This is crazy how deep it gets.

8:19 At this point, it's just so steep that we have

8:21 to go with our bums down as if it's a slide.

8:29 [speaking French] [Mariana van Zeller] I think we're getting close.

8:31 You can start hearing the hammering on the rock here.

8:36 [Mariana van Zeller] Oh, wow.

8:37 Okay, so this is where they're digging right now.

8:39 You can see them essentially hitting and basically digging for gold.

8:43 See and then it all goes into these big, white bags and gets carried up.

8:48 It's, uh, really hot here, very hot, and really dark.

8:53 And you could see pieces of, basically, the ceiling falling down.

9:01 [Mariana van Zeller] Oh, wow.

9:07 [Mariana van Zeller] So this is the vein.

9:16 [Mariana van Zeller] It's estimated that more than $5 billion in gold

9:19 is extracted each year from small unregulated sites in the Sahel,

9:24 like this one, a testament to the sheer willpower of miners like Issifou.

9:31 And, uh, they're, they're telling us that we actually have

9:33 to start going up because they, at, at 5:00 p.m.,

9:35 they start putting dynamites in the mines around,

9:38 so there's a risk that this will all collapse.

9:40 So they're telling us we have to head up.

9:41 We have two minutes to get up there.

9:44 Okay, okay.

9:48 Okay.

9:49 Okay, let's go, guys.

9:53 [speaking French].

10:00 suspenseful music plays] [Mariana van Zeller] If they reach

10:07 a rock that is too hard to hit by hand, that's when they use the dynamite.

10:11 And he says they use it quite frequently.

10:13 Every workday at 5:00 p.m., Issifou and his men set off explosives.

10:18 [rumbling] Whoa, did you hear that?

10:24 [Mariana van Zeller] When the dust settles,

10:25 they'll descend back into the mine and work late into the night,

10:29 hauling out the blasted rock.

10:31 Much as I'd like to stay,

10:33 the gold mines of the Sahel region are not a place to be caught after dark.

10:38 The soldiers escorting us are adamant that we

10:40 get back to our camp before nightfall,

10:43 or risk finding ourselves in somebody's crosshairs.

11:18 [Mariana van Zeller] Kiari Liman-Tinguiri has served

11:19 as the Nigerian ambassador to the United States since 2021.

11:56 [Mariana van Zeller] Back in 2002 and 2003,

11:59 there were just nine terrorist attacks on the entire African continent.

12:04 Fast forward 20 years to 2022,

12:06 and that number jumped to 2,737 attacks in Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali alone.

12:14 The attacks often entail large groups of terrorists

12:17 roaring into villages and mining sites on motorcycles,

12:21 and robbing and killing with abandon.

12:24 [rapid gunfire] [Mariana van Zeller] Ultimately,

13:08 it's this desperation that keeps the miners digging, despite all the risks.

13:18 [grinding][♪ upbeat music playing] [Mariana van Zeller] The rocks

13:54 he brings here generally yield small amounts of gold.

13:56 It's then sold to middlemen for cash,

13:59 and the profits split evenly between the mine's owner and Issifou's crew.

14:10 [Mariana van Zeller] So this is a gram of gold basically.

14:11 This is after it's, the mercury's been burnt off.

14:14 It will be sold for the equivalent of about $60.

14:17 It doesn't look like much, but, uh, this is why all of this is happening.

14:21 It's all because of this.

14:26 -This is taken, then transported to Agadez.

14:32 [Mariana van Zeller] The journey from here to Agadez

14:34 is 100 miles of unpaved and punishing terrain.

14:38 [singing in foreign language] [Mariana van Zeller]

14:45 But waiting at the end is a city

14:46 that serves as a stronghold of Tuareg people and a crossroads of the Sahel,

14:54 where fortunes in ivory, salt, spices,

14:57 and slaves have traded hands over the centuries.

15:01 [car honking] Today, it's gold that feeds the local economy.

15:10 [clinking] [sizzling] Oh, wow.

15:28 This is almost 600 grams of gold.

15:30 It's worth, uh, $36,000.

15:33 This is market day for Clickely,

15:35 a gold broker who has come to the forge to melt down

15:39 ingots that he and his men have bought from miners like Issifou.

15:44 If terrorists are stealing gold, at some point, they must trade it...

15:49 [sizzling] And I'm hoping Clickely can explain how and where that happens.

16:02 [Mariana van Zeller] So today alone, he's processed $333,000 worth of gold here.

16:08 That is incredible.

16:17 [Mariana van Zeller] 20 million?

16:18 So that's $33,000 that he's made just today

16:22 from the golds that he was able to process.

16:24 And that's liquid.

16:26 Just pure money.

16:29 Clickely has agreed to speak with us, but only for a short while.

16:33 Especially in a country with poverty as desperate as Niger's,

16:37 walking the streets with gold bars is an invitation to be robbed or killed.

16:58 suspenseful music plays][♪ eerie music playing]

17:29 [clicks] [Mariana van Zeller] So many zeros.

18:05 -Yes.

18:05 -$2 million?

18:06 -Yes.

18:07 Yes.

18:07 -Wow!

18:23 [Mariana van Zeller] Wow.

18:26 The Sahel wasn't always this dangerous.

18:29 Ironically, it was an American and NATO intervention in neighboring Libya

18:33 that created a power vacuum and opened the floodgates to militants.

18:39 [Dr.

18:39 Stephanie Savell] The problem really arose following

18:42 the fall of Gaddafi in 2011 in Libya.

18:46 [reporter] This final image, a violent end for a violent man.

18:50 [Dr.

18:50 Stephanie Savell] The mercenaries who were fighting for Gaddafi,

18:52 they looted his weapon stores.

18:54 [reporter] Artillery, rockets, missiles,

18:56 and chemical weapons agents that could make a terrorist's head spin.

19:00 [Dr.

19:01 Stephanie Savell] And came down south into Mali.

19:03 [Mariana van Zeller] That influx of fighters and weapons

19:05 made the Sahel less safe and less stable.

19:09 Terrorist groups saw the region's increasing

19:12 lawlessness as the perfect place to recruit,

19:15 train, and plan attacks, both in Africa and beyond.

19:19 Back in Washington, America saw uncomfortable parallels to Afghanistan and 9/11.

19:25 [President Obama] We have to recognize that the threat has shifted

19:28 and evolved from the one that came to our shores on 9/11.

19:33 With a decade of experience now to draw

19:37 from, this is the moment to ask ourselves hard questions,

19:41 about the nature of today's threats and how we should confront them.

19:47 [Mariana van Zeller] To try to stem it,

19:48 they began pouring humanitarian and military aid into Niger.

19:53 So, this is actually one of the largest U.S.

19:56 military drone bases in the world,

19:58 and we're in the middle of the Sahara Desert, in the middle of nowhere.

20:04 On the outskirts of Agadez is an American

20:07 military facility known as Air Base 201.

20:10 Finished in 2019 by the U.S.

20:13 Air Force at a cost of more than $100 million.

20:17 American taxpayers also spend an estimated 20

20:21 to $30 million a year to maintain it.

20:26 You can see it's all this barbed wire that goes on for a long time.

20:32 There's a bunch of soldiers coming out.

20:34 Well-armed.

20:40 They want us to stop?

20:41 Are they asking us to stop?

20:42 Should we stop?

20:44 I think we were driving too close to the base.

20:47 So now we have a couple of, uh, soldiers coming to ask us questions.

20:55 The U.S.

20:55 has more than 1,000 military personnel stationed in Niger whose presence,

21:00 along with drone surveillance and strikes,

21:03 are intended to help keep terrorist groups in check.

21:06 [explosion] But lawlessness remains rampant.

21:12 Even here, on the perimeter of Base 201, less than a year ago,

21:17 a vehicle carrying $40,000 in payroll for the base was robbed in broad daylight.

21:24 So it's understandable why they'd ask us to stop the car.

21:27 So we're with National Geographic, we're a television crew.

21:31 I can show you my credential.

21:33 After a few questions, they let us go.

21:35 [soldier] Go, go.

21:42 [Mariana van Zeller] Our plan was now to move closer to the capital,

21:44 Niamey, to further investigate gold and terror connections.

21:50 When we came to Niger,

21:51 we knew that the gold trade was just one facet of a bigger story,

21:56 about America's ongoing strategy for combating Islamic terrorists,

22:00 and its battle with other global powers for influence in the region.

22:05 But not in our wildest dreams did we expect what would happen next.

22:13 [phone line ringing] [Darren Foster on phone] Hello?

22:19 [Mariana van Zeller] Hi, can you hear me?

22:20 The communication is really bad.

22:22 Communication is really bad.

22:23 I'm sorry.

22:24 [phone disconnects] [bleep].

22:28 [phone line ringing] -Hello?

22:32 -Yes.

22:33 [Mariana van Zeller] So,

22:33 we just got word that there was a military coup in the country.

22:36 Just got back to the hotel and finally got access to cell phone service.

22:40 And basically, it just happened a few hour,

22:42 a couple of hours ago in the, in the capital,

22:44 um, and we're just waiting for, for word on what to do.

22:48 We're not sure.

22:49 Um, right, you know, right now, we're in Agadez.

22:52 [inaudible].

22:53 [Mariana van Zeller] What's that?

22:55 Sorry, the, the connection.

22:57 [phone disconnects] Yeah, and now it's not even going through.

23:04 [reporter] Tonight, chaos in the capital of Niger...

23:07 [rapid gunfire] After what appears to be a coup

23:10 attempt against President Mohamed Bazoum by his own security forces.

23:14 [speaking foreign language].

23:21 [Lester Holt] In addition to growing threats from terror groups.

23:24 [reporter] The U.S.

23:24 is calling for the president to be released immediately.

23:27 [reporter] Officers were closing the country's

23:29 borders and establishing a curfew.

23:31 [speaking foreign language].

23:33 [reporter] Niger is a key security ally for the U.S.

23:37 in the region.

23:38 [correspondent] This does not bode well at all.

23:41 [Mariana van Zeller] Kamil?

23:42 -Hello?

23:42 -Hey, Mariana here.

23:44 [Mariana van Zeller] We got the news and it's, uh,

23:45 I think we're all a little bit on edge here.

23:48 We're all very nervous.

23:49 How are you doing?

23:54 [Mariana van Zeller] And what do you, what do you mean?

23:55 What is happening in the capital?

23:56 [phone disconnects] Oh, [bleep].

23:58 [phone line ringing] Hi, can you hear me?

24:00 -Hello, sorry.

24:00 -So, what happened exactly?

24:01 [Mariana van Zeller] Can you tell me?

24:07 [Mariana van Zeller] Oh, wow.

24:07 So, there were some shots fired, right, on the streets of, of the capital?

24:10 [phone disconnects] So yeah, I think, we have no idea what's happening.

24:18 We're all really on edge and waiting to hear what to do next.

24:22 It doesn't look like it's very safe for us to stay here.

24:33 [Kiari Liman-Tinguiri] I received calls and WhatsApp message and, uh.

24:48 [reporter] Demonstrators who support the president

24:50 scampered as gunshots rang out.

24:53 [reporter] Why this coup is happening is unclear.

24:55 [reporter] They've closed the country's borders and they've closed the airspace,

24:58 so no flights are coming or going.

25:00 [reporter] What was a fragile democracy,

25:03 now appears to be heading towards full blown military dictatorship.

25:21 [speaking French].

25:30 [Mariana van Zeller] So the president is still being detained by the military?

25:33 [Baba Toure] Yes.

25:34 The president are detained by the militaries.

25:36 [Mariana van Zeller] Baba Toure is our local producer,

25:38 who's originally from Mali.

25:40 [phone chiming] [Baba Toure] Sorry, sorry.

25:43 [Mariana van Zeller] Are you getting a lot

25:45 of messages from your family and people?

25:46 [Baba Toure] Yeah.

25:47 Yeah.

25:47 -Worried?

25:47 -I get, yes.

25:48 [Baba Toure] Since yesternight, my family called me.

25:50 [Mariana van Zeller] Mm-hmm.

25:51 [Baba Toure] Friends, they try to know,

25:52 they try to know if I'm fine, if everything is good.

25:56 Everybody is worried, yeah.

25:57 [Mariana van Zeller] Check these out, the ones responsible for the coup, yeah?

26:00 [Baba Toure] Yeah.

26:02 [Mariana van Zeller] I've been a journalist for over 25 years

26:04 and this is the first time I've been trapped inside my own story.

26:10 Overnight, airspace has been shut down, and land borders have been closed.

26:15 That leaves us in a tight spot.

26:18 We came here with army security provided by President Bazoum's government.

26:22 And now that his government is gone, so is our security.

26:27 We're in a small hotel in the desert,

26:29 a 500 mile drive from the international airport in the capital,

26:33 glued to the tv watching events unfold.

26:37 [cheering] [Mariana van Zeller] This coup is a deep

26:41 shock for the country and for the U.S.

26:43 It was only four months ago that Antony Blinken made

26:46 the first ever official visit by a Secretary of State to Niger.

27:16 [Antony Blinken] Today,

27:17 I announce nearly $150 million in new humanitarian assistance.

27:28 [Mariana van Zeller] What does it mean that only months later,

27:30 this, "Model of democracy," has been overthrown?

27:33 [reporter] Niger was in the process of shrugging off a reputation

27:37 as part of the, "Coup-club," countries in this part of Africa.

27:42 [Mariana van Zeller] Rumors are swirling about what really motivated the coup.

27:47 Did General Tchiani, the leader of the presidential guards,

27:50 take action because he'd heard he was about to be replaced?

27:54 Was president Bazoum to blame for fostering such close ties to France,

27:59 which ruled Niger as a colony until

28:02 1960 and maintained an unpopular military presence?

28:06 One of the first acts of violence to be

28:08 broadcast is the riot where coup supporters chant,

28:11 "Down with France," as they tried to set fire to its embassy in the capital.

28:18 [cheering] [reporter] Elsewhere in the capital,

28:22 they hold aloft the Russian flag.

28:24 [Mariana van Zeller] Or was this the work of Putin's Russia,

28:27 a country that has much to gain from Niger's break with France and the U.S.?

28:32 [reporter] Tailors in Niger's capital busy making

28:35 more Russian flags to meet increased demand.

28:39 [Mariana van Zeller] Again and again,

28:40 Putin has attempted to use the instability in the region to his advantage.

28:45 The Sahel has experienced seven coups in just three years,

28:49 ushering a new generation of military strongmen into Putin's orbit.

28:54 He's hosted them at conferences in Moscow and provided Wagner

28:57 mercenary troops to help them fight terrorists and maintain control.

29:02 [reporter] Wagner and Russia's stock seem to be rising in West Africa.

29:06 [speaking foreign language].

29:07 [reporter] "All the Africans know that Putin

29:09 is ready to save us," this man says.

29:11 [Mariana van Zeller] In exchange,

29:12 Russia has obtained valuable mining contracts to extract

29:15 the Sahel's many natural resources, including gold.

29:23 There is a concern that Putin might send troops to prop up the coup leaders,

29:27 an action that could spark a civil war.

29:30 It's also possible that terrorist groups could exploit these chaotic

29:34 days after the coup to stage their next big attack.

29:38 [automated voice] You are in the meeting now.

29:40 -Hi, guys.

29:41 -Hey, everyone.

29:42 [Mariana van Zeller] Mariana here.

29:43 I think, at this point, we would all feel much better if

29:45 we're actually discussing plans for our extraction,

29:49 in case there is in fact a military evacuation.

30:11 [Mariana van Zeller] Yeah.

30:11 We understand all that.

30:12 We just want to know,

30:13 if violence breaks out where we are right now, what is the plan?

30:27 [Mariana van Zeller] So what exactly is it that you guys can do for us?

30:29 What exactly is your role?

30:38 [Mariana van Zeller] Yeah.

30:39 So that's what, we sort of want to have those, where would that be?

30:42 When would that be and where?

30:43 What, what's that point?

30:44 And is there a plan already being set in motion?

30:46 We're missing a little bit of a sense of urgency or plan,

30:49 pre-planning, so we're not stuck in a war if military intervention starts.

31:01 [Mariana van Zeller] Yeah, but do you guys have any idea where that is?

31:03 Do, any, any idea, any idea where that would be?

31:05 What's that safe location?

31:06 Any, any idea?

31:20 [Mariana van Zeller] I think the most troubling part

31:21 of it all is the fact that we're stuck here.

31:24 They say it's, it'll be, at least,

31:26 another week before, um, there's, they open up the airspace.

31:30 Maybe more.

31:31 So we have no idea how long we're gonna be stuck here.

31:34 Stuck in our little Agadez hotel, I find myself fighting two impulses.

31:40 The first, to get out of the country as soon as possible,

31:43 as there's a real chance of violence breaking out.

31:46 The second impulse is to do what we've come here to do.

31:51 We wanted to see the situation, so we've actually been out and about today.

31:54 Things are pretty calm here.

31:56 Niamey, in the capital, is not the same.

31:58 They've been burning buildings.

32:00 There've been a lot of protests, both supporting the coup and against the coup.

32:03 A contact says a former member of a terror group has agreed to meet with me,

32:08 but only in a location of his choosing,

32:10 and that means leaving the relative safety of our hotel.

32:18 I'm hopeful this man has insight into how these terror groups,

32:21 the gold trade, and the coup are all intertwined.

32:29 We're looking for this blue door, somewhere around this neighborhood.

32:34 But, really, I have no idea what I'm walking into.

32:43 suspenseful music plays] [knocking] [knocking][♪ suspenseful

33:15 music plays] [Mariana van Zeller] Okay.

33:44 [Mariana van Zeller] How old were you when you joined the group?

35:33 [Mariana van Zeller] Zakat is one of the pillars of Islam,

35:36 a charitable offering required of Muslims each year.

35:39 But in this case, what Moustapha describes, is more akin to a shakedown.

35:58 [Mariana van Zeller] Moustapha explains that some

36:00 of the gold is used as currency in Niger.

36:02 The rest is sent to Dubai where it's traded for cash

36:05 and used to purchase goods that are then imported back into the country.

36:49 [Mariana van Zeller] As we head back to our hotel,

36:51 it strikes me that he's wrong about one point.

36:54 Not everything will come to a halt.

36:57 If I learned anything over the years,

36:59 it's that black markets thrive in instability.

37:03 The lack of opportunities will only send more young men

37:05 to the mines or into the arms of terrorist groups.

37:11 Instability breeds more instability, especially in a region like the Sahel,

37:15 which sits atop a treasure trove of untapped natural resources.

37:21 Gold, yes.

37:23 But also oil, uranium, and rare earth minerals.

37:27 This coup is part of a much larger story about resources and power.

37:33 Who's got them?

37:34 Who wants them?

37:36 And what people are willing to do to get them?

37:50 [Mariana van Zeller] So the West African

37:51 state leaders are discussing the situation in Niger.

37:54 And one of the possibilities is military intervention,

37:57 which obviously is really bad news,

38:00 because if things get violent here and if the war breaks out,

38:04 we wanna be sure that there is an evacuation plan in place.

38:09 We went to the airport yesterday, as well,

38:12 to see if they had any news on possible planes leaving.

38:15 You know, the airspace is still closed, so nothing there.

38:19 I think, at this point, we just wanna be proactive and do as much as we can.

38:24 [reporter] We begin the day with the possibility

38:26 of war in Niger still very much on the table.

38:30 [Omar Alieu Touray] Direct the community to activate

38:32 the ECOWAS Standby Force with all its elements immediately.

38:37 [Deane Smith] What I would say is that we

38:38 are in the best position to being within Niger.

38:41 [Mariana van Zeller] Mm-hmm.

38:42 [Deane Smith] Because we're away from the capital.

38:44 We're away from the major towns.

38:45 Obviously, we're here in Agadez.

38:47 [Mariana van Zeller] Mm-hmm.

38:48 Yeah, but we're also away from an, an exit if...

38:52 [Deane Smith] Yeah.

38:53 Totally.

38:53 Yeah.

38:53 [Mariana van Zeller] When that news came out that the West African

38:55 states have given the coup leaders seven days to bring back President Bazoum,

39:01 my thought process is we have seven days

39:03 to figure out how to get out of this country.

39:07 What happens if there's violence at the door of our hotel?

39:09 Is it safe?

39:10 Are the roads, has, do you know anyone, Baba,

39:12 who's done this journey to the border with Nigeria?

39:15 Is it at all safe for us to go?

39:18 [Baba Toure] I cannot confirm the roads are safe.

39:23 [Mariana van Zeller] We'd arrived in Agadez by plane,

39:25 because thieves and terrorists made it too

39:27 dangerous to travel by road without heavy security.

39:32 [crew] What do you guys reckon?

39:33 You think we'll be staying put or heading to Niamey?

39:36 [crew] I don't know.

39:37 Both are sounding equally unappealing with every day.

39:41 [Mariana van Zeller] But we had only planned to stay for four days,

39:43 quick enough to get in and out without drawing too much attention.

39:48 Instead we're stuck.

39:50 The most visible foreigners in the city.

39:53 And a tempting target for a militant group or kidnappers.

39:58 The question now is whether to take our chances

40:00 on the roads and make our way to a neighboring country,

40:04 which would require traveling without a military escort.

40:07 So, ironically, after covering black market operators for most of my career,

40:13 our best hope of escape from Agadez may be to hire one to smuggle us out.

40:20 So we're, we're waiting for this guy who works in the gold

40:22 business to come and meet us here at the hotel.

40:24 It's very interesting 'cause there's a photo

40:27 of the president in a lot of these business establishments.

40:31 There's always a photo of the president.

40:32 Oh, he's here actually.

40:35 [in French] How are you?

40:45 [Mariana van Zeller] I'm hopeful that Ismael might be our ticket out of Niger.

40:58 [Mariana van Zeller] Ismael tells us stories, as most everybody in Agadez does,

41:02 about recent murders and atrocities he's witnessed on the road.

41:06 [gunshots] Wow.

41:08 You can hear the shots.

41:09 [speaking foreign language].

41:11 [Mariana van Zeller] Wow.

41:14 They were coming your way, so you went to the ground.

41:18 Wow.

41:19 It's not the most hopeful starting point when looking for a viable escape route.

41:33 [speaking French] [Mariana van Zeller] Hmm.

41:54 [Mariana van Zeller] For Ismael,

41:55 traveling with a group of Americans would make a dangerous trip even more so.

41:59 But providing security isn't something we can offer, and without it,

42:03 we run the risk of becoming another cautionary tale on someone's phone.

42:22 [Mariana van Zeller] The more we explore possible exit strategies,

42:25 none of them look particularly safe.

42:29 The funny thing is, we're only two miles from Base 201,

42:32 but despite many requests, the U.S.

42:36 Military won't allow us to take shelter at the base, perhaps because the U.S.

42:40 is in the middle of its own crisis.

42:44 [Antony Blinken] We are condemning the actions that have taken place in Niger.

42:48 [Mariana van Zeller] So far,

42:48 the State Department has refused to label the action a coup,

42:51 which would legally require the U.S.

42:54 to withdraw financial aid.

42:56 There are concerns that that might push

42:58 the new government into the waiting arms of Putin.

43:01 [Antony Blinken] Our economic and security partnership with Niger,

43:04 which is significant, hundreds of millions of dollars,

43:07 depends on the continuation of the democratic

43:11 governance and constitutional order that has been disrupted.

43:14 [Mariana van Zeller] That's the thing about a coup like

43:16 this, it casts a spell of uncertainty over everything, big and small.

43:21 For the people of Niger,

43:23 it's unclear who will rule and if the chaos will spread.

43:27 For the U.S., President Bazoum's ouster means losing

43:30 our closest African ally in the war on terror.

43:34 And for us, stuck in our hotel, it means trying to stay positive.

43:41 Because while European governments are evacuating their citizens

43:44 as fast as they can, the U.S.

43:46 won't declare it a coup, and that means they won't help us get out.

44:06 [Mariana van Zeller] We've been spending days on end,

44:08 trying to find seats on humanitarian planes which could take us to the capital,

44:13 Niamey, but even those planes in Agadez remain grounded.

44:17 And these are supposedly the last planes that are taking Europeans out.

44:21 And they're already on the runway about to leave

44:23 and he was able to get us all seats, but the problem is that we're very far away

44:28 so we're not gonna be able to make those flights.

44:35 I just got a message from the, our U.S.

44:37 military contact at the base here.

44:39 [Paul] Mm-hmm.

44:39 Does he say that they're anticipating the evacuation order to come?

44:43 [Mariana van Zeller] Uh, "If the evacuation order is given,

44:45 we are standing by to receive the order to come get

44:47 you all and bring us back to the airbase here." -Okay.

44:52 -So it's still an if.

44:52 -Okay.

44:53 [Mariana van Zeller] I mean,

44:53 the Italians and the Germans have all given evacuation orders.

44:56 -Mm-hmm.

44:57 [text tone] -What's happening?

45:04 [Mariana van Zeller] It says, "No,

45:04 nobody has made any calls to consolidate Americans yet." [bleep].

45:11 We've got five more days before ECOWAS's ultimatum ends

45:14 and possible military intervention by the West African states.

45:19 Mali and Burkina Faso have said that they are

45:21 ready to come and fight and defend the military coup.

45:26 So a civil war could break out at any point,

45:28 and we're in a race against time for this evacuation window that's happening,

45:32 except that in our case, we're 1,000 kilometers away from the capital,

45:36 Niamey, where those planes are leaving at this moment.

45:40 I think we've all felt very emotional.

45:41 Just the uncertainty of it all has really took, taken a toll.

45:45 And they're really just missing our families,

45:48 and that moment that's gonna happen very, very soon.

45:52 We're gonna be able to hug um, our loved ones, is what's keeping us going.

46:06 [phone dialing] [automated voice] You are in the meeting now.

46:13 [Mariana van Zeller] Hey, guys.

46:14 We've got the whole team here.

46:15 [Frank Harrison] All right.

46:16 Just briefed the team before you came on board.

46:19 We'll bring you up to speed, about...

46:38 -Yes.

46:39 -Wow.

46:39 [Mariana van Zeller] That's, that's incredible news.

46:43 I think we're all very happy.

46:45 But it seems like it's firm, it's firm.

46:47 Like this is actually happening.

46:48 We're actually sure that this is happening now, right?

46:51 We don't wanna give false hopes again to the team.

46:59 [Mariana van Zeller] With all other doors closed,

47:01 a private extraction company will try to land a plane to get us out.

47:38 dramatic music] [Mariana van Zeller] Everyone in the car?

47:48 [Paul] Yes.

47:48 Let's pull out please.

47:49 [Deane Smith] Okay.

47:50 Let's go.

47:51 Nice and steady.

47:56 [Deane Smith] Okay.

47:57 Let's go.

47:57 Nice and steady.

48:07 [Mariana van Zeller] The plane's supposed to land in 20 minutes.

48:15 So our police escort didn't show up

48:17 and there's a curfew that goes until 5:00 a.m.

48:21 So today is actually Independence Day here in Niger.

48:24 They've reported protests happening around the country in support of the coup,

48:29 and, apparently, there's going to be a lot of anti-Western feelings around.

48:33 People are afraid of foreigners being a target.

48:36 So we were actually scared that because of this Independence Day,

48:40 that the plane wouldn't be able to land,

48:42 the airport here wouldn't be operational.

48:44 But it's supposed to land in 20 minutes.

48:49 It's been a really nerve-racking night.

48:53 [Paul] We've got a little bit of a roadblock coming up here.

49:03 [Mariana van Zeller] I think there's a full awareness

49:05 amongst our whole team that we are the lucky ones.

49:08 We've had a very uncertain one week.

49:11 But for the people of Niger,

49:13 for all the incredible people that we've met along the way,

49:16 it's an uncertain future and, you know,

49:19 one without democracy and possible violence on the way.

49:25 [Kiari Liman-Tinguiri] I'm very concerned about, about the future and I'm,

49:28 I'm very concerned for the generations to come.

50:15 [Mariana van Zeller] So the airport is on our right and I'm

50:17 trying to see if I can see the plane coming in anywhere.

50:30 dramatic music] [Paul] We're just getting out...

50:35 on its way back.

50:44 dramatic music] [jet engine rumbling] [Mariana van Zeller] We're getting in.

51:02 Thank you.

51:05 The captain is checking with his ops.

51:08 Okay.

51:09 He said we're good to leave.

51:11 Seems like we're good.

51:12 [captain] Crew, Vector is the primary radio.

51:23 dramatic music] [Mariana van Zeller] I spent much

51:31 of the last week waiting for this moment.

51:34 I think I was more scared than I wanted to admit.

51:38 The relief of finally getting out hits me,

51:40 along with the guilt of knowing that leaving is not an option for everyone.

51:52 [tapping] Somewhere down there are the gold miners I met,

52:01 and the people of Agadez, and President Bazoum and his family,

52:05 still being held captive by unelected men who hold

52:08 his fate and the fate of a country in their hands.

52:21 emotional music] [Kiari Liman-Tinguiri] This is something very,

52:29 very scary and very worrisome for the generation to come.

52:34 If I tell you that I see a bright future, I wouldn't be honest.

52:39 I don't see any, for the time being, I don't see any bright future.

52:44 Yeah.

52:59 intense music] MARIANA: I've done stories about scammers before.

53:16 ANCHOR: Tax related scams.

53:17 REPORTER: Warning the public about a new scam.

53:20 MARIANA: Phone scammers.

53:21 Binary options scammers.

53:22 Romance scammers.

53:24 Credit card scammers.

53:25 Identity theft scammers.

53:26 WOMAN: It's a scam.

53:27 MAN: It's a scam.

53:28 MARIANA: But I've never met anyone like these guys.

53:34 They're all 20-somethings.

53:36 And they all live like kings.

53:38 Just hurry in the water♪♪ There's a price to pay♪ MARIANA: Mansions.

53:42 Parties.

53:42 Insane cars.

53:44 Jewelry.

53:45 Ak-47s that look like jewelry.

53:49 It's a lifestyle that's made possible

53:51 by their mastery of cryptocurrency scam called...

53:54 REPORTER: The rug pull scam.

53:55 ANCHOR: The rug pull.

53:56 MARIANA: The rug pull.

53:57 If you haven't heard of it, consider yourself lucky,

54:01 because victims lost nearly $3 billion in 2021 alone.

54:10 This is a journey.

54:11 To the dark side.

54:13 Of the crypto craze.

54:18 (cheering) MARIANA: Okay.

54:32 Let's do this.

54:33 DIRECTOR: Okay.

54:33 You ready?

54:34 MARIANA: Um-hmm.

54:35 Before I started reporting on crypto currency, I think I just thought that it

54:38 was something that everybody else was making money

54:41 on, but I was too lazy to get into it because I knew very little about it.

54:46 MAN: Crypto currency.

54:46 MAN: Crypto.

54:47 WOMAN: Crypto.

54:48 MAN: Crypto.

54:48 MAN: Crypto is a way of people taking control of their money.

54:50 MAN: It's a safe and easy way to get into crypto.

54:52 DAVID: And I'm never wrong about this stuff.

54:54 Never.

54:54 DAMON: Fortune favors the brave.

54:57 MARIANA: Whenever there's something out there that it

54:59 seems like you can make so much money fast,

55:01 there is a lot of people out there that are

55:04 just willing to exploit those dreams or those hopes.

55:08 XAVIER: Like, where do I start with crypto?

55:10 Crypto.

55:11 MARIANA: Actually, let's start from the beginning.

55:13 So it started, so it started with one person.

55:15 One day I got a message on Instagram from a fan of the show.

55:18 Who was such a fan, he lived in LA, so I actually met this guy.

55:22 And he showed up with a cheese board

55:25 that he had made himself that said "Trafficked

55:27 with Mariana Van Zeller" and he gives me

55:29 the cheeseboard and then he says, "Hey." XAVIER: Hey.

55:33 MARIANA: "Hey, what do you know about crypto scams?" XAVIER:

55:34 What do you know about crypto scams?

55:35 MARIANA: Crypto scams.

55:36 One of which is called the "rug pull." XAVIER:

55:38 Remember what I told you about crypto?

55:39 Crypto, crypto.

55:42 Currencies, coins, tokens, centralized financing, decentralized financing.

55:47 But once you go defi, it's the Wild West.

55:50 MARIANA: You do realize that half

55:50 of the things you're saying I don't understand right?

55:52 Uh, um.

55:56 MAN: Shall I say what crypto is?

55:58 MAN 2: It's a very...

56:01 MAN 3: Um...

56:02 MAN 2: A ver, a really.

56:03 MAN 4: Uh...

56:05 MAN: It's so hard, 'cause it's not like a two sentence thing.

56:06 It's like a two hour thing.

56:08 XAVIER: I don't even know where to start.

56:09 I mean.

56:10 MAN 2: And it's, uh, ah (bleep).

56:12 HOST: Now, if you don't know what crypto currencies are,

56:14 we're not entirely sure, either.

56:15 It's okay.

56:16 Experts say they are a digital currency that's exchanged online,

56:19 that's not tied to a government.

56:21 ANCHOR: Bitcoin is probably the most common crypto currency on the market,

56:24 but there are many out there.

56:26 MARIANA: So you have very little money in an actual bank account?

56:29 XAVIER: Yeah.

56:30 MARIANA: All of it is in crypto?

56:31 XAVIER: Exactly.

56:32 And I'm sure I'm not the only one.

56:33 MARIANA: When was the first time you realized you'd been a victim of a scam?

56:36 XAVIER: I think I've been in maybe seven or eight rug pulls.

56:39 MARIANA: That many?

56:40 XAVIER: Yes.

56:41 The first time it was just a $500 investment.

56:43 Then the next one, almost $10,000.

56:46 MARIANA: And then what happened to the bit?

56:47 Just, you lost it?

56:48 XAVIER: You just move on.

56:49 There's nothing you can do.

56:49 Decentralized financing.

56:50 So, there's no rules, nothing applies.

56:52 MARIANA: Right.

56:53 Okay, so the first time you lost $500.

56:55 XAVIER: Right.

56:55 MARIANA: And it was a rug pull?

56:56 XAVIER: Yes.

56:56 Let me explain how this rug pull works in the form of a margarita.

57:01 MARIANA: Great, love margaritas.

57:07 XAVIER: When we launch the token, the scam token,

57:09 you have this amount of your actual token.

57:12 MARIANA: Okay.

57:13 So before scammers start to promote this new offering,

57:16 they've already bought a big chunk of it at a very low price.

57:20 XAVIER: As people are buying in and it goes up and up and up,

57:23 there's no stopping, just keeps going up the charts.

57:26 MARIANA: So that's the money I'm putting in.

57:27 XAVIER: Exactly.

57:28 Exactly.

57:28 MARIANA: Filling up the coffers.

57:29 XAVIER: Now you have more investors coming in.

57:31 More shillers pushing the product.

57:32 Nonstop, Twitter.

57:34 Telegram, pushing it, getting paid to promote a certain token.

57:36 So your average newbie investor sees that and is thinking,

57:39 "Oh, I better get into it right now,

57:42 it looks great." Going, and going, and going, people are buying in.

57:45 MAN: Buy, buy, buy.

57:46 XAVIER: Going, and going, and going, thousands of people.

57:48 MAN: Going and going.

57:49 MARIANA: They're all getting super excited.

57:50 XAVIER: Correct.

57:51 Next thing you know?

57:52 The scammer walks out.

57:55 MARIANA: He walks out?

57:56 XAVIER: Yes.

57:56 MARIANA: With all the money?

57:57 XAVIER: Exactly.

57:57 MARIANA: That's right.

57:59 Just when the excitement around the token reaches a fever pitch,

58:01 the scammer pulls the rug,

58:03 selling all of his holdings and sending the price crashing.

58:08 And that's a rug pull?

58:09 XAVIER: That's a rug pull.

58:10 It's amazing to me that so many people can do this.

58:13 MARIANA: Uh-hmm.

58:13 XAVIER: And get away with it.

58:14 MARIANA: Uh-hmm.

58:15 XAVIER: Personally, I know some people that have lost their life savings.

58:18 MARIANA: Who are the scammers?

58:19 Who are these people that are making millions of dollars.

58:21 XAVIER: Anybody.

58:22 MARIANA: From other people.

58:23 XAVIER: Anybody.

58:23 MARIANA: I can't quite believe that these scams are

58:25 as big and as common as Xavier is telling me.

58:28 XAVIER: Scams everywhere, crypto?

58:29 Scams everywhere.

58:31 MARIANA: But it doesn't take much research to see that he's absolutely right.

58:36 ANCHOR: The FBI is warning about an increase in crypto currency scams.

58:39 ANCHOR: The rug pull scam accounted for 37% of the illicit revenue.

58:43 REPORTER: A Denver man thought he'd be able to retire early,

58:45 after investing more than $1 million.

58:47 ANCHOR: $1.6 million in total.

58:49 MAN: They disappeared with about $3 million.

58:51 NEWS GUEST: I mean, the bad guys

58:52 all want crypto currency because it's not traceable.

58:55 MARIANA: It seems like once people are burnt,

58:57 they either quietly drop out of crypto entirely.

59:00 REPORTER: It's not backed by any banks,

59:01 so consumers have no protections and no way of getting their money back.

59:05 MARIANA: Or, they pin their hopes on making it back on the next hyped up token.

59:09 NEWS GUEST: It's really exciting.

59:10 Maybe there are celebrities involved.

59:11 So you want to get in early.

59:13 MAN: I missed out on Google, I missed out on Apple,

59:15 so I didn't wanna miss out on this.

59:17 MAN: Oh, it went to zero.

59:19 You've seen it live.

59:20 A (bleep) rug pull, baby.

59:23 MARIANA: If I'm looking into scammers, what do you suggest?

59:25 XAVIER: Conventions.

59:26 The conventions.

59:28 MARIANA: The crypto conventions?

59:29 XAVIER: Oh, correct.

59:30 MARIANA: Uh-hmm.

59:31 XAVIER: Miami, Dubai, you're bound to meet somebody that's trying to show off.

59:34 MARIANA: When's the next convention?

59:36 XAVIER: Dubai.

59:36 MARIANA: Dubai?

59:37 XAVIER: Yes, next week.

59:39 MARIANA: Really?

59:39 Next week already?

59:40 XAVIER: Yes.

59:41 MARIANA: And you think for sure there's gonna be scammers there?

59:43 XAVIER: If you ask the right questions, you'll find somebody.

59:45 MARIANA: Uh-hmm.

59:46 XAVIER: You'll find somebody.

59:47 This is the Wild West, decentralized financing is the Wild West.

1:00:13 Yeah♪♪ Put your hands up if you in the building♪♪

1:00:22 Put your hands up high to the ceiling♪ MARIANA: Much like Dubai itself,

1:00:26 crypto currency seemingly came out of nowhere creating obscene towers of wealth,

1:00:31 a lot of it built on sand.

1:00:34 Party all day I'mma get right♪ MARIANA: The good,

1:00:36 the bad, and the ugly of crypto come to these conferences.

1:00:40 Everyone is vying for attention for their latest token.

1:00:44 MAN: Crypto education...

1:00:47 MARIANA: This is the first time that I've showed up somewhere without a lead.

1:00:51 GIRL: With my heart glasses, our hearts.

1:00:54 MARIANA: And without knowing what a scammer might even look like.

1:01:00 So my plan is to get the word out that I'm

1:01:03 looking for them and hope that our cameras will pique their interest.

1:01:09 Let's go♪ MARIANA: Hi, why are you dressed in a space suit?

1:01:14 MAN: Crypto doesn't have any more "sky is the limits" mentality,

1:01:17 so it's going to the moon.

1:01:20 Get it♪♪ Out of nowhere they start modeling♪ MARIANA:

1:01:23 Are you guys in the crypto business?

1:01:26 MEN: Yes.

1:01:27 MARIANA: What do you do?

1:01:30 MARIANA: You invest in crypto?

1:01:31 MAN: Yeah.

1:01:32 MAN: Yeah.

1:01:32 MARIANA: So does your company have a token or how, what do you do?

1:01:34 MAN: No, my company is all about fashion, crypto fashion.

1:01:37 CLIFF: Right now crypto's not accepted for payment everywhere,

1:01:39 as that adopts more, you're gonna see a whole flood of more people come

1:01:43 in and these scammers are gonna be sitting out there waiting.

1:01:46 MARIANA: There is a lot of scamming in crypto, too.

1:01:48 Is that something that worries you?

1:01:50 MAN: Yeah, but that's where you got to do your own research kind of thing.

1:01:52 People don't like to read, people don't like to search, they follow influencers.

1:01:56 MARIANA: I'm assuming there are scammers in here too, right?

1:01:58 CLIFF: I would absolutely bet that, yes.

1:02:02 MARIANA: Do you know anyone who's doing rug pulls?

1:02:04 Any scammers?

1:02:05 (laughing) Good luck.

1:02:14 I leave the conference with nothing to show for it.

1:02:35 (phone ringing) But later, my luck changes.

1:02:39 Hey, can you hear me?

1:02:42 MAN (over phone): Yes.

1:02:44 MARIANA: When I finally hear from an elusive source I've been waiting on.

1:02:47 Is there any way I can get his phone

1:02:48 number and meet him and talk to him directly?

1:02:52 He confirms that there is a notorious scam crew in town,

1:02:54 headed up by someone he insists on referring to as "Mr.

1:02:58 X." Okay, but he's definitely in Dubai right?

1:03:01 It's rare for them to be in the same place at the same time,

1:03:04 so I can't miss meeting them.

1:03:06 Okay.

1:03:06 Any idea on where he's staying?

1:03:09 I mean if we have an address, if you're willing to share that address with me?

1:03:13 Awesome, okay.

1:03:15 Thank you.

1:03:16 Talk to you in a bit, bye-bye.

1:03:33 Hello?

1:03:35 MARIANA: Mr.

1:03:37 X?

1:03:38 MARIANA: Hi, Mariana here, how are you doing?

1:03:42 MARIANA: I am so happy we can finally talk to you directly.

1:03:47 MARIANA: Yes, ma'am.

1:03:48 Okay.

1:03:48 So we're on our way, I think we should be there in the next 15, 20 minutes.

1:03:54 MARIANA: Great, okay.

1:03:54 I'll see you soon.

1:03:59 MARIANA: So, apparently he's staying in this big villa right on the water,

1:04:02 sort of, one of the most expensive areas in Dubai and, uh,

1:04:05 heard that he's driving around in all sorts

1:04:08 of luxury cars and I guess we're gonna see.

1:04:21 Okay.

1:04:22 This is it guys, this is the house.

1:04:26 We have a G, Mercedes G Wagon and a Rolls Royce parked out front.

1:04:59 MARIANA: So we came all the way to Dubai,

1:05:01 we got here and we started a hunt for a scammer.

1:05:06 We went to parties, we went to this crypto conference,

1:05:09 telling everybody that I was looking for a scammer which isn't

1:05:12 the best way to go about this, but eventually we got a call.

1:05:19 The scammer, he's here right now and he's willing to talk to us.

1:05:26 The scammers are fairly paranoid about us identifying where they're staying,

1:05:31 so it's cameras down until we're inside.

1:05:45 (mumbling) MR.

1:05:47 X: (bleep).

1:05:48 You're not from here, bro.

1:05:54 MARIANA: How many rug pulls have you done?

1:05:58 MARIANA: But more than 10?

1:06:01 MARIANA: More than 100?

1:06:03 MARIANA: No.

1:06:04 Have you been a victim of a rug pull?

1:06:13 MARIANA: Oh, is that one of the reasons you got interested in it?

1:06:17 MARIANA: Do you know a lot of other people rug pulling?

1:06:25 MARIANA: So, setting the stage, where are we and why are you guys here?

1:06:34 MARIANA: So you come here and they're going to tell

1:06:36 you everything at these conferences about what they're doing,

1:06:39 in terms of security, and you can always be a step ahead?

1:06:44 MARIANA: You wanna be called Mr.

1:06:45 X, right?

1:06:50 MARIANA: What is it that you do?

1:06:56 MARIANA: And you're the boss?

1:07:00 MARIANA: All right.

1:07:00 Can you tell me what each of you guys do?

1:07:07 MARIANA: You're sort of the PR side of it?

1:07:14 MARIANA: Is it easy?

1:07:17 MARIANA: And what about you, what do you do?

1:07:33 MARIANA: What's the most amount of money you've ever made on a rug pull?

1:07:44 MARIANA: How much?

1:07:46 MARIANA: Six zero?

1:07:48 MARIANA: $60 million?

1:07:51 MARIANA: You know I've interviewed many, many,

1:07:53 many, many people that work in black markets,

1:07:56 but I've never heard of anyone making this amount of money with one operation.

1:08:05 MARIANA: So you guys, you guys are in your 20s, right?

1:08:11 MARIANA: So then what do you do with the cash?

1:08:12 I mean, if you're having, if you have millions of dollars in cash how do you,

1:08:15 what do you do with it?

1:08:27 MARIANA: How much does that chain cost do you think?

1:08:29 The one you have.

1:08:31 MARIANA: 75,000.

1:08:33 And on a regular basis how much money worth of jewelry do you carry on you?

1:08:36 P: Um...

1:08:40 MARIANA: $250,000?

1:08:51 MARIANA: I'm along for the ride with them today,

1:08:54 to see where those millions end up once the rug has been pulled.

1:08:58 This car alone cost, like, half a million dollars?

1:09:01 MARIANA: How much do you think these houses are worth here?

1:09:10 MARIANA: And you guys have six?

1:09:12 MARIANA: They tell us they've rented six different villas,

1:09:14 on Palm Jumeirah, a luxury development built on man-made islands.

1:09:19 All of these are on the water then right?

1:09:22 MARIANA: How many people did you guys travel with?

1:09:26 MARIANA: Is this your first time in Dubai?

1:09:34 MARIANA: And by utility you mean cash?

1:09:42 MARIANA: Oh, so the people that you know

1:09:43 are in high places here, so they're not.

1:09:47 MARIANA: Get away with a lot?

1:10:19 Gonna take myself out on a date♪♪ Limousine

1:10:22 of diamonds on the plate♪♪ 'Cause you had♪ MARIANA: Woo-hoo.

1:10:32 Don't need no damn sugar daddy♪ MARIANA:

1:10:36 Do your friends and family know you're in this business?

1:10:38 MARIANA: They know that you're doing.

1:10:41 MARIANA: That you're stealing?

1:10:45 MR.

1:10:45 X: How do you, how do you...

1:10:46 MARIANA: I mean, all these people are buying

1:10:47 tokens thinking it's something and it's not right?

1:10:49 MARIANA: So, you're selling them something that's actually not real.

1:10:57 MARIANA: Yeah, but it's worth nothing.

1:10:57 That's the point.

1:11:03 MARIANA: But the people that are investing and buying the tokens MARIANA:

1:11:06 Don't know that their money is going to disappear right?

1:11:07 They're going to lose money.

1:11:15 MARIANA: So, but if it is not illegal,

1:11:17 why are you guys wearing masks, why not just be openly doing it?

1:11:34 MARIANA: Right, it would.

1:11:36 MARIANA: Basically put a stop to your lifestyle.

1:11:48 MARIANA: Do you ever feel bad about the people that are losing all this money?

1:11:50 You know we hear stories about people who've invested,

1:11:53 you know, all their retirement,

1:11:54 or sold their dream house or whatever, how do you feel about that?

1:12:00 MARIANA: You don't care?

1:12:13 MARIANA: It's pretty chilling how quickly these guys can flip

1:12:16 between being almost likable and almost completely void of empathy.

1:12:27 MARIANA: We heard that there was somebody

1:12:28 who killed themselves after a rug pull,

1:12:29 after being a victim of a rug pull, have you guys heard of that?

1:12:37 MARIANA: But, I think there's a certain,

1:12:38 it's also because you never meet your victims, right?

1:12:40 I think that if you were to sit down in front of somebody

1:12:43 who's lost a lot of money and is crying in front of you,

1:12:45 and is telling you that they can't send their kid to college, or whatever it is.

1:13:03 MARIANA: They can couch it however they want, but essentially,

1:13:06 they're scamming people out of their hard earned

1:13:08 money and they have absolutely no qualms about it.

1:13:14 Baby, I'mma get you to stay♪ MARIANA:

1:13:20 I'm treading a fine line between challenging

1:13:22 them and maintaining access to this world.

1:13:25 It feels like they trust me now, but I still need the invite to the main event.

1:13:32 This is really beautiful though, this is really beautiful.

1:13:36 MARIANA: So, when you do your next operation, could we be with you?

1:13:45 MARIANA: Did you ever think you'd be living a life like this?

1:13:51 MARIANA: What is it that you most like about this life?

1:13:54 MARIANA: You can do whatever?

1:13:57 MARIANA: And you don't think this is going to end?

1:14:10 ROBERT: A couple of years ago I had cancer

1:14:12 and it kind of slowed me down a little bit,

1:14:14 and so I spent more time with investments, and things of that nature.

1:14:17 And my son came over and he said, "Hey dad,

1:14:19 have you looked at crypto?" And I said, "Crypto?

1:14:21 You mean that Bitcoin stuff?" ANCHOR: Cryptocurrencies.

1:14:23 ANCHOR: Cryptocurrencies.

1:14:24 ANCHOR: Cryptocurrencies.

1:14:25 NEWS GUEST: This is pretty confusing stuff.

1:14:26 REPORTER: So no Bitcoin investments for you?

1:14:28 LL COOL J: I don't know nothing about that stuff.

1:14:29 ROBERT: So I started looking, right?

1:14:30 And so I got on the SHIB and did very well, and then you're ruined, right?

1:14:35 You're kind of wrecked.

1:14:36 'Cause I went from saying things, like, "Hey,

1:14:38 I made $29 today trading blue chip stocks." And it went to, "Hey,

1:14:43 I made $6,000 today with crypto." And I thought, even then, man,

1:14:47 this could be dangerous for people because of that FOMO, that lure.

1:14:50 You know?

1:14:51 HOST: Everyone's trying to get in this game.

1:14:52 REPORTER: Investing in crypto currency is the buzz right now.

1:14:57 ROBERT: The day started normally.

1:14:59 It was a launch day.

1:15:01 Altex was the name of the token and I had been involved with this project.

1:15:05 It had been delayed a couple times.

1:15:07 The devs were young.

1:15:08 Not fully doxxed.

1:15:09 I knew who they were and about where they live,

1:15:12 but they still kept their last names kind of, you know, secretive.

1:15:16 MARIANA: Despite the risk, Robert pressed his luck investing thousands in what

1:15:21 he thought was a promising new token.

1:15:25 ROBERT: At launch, the devs sold their entire bag,

1:15:27 which looked like this huge rug pull.

1:15:30 And that left all of the investors, including myself, you know, holding the bag.

1:15:37 When all the smoke cleared, I had $86 left.

1:15:44 I just, I was wrecked, wrecked.

1:15:46 It's hard to describe.

1:15:47 Emotionally, it's devastating.

1:15:49 Knowing how that felt and that others were going through that, that's

1:15:53 the point that I decided that something had to be done.

1:15:55 Something had to be done.

1:15:56 And it was gonna start with me.

1:16:10 ROBERT: These are just new tokens that have launched.

1:16:12 MARIANA: Just when?

1:16:13 Oh, just today?

1:16:14 ROBERT: Just, well, it shows today, over here at the last.

1:16:16 MARIANA: Just today, yeah.

1:16:16 ROBERT: Yeah.

1:16:17 Here's a good indication that this is probably a scam.

1:16:19 You see 3% down in the last hour?

1:16:21 MARIANA: Yeah.

1:16:22 ROBERT: But 85% in the last 24 hours.

1:16:23 MARIANA: Which means that they're dumping?

1:16:25 ROBERT: Something's going on.

1:16:26 MARIANA: But then you see these actually, you know, up by 6%, up by 16%.

1:16:30 ROBERT: But that's what they do,

1:16:32 they hope that, just like you just did, you say, "Hey,

1:16:34 some of these are up really big." They hope that you'll see that and go buy it.

1:16:37 MARIANA: Robert Browning is a scam victim turned vigilante.

1:16:42 After being taken in a by a rug pull,

1:16:44 he now spends his time hunting down and exposing scammers.

1:16:49 So explain what this is.

1:16:50 What are these AM?

1:16:51 ROBERT: This is an AMA.

1:16:52 Now, AMA means "Ask Me Anything." MARIANA:

1:16:54 And these guys use these AMA platforms, what for?

1:16:56 ROBERT: To bump their token.

1:16:57 MARIANA: To sell it?

1:16:59 ROBERT: All the hype, all the garbage.

1:17:00 All the..

1:17:01 CREATOR: We're here, we're here in chat,

1:17:02 if people have any questions or anything.

1:17:04 MARIANA: And so you go into these chat rooms, into these AMAs, what for?

1:17:07 ROBERT: Because they're very suspicious.

1:17:09 MARIANA: Yeah.

1:17:10 Why do you think they're suspicious?

1:17:11 ROBERT: Because Carl sent me a copy of a wallet that was involved in a scam.

1:17:15 MARIANA: One of your guys?

1:17:16 ROBERT: Yeah.

1:17:16 And it holds this token.

1:17:18 MARIANA: So they've been involved in another scam?

1:17:19 ROBERT: Somebody has been a bad actor on the team.

1:17:22 MARIANA: When he finds a suspicious token launch,

1:17:24 he questions the developers in public forums

1:17:27 in front of possible investors and victims.

1:17:32 ROBERT: Hey, what's up guys?

1:17:33 CREATOR (over phone): What's up, man?

1:17:34 ROBERT: Ah, nothing, man.

1:17:36 Just checking it out.

1:17:37 CREATOR (over phone): You're just new to the group?

1:17:38 ROBERT: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

1:17:39 Are y'all, is this, I mean, am I reading this right?

1:17:42 I mean, visually, right, it looks an awful lot like a4rug.

1:17:45 You know?

1:17:46 I mean, you can see that.

1:17:48 I mean, the way, you know, the chart crashing out and then the liquidity.

1:17:51 CREATOR (over phone): You know, that's not nice to say,

1:17:52 because everything is in the pinned messages.

1:17:54 Anyone who does, they can just read the pinned messages.

1:17:57 ROBERT: Listen, I'm not.

1:17:58 I'm just saying, I'm telling you.

1:17:59 CREATOR (over phone): Visually.

1:18:00 ROBERT: Visually.

1:18:01 CREATOR (over phone): I understand,

1:18:01 but please don't mention those things in the VC,

1:18:03 because it's absolutely not true.

1:18:04 ROBERT: Well, I understand that, but I mean if you

1:18:06 could put yourself in an investor's position for a second,

1:18:08 I mean, you would want,

1:18:08 you would want somebody to ask that on your behalf, wouldn't you?

1:18:11 I don't understand why you're getting so defensive.

1:18:12 CREATOR (over phone): Rob, I apologize.

1:18:14 ROBERT: You should lasso, you should pull your boy in there, man.

1:18:16 If you're legitimate, he's making you look very, very bad.

1:18:19 CREATOR (over phone): Who is looking, who is making.

1:18:21 ROBERT: You!

1:18:21 You are.

1:18:22 You are, sir!

1:18:23 You are.

1:18:24 An investor sent me here who's got money in your project

1:18:26 and asked me right because that's what we do.

1:18:30 MARIANA: What happened?

1:18:32 ROBERT: Now I'm banned.

1:18:33 MARIANA: Oh, he banned you?

1:18:34 ROBERT: Yeah.

1:18:35 MARIANA: They kicked you out and banned you?

1:18:36 ROBERT: Yup.

1:18:37 That's it, I'm out.

1:18:38 MARIANA: So what do you think?

1:18:39 What do you think?

1:18:40 ROBERT: Scam, total scam.

1:18:41 MARIANA: 100% scam?

1:18:42 ROBERT: 100% scam.

1:18:42 MARIANA: How do you know?

1:18:44 ROBERT: I mean, who, why would, if I came to you, right?

1:18:47 And you had a legitimate thing going, and I said,

1:18:49 "Hey, my guy's got some money in your project,

1:18:51 can you explain to me why it's not working

1:18:54 out this way?" I would do anything and everything, right?

1:18:56 To make sure that you understood that your money's safe.

1:18:59 You know $14 billion last year, that's a lot of money, you know.

1:19:02 MARIANA: Is that the amount that was lost?

1:19:04 ROBERT: 14 billion, yeah.

1:19:05 MARIANA: $14 billion?

1:19:06 ROBERT: $14 billion.

1:19:07 MARIANA: To scammers, to rug pulls, and honey pots.

1:19:09 ROBERT: To scam.

1:19:09 Yeah.

1:19:10 MARIANA: Whoa.

1:19:10 To be clear, the $14 billion in crypto

1:19:12 that scammers stole in 2021 includes a variety of schemes.

1:19:17 REPORTER: The biggest Bitcoin bust in US history,

1:19:20 in connection with a 2016 hack of a virtual currency exchange.

1:19:24 REPORTER: Delhi Police has busted

1:19:25 a cyber fraud module transferring cryptocurrency.

1:19:28 MARIANA: It's estimated that rug pulls account

1:19:31 for nearly 3 billion of that total.

1:19:34 ROBERT: And we calculate that we probably saved thousands of people,

1:19:37 millions of dollars.

1:19:38 Just us.

1:19:40 MARIANA: But busting scammers isn't easy.

1:19:42 The flow of crypto can be hard to track.

1:19:45 MAN: It's virtually impossible to detect where

1:19:47 they are and how to track them down.

1:19:49 MARIANA: There's a lack of specific laws around rug

1:19:51 pulls and a decent likelihood that scammers are operating overseas.

1:19:56 REPORTER: One common complaint is that police

1:19:58 aren't doing enough to track down these scammers.

1:20:01 MARIANA: That's a big reason why vigilante groups,

1:20:03 like Robert's, have taken off.

1:20:06 ROBERT: We pay for bounties, and so we can.

1:20:08 MARIANA: And bounties,

1:20:09 you're basically paying people to tell you if they see some suspicious activity?

1:20:13 ROBERT: It could be a dev, it could be an influencer.

1:20:15 MARIANA: Uh-hmm.

1:20:16 How much do you pay for these tips?

1:20:18 ROBERT: Well, in the last 30 days of its existence, we paid about $17,500.

1:20:24 MARIANA: Wow.

1:20:24 That's a lot of money.

1:20:26 ROBERT: It's a lot of money, yeah.

1:20:27 MARIANA: Where does that money come from?

1:20:27 ROBERT: Well, we have a token.

1:20:28 SEEK Token and it's really there to fund our mission.

1:20:33 MARIANA: Yup.

1:20:34 Even the vigilantes who have been burned by crypto have their own crypto token.

1:20:39 ROBERT: We have had death threats, and all the good things.

1:20:41 MARIANA: You've gotten death threats?

1:20:43 ROBERT: Oh absolutely.

1:20:44 Yeah, constant.

1:20:44 MARIANA: And they know who you are and they know where you live?

1:20:46 ROBERT: Oh, absolutely.

1:20:47 Yeah, my coordinates were in a previous article, my GPS coordinates.

1:20:52 MARIANA: So, how do you feel about that?

1:20:53 ROBERT: I mean, I keep my team safe, you know?

1:20:55 I've taken security precautions at my home.

1:20:57 MARIANA: You have?

1:20:58 ROBERT: Yeah, oh yeah.

1:20:59 MARIANA: Such as?

1:21:00 ROBERT: Such as private stuff, yeah.

1:21:02 I'm American, we have firearms.

1:21:04 You know, so.

1:21:05 MARIANA: Does your wife worry about the security aspect of this?

1:21:08 ROBERT: You know, it concerns her, but at the same time, too, I don't,

1:21:10 I don't tell my wife every time that somebody

1:21:13 named the Buttcorn Bandit threatens to kill me.

1:21:17 MARIANA: Is that the name that they use?

1:21:18 ROBERT: That was one of my first death threats ever, was the Buttcorn Bandit.

1:21:22 Yeah.

1:21:23 If you want me to be afraid I'm okay with that, but you

1:21:25 gotta be something a little stronger than the Buttcorn Bandit.

1:21:28 MARIANA: So, what would you say to the rug pullers and the scammers out

1:21:32 there who claim that what they're doing is not illegal and, to some extent,

1:21:36 they say it's not even morally wrong, because people are investing...

1:21:41 MARIANA: It's like a bad investment, they're investing in something.

1:21:43 ROBERT: You know you can't take something that doesn't belong

1:21:44 to you and call that a bad investment, that's stealing.

1:21:47 They put people in jail for that.

1:21:48 In some places they cut your hands off,

1:21:49 but in crypto, they think they get a free pass.

1:21:52 AGENT: The FBI have seen a number of crypto currency scams.

1:21:55 We certainly do hear a lot of tales of how crypto currency

1:21:58 has a lot of gray areas and undefined areas that this isn't money,

1:22:01 so money rules shouldn't apply.

1:22:03 When individuals are under the understanding,

1:22:05 or assumption of a particular promise,

1:22:07 and then that's not delivered, that is fraud.

1:22:10 Fraud is fraud.

1:22:11 MARIANA: Aren't you afraid that you might get caught?

1:22:20 MARIANA: There's not a lot of laws out there

1:22:21 right now to sort of regulate what you guys do.

1:22:24 MARIANA: Are you afraid that the law will catch up?

1:22:33 AGENT: What we often find is that new

1:22:35 technology is first adopted by predatory individuals

1:22:38 and in the last year we've seen

1:22:40 an exponential growth of crypto currency related fraud.

1:22:44 I be playing with the money like, whoa♪♪ Still got a lot more to go♪ AGENT:

1:22:47 Fraudsters who are engaged in rug pulls have to have

1:22:50 an internal justification for the type of actions that they're taking.

1:22:53 It can be that the victims should know better and not be victimized.

1:22:57 It should be that, "Well this technology works this way, it's their problem.

1:23:01 Their problem, that they weren't aware

1:23:03 of that." The same argument would say that, "Well,

1:23:05 because I can get into your house,

1:23:07 I can rob you." They are a criminal enterprise,

1:23:10 trying to remove folks from their hard earned money.

1:23:14 Man with the money like a toddler♪ AGENT:

1:23:15 We'll make sure that those actors will be held to justice.

1:23:18 Yeah Pull up on the scene♪ MARIANA:

1:23:21 Despite the best efforts of vigilantes and the FBI, Mr.

1:23:23 X and his crew are still free to launch scams with very little effort or risk.

1:23:29 ROBERT: We get about 1,500 tips in a 30-day period.

1:23:33 MARIANA: Wow.

1:23:33 That's a lot.

1:23:34 ROBERT: Yeah, it's a lot.

1:23:35 MARIANA: But there is one thing that can stop these scammers.

1:23:37 The markets themselves.

1:23:40 COLBERT: It's been a bit of a bumpy ride recently for crypto currency.

1:23:42 REPORTER: Major crypto currencies have seen some steep losses.

1:23:46 MARIANA: It was called the crypto winter.

1:23:49 By mid-2022, cryptocurrencies had lost more than

1:23:53 $2 trillion from their highs the year before.

1:23:56 REPORTER: The crypto selloff has left investors scrambling.

1:23:59 MAN: People lost their shirts in this crash.

1:24:01 MARIANA: Predictably, investors were spooked,

1:24:03 which meant that rug pulls were much harder to pull off.

1:24:07 WOMAN: I lost over 450,000 USD, I cannot pay the bank.

1:24:12 I will lose my home soon.

1:24:13 MARIANA: Seemingly overnight, our access to Mr.

1:24:15 X and his team had vanished.

1:24:18 And I wasn't sure when or if we'd ever get it back.

1:25:02 MARIANA: Mr.

1:25:03 X and his crew ghosted us for a while after we met them in Dubai,

1:25:07 but now they've resurfaced in Houston, Texas.

1:25:11 We're here to meet Mr.

1:25:13 X.

1:25:14 He sort of disappeared on us for a while, but he finally came through.

1:25:18 We started talking to him again.

1:25:22 You took my day, you stole my life♪♪ Two million,

1:25:28 two million, two million, two million, uh♪ MARIANA:

1:25:32 It's definitely an interesting time to be with him,

1:25:34 because crypto has crashed dramatically since the last

1:25:39 time we were with him in Dubai.

1:25:41 The way they think is minimal♪♪ We got hot when the wind

1:25:43 is cold♪♪ I'm just down for the inner soul♪♪ Dream more water,

1:25:47 mineral♪ MARIANA: My first stop with Mr.

1:25:49 X though, has nothing to do with how he's making money,

1:25:52 and everything to do with how he's spending it.

1:25:56 This is him, last seen in a bull mask.

1:25:59 Good morning.

1:26:00 Now leading me into his favorite jewelry store.

1:26:04 Bitcoin on top of a rocket.

1:26:05 That's what you were hoping would be happening right now, right?

1:26:08 It's curious to me that even though the crypto market has crashed,

1:26:12 these guys all still seem to be living large.

1:26:16 What is this one?

1:26:17 ASSISTANT: Um, that's a crypto coin we're kind of cultivating into.

1:26:20 So, that should be out pretty soon, as well.

1:26:24 MARIANA: Even Mr.

1:26:26 X's jeweler has a token that he's promoting.

1:26:28 JOHNNY: You don't want to miss this, (bleep) on me,

1:26:32 available October 14 on (bleep) dot com (bleep)!

1:26:38 What's up?

1:26:39 How you doing, man?

1:26:40 MARIANA: Johnny Dang is apparently the go

1:26:41 to guy for those who want to turn crypto, or cash, into gold and diamonds.

1:26:47 JOHNNY: Got the diamond around that with engraving.

1:26:50 Perfect gold.

1:26:52 MARIANA: Or if you want to bedazzle a fully functional AK-47.

1:26:56 Oh, wow, it's a little heavier than the common AK, right?

1:27:01 Can I ask you how much that cost?

1:27:06 MARIANA: It cost some money?

1:27:08 JOHNNY: All right.

1:27:10 MARIANA: I don't think Johnny Dang knows how Mr.

1:27:12 X makes his money.

1:27:13 Never say no to champagne.

1:27:15 Or that he might be using his store to launder his profits.

1:27:19 Aye, aye♪♪ You jumped in the hooptie, I hopped in a Benz♪ MARIANA:

1:27:22 But I've been itching since Dubai to see

1:27:23 how these guys actually set up a rug pull.

1:27:27 What you gonna do to red, what you gonna do red,♪♪ what you gonna do to red,

1:27:32 look I hopped in the back as you♪♪ driving

1:27:34 this steer♪♪ Here go I dropped to the ops♪ MARIANA:

1:27:36 Another member of X's scam crew has surfaced.

1:27:44 MARIANA: S, The Shiller, is in town.

1:27:47 So when you do your stuff, when you do your shilling.

1:27:51 MARIANA: You use Twitter, what else do you use?

1:27:55 MARIANA: With my phone?

1:27:56 MARIANA: Okay.

1:28:01 MARIANA: New tokens.

1:28:02 Okay.

1:28:02 Let's try that.

1:28:04 MARIANA: How many of these things are there?

1:28:06 Lists.

1:28:08 MARIANA: Crypto moonshots, crypto moonshots, a lot of hype around this one.

1:28:11 Bullish!

1:28:12 S: There's a (bleep) one.

1:28:13 MARIANA: Kermit Inu is the next generation,

1:28:14 Republic Inu is an upcoming influencer backed, take the world by storm.

1:28:23 MARIANA: Yeah, there's a bunch of rugs every day.

1:28:24 Not even these scammers know which of these tokens are real and which are fake.

1:28:29 And that's exactly the point.

1:28:31 How does it work?

1:28:38 MARIANA: And people, people actually believe, believe these lines?

1:28:44 MARIANA: So make it seem like it's.

1:28:46 MARIANA: Much bigger than it is?

1:28:47 MARIANA: All right.

1:28:51 MARIANA: People that work for you?

1:28:53 MARIANA: So you want them to promote stuff.

1:28:55 STRAHAN: Kim Kardashian, she has agreed to pay nearly $1.3

1:28:58 million for promoting crypto currency on social media,

1:29:01 without providing necessary disclosures.

1:29:04 REPORTER: In addition to paying the fine,

1:29:05 Kardashian also agreed to cooperate with the SECs ongoing investigation.

1:29:10 MARIANA: The list of celebrities facing criticism for pushing crypto is growing.

1:29:14 In most cases, no legal lines were crossed.

1:29:17 But these influencers are often getting paid big money

1:29:20 to hock crypto projects they know very little about,

1:29:24 which is why their fans and followers who have gotten burned are so upset.

1:29:29 MAN: To the moon.

1:29:30 MUSK: To the moon.

1:29:31 REPORTER: I think Musk is manipulating the market,

1:29:32 and I think you're doing exactly the same thing.

1:29:35 PORTNOY: The answer is SafeMoon.

1:29:37 It could be a scam, I don't think it is.

1:29:39 Invest with your own money.

1:29:45 MARIANA: So why do people still trust them?

1:29:58 MARIANA: So when is your next rug pull?

1:30:06 MARIANA: So it could happen tomorrow?

1:30:18 MARIANA: Hmm.

1:30:19 Oh, so you can do it in a day?

1:30:22 MARIANA: Hmm.

1:30:26 In 15 minutes you can get this all done

1:30:27 and you can launch it right from here, right now.

1:30:32 MARIANA: Right now?

1:30:41 MARIANA: I've been waiting for this moment since we first met in Dubai.

1:30:45 Finally.

1:30:46 Thank you.

1:30:46 Mr.

1:30:47 X has agreed to demonstrate how easy these rug pulls are to set up.

1:30:58 MARIANA: He takes me to a tattoo shop with good Wi-Fi.

1:31:06 MARIANA: Sit right here?

1:31:11 MARIANA: Okay.

1:31:11 So how is it done, what do we, what do you?

1:31:19 MARIANA: He just finds a crypto project that's doing well,

1:31:22 snatches the computer code that makes it special and renames it.

1:31:36 MARIANA: It's a simple copy and paste job.

1:31:38 Like stealing the text of someone else's novel and then

1:31:41 telling everyone to come and buy your new book.

1:31:44 So, you can be at a coffee shop, at a tattoo parlor, wherever it is,

1:31:47 in 15 minutes you can get this all done

1:31:49 and you could launch it right from here, right now?

1:31:55 MARIANA: Right now?

1:32:01 MARIANA: So why are you not doing it?

1:32:15 MARIANA: Would it be smart for you to launch a token right now,

1:32:17 with the markets down, like they are?

1:32:21 MARIANA: But, if I wanted,

1:32:22 if I was a newbie starting at this, I could just go on there.

1:32:26 MARIANA: Find this and do it myself?

1:32:29 MARIANA: So, that's not illegal?

1:32:30 That's totally.

1:32:41 MARIANA: Right.

1:32:44 MARIANA: But now it's the first time that you're saying that it's not,

1:32:46 it's the first time you're saying it's not right, because.

1:32:52 MARIANA: Did you change your mind?

1:32:53 Did something?

1:32:57 MARIANA: Okay, but now you're.

1:33:01 MARIANA: You didn't go that far last time.

1:33:04 MARIANA: I think you changed your mind.

1:33:21 (chatter) MARIANA: When trying to understand scammers of any kind,

1:33:31 you never quite know which way is up.

1:33:35 On our last day in Houston, I hoped to meet up with Mr.

1:33:38 X one last time, but he bails on me.

1:33:42 I mean, it's been really just difficult to work with these guys.

1:33:46 Particularly X.

1:33:47 He's been promising all this access and telling us

1:33:49 he's gonna show us this and that, and then, last minute, either doesn't show up,

1:33:54 or nothing of what he promises actually happens.

1:33:57 The night before, off camera, Mr.

1:33:59 X admitted to our producer that despite earlier denials,

1:34:03 they've continued scamming.

1:34:05 But, of course, he didn't give us any details.

1:34:09 They've come clean to us,

1:34:09 and they said that they have been rug pulling this whole time.

1:34:13 Yeah.

1:34:14 They've just been, basically, lying to us.

1:34:16 These days, you just can't take professional scammers at their word.

1:34:23 Do your friends and family know you're in this business?

1:34:27 MARIANA: Do your parents know you do this?

1:34:29 MARIANA: What do they think you do?

1:34:31 MARIANA: Are you?

1:34:33 MARIANA: Does your family know what you do?

1:34:37 MARIANA: Do you think they're proud of you?

1:34:45 MARIANA: (bleep) no.

1:34:47 AGENT: Have to be careful what we say.

1:34:50 I would say, for those interested in crypto currency scams,

1:34:54 there are very few individuals who have run a fraudulent

1:34:57 empire and are living comfortably on the beach in retirement,

1:35:01 with a large bulk of funds.

1:35:03 MARIANA: Hi, P.

1:35:04 Where are you right now?

1:35:07 MARIANA: Oh, you're in Ibiza.

1:35:17 MARIANA: You know, the market has been crashing,

1:35:18 it's really, crypto is really low right now.

1:35:20 Has that affected you at all?

1:35:24 MARIANA: Millions of dollars?

1:35:26 Really?

1:35:26 But do you still have enough to be partying in Ibiza?

1:35:50 MARIANA: We can't confirm any of this, but clearly

1:35:53 this is how he justifies his decisions.

1:35:58 It was over before it even began♪ AGENT:

1:36:02 It's often been said that the FBI always gets their man,

1:36:04 whether it's today or tomorrow.

1:36:09 AGENT: Those looking to victimize U.S.

1:36:11 citizens should always keep an eye looking over their back.

1:36:14 Eye to eye♪ MARIANA: I think one thing is very clear,

1:36:18 is that they will keep doing this.

1:36:20 Are there people still buying tokens and still investing in crypto right now?

1:36:25 MARIANA: They will keep stealing your money.

1:36:27 They'll keep scamming.

1:36:29 XAVIER: People are buying and buy, buy, buy, buy.

1:36:30 MARIANA: They'll keep spending your money at Johnny Dang's,

1:36:33 and buying gold and diamonds.

1:36:34 MR.

1:36:34 X: Yes, sir.

1:36:36 What should we do?

1:36:37 MARIANA: That is guaranteed.

1:36:48 I'm gonna find all the words to tell you♪ XAVIER:

1:36:54 You need to do your research, heavily, before you get into anything.

1:36:58 You in my life, I had favored you♪♪ To keep you♪♪ To keep you♪♪ Oh,

1:37:08 yes♪♪ You're the only one who

1:37:11 knows why I'm gone♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪ MARIANA VAN ZELLER:

1:39:04 Every city has its secrets.

1:39:09 Lima is no different.

1:39:18 MARIANA: Over the last decade a new criminal enterprise has taken root.

1:39:29 MARIANA: And a new breed of gangster craftsman has emerged.

1:39:36 MARIANA: But how they work and who they are is a mystery to me,

1:39:41 and I'm not the only one looking for them.

1:39:45 (banging) (yelling) This footage is from the Peruvian National Police...

1:39:55 ...who have turned up the heat and turned

1:39:57 Lima into the frontlines in the war on counterfeiting.

1:40:01 OFFICER: ¡Policía!

1:40:05 MARIANA: That's how I landed here at Lurigancho Prison,

1:40:10 one of the most dangerous prisons in all of South America.

1:40:16 The Peruvian National Police tipped me

1:40:18 off to a counterfeiter they recently nabbed,

1:40:20 a man they'd been chasing for years.

1:40:42 MARIANA: He's wearing a mask for two reasons:

1:40:44 He doesn't want to be known as a snitch in prison,

1:40:47 and he doesn't want his young daughter to know that he's locked up.

1:40:51 He's told her that he's taken a job abroad.

1:41:14 MARIANA: Incredibly, it's estimated that 60% of all fake U.S.

1:41:19 bills are produced in Peru.

1:41:44 MARIANA: He says it was an informant

1:41:46 that ultimately got him busted by the police.

1:41:49 But the hunt for this man actually began 3,500 miles north.

1:42:05 Two weeks earlier, I paid a visit to the Secret Service.

1:42:09 The agency we associate with these guys in crisp suits

1:42:13 protecting the president is also in charge of protecting our money.

1:42:19 When fakes are detected, anywhere in the world,

1:42:22 they're sent here for the monetary equivalent of an autopsy.

1:42:28 (buzzer) I watch as analysts examine each of the bills' component parts.

1:42:35 The paper, the ink, the colors.

1:42:39 Within each fake hides clues about its origin.

1:42:44 Telltale markers are discovered.

1:42:47 The chemical makeup of a certain ink or the density of a certain paper stock.

1:42:52 Each bill then gets catalogued, helping the Secret Service identify the world's

1:42:57 biggest players in the counterfeit game.

1:43:00 AGENT: What happened in the early 2000s,

1:43:02 the first Peruvian-produced notes started popping up,

1:43:05 and in Peru there were no counterfeit laws at the time.

1:43:07 It just caught everyone by surprise that it started there.

1:43:10 MARIANA: This field agent wants to remain anonymous for safety reasons.

1:43:14 He tells me the agency first opened a Lima

1:43:17 office in 2012 because the counterfeit scene was booming.

1:43:21 AGENT: These guys are artists.

1:43:22 The workmanship's there, and the skills are there.

1:43:25 It's being produced at high numbers and very high quality.

1:43:28 NEWSCASTER: Tonight, the real cost of fake money.

1:43:31 NEWSCASTER: Officers want everyone to be on the lookout after

1:43:33 a batch of bad bills has turned up in the city.

1:43:37 NEWSCASTER: Another counterfeit money bust in Limestone County.

1:43:40 AGENT: When it comes to counterfeiting,

1:43:42 it's pretty much a crime that hurts everybody.

1:43:44 From nations' economies, to businesses, to your mom and pop stores.

1:43:49 Things that are being passed there are worthless.

1:43:51 You're at the bank, and next thing they look at you like you're the criminal.

1:43:54 It's almost like a mugging that you didn't know happened.

1:44:05 (man shouting in Spanish) MARIANA:

1:44:11 We tend to think of black markets as a world apart,

1:44:14 but the truth is, they're all around us,

1:44:17 hidden in plain sight, difficult to see, until someone lets you in.

1:44:25 That's especially true when tracking this counterfeiting story in Lima.

1:44:30 The leads are literally everywhere.

1:44:33 Seemingly everyone has been a victim of fake bills,

1:44:37 with the walls of some shops looking

1:44:39 like a gallery for the city's criminal artisans.

1:44:48 In a cash society like Peru,

1:44:50 anywhere money changes hands is an opportunity for a counterfeiter.

1:44:54 (horn honking) And nowhere does more money change hands than here,

1:45:02 among Lima's cambistas, or street-side money changers.

1:45:06 Sometimes it's the customer trying slip fake bills to the cambista,

1:45:10 and sometimes it's the other way around.

1:45:16 FERNANDO LUCENA: The cambistas, the money exchangers, I never go to those.

1:45:20 You never know what's real and what's fake.

1:45:23 It's a very murky world, put it that way.

1:45:26 MARIANA: I contact my friend, Fernando Lucena.

1:45:29 He's a local investigative journalist who said he could

1:45:32 get me in touch with one of these crooked cambistas.

1:45:36 The man I'm meeting is akin to a neighborhood drug dealer.

1:45:40 He's my entry point to the underworld.

1:45:42 I'm hopeful he might introduce me to some of the bigger players in the game,

1:45:46 the ones moving millions in fake bills into the U.S.

1:45:55 (Mariana speaking Spanish) MARIANA: Okay.

1:45:58 He doesn't want his face revealed.

1:46:16 (laughs) MARIANA: He just asked me if I was a buyer,

1:46:20 if I was an undercover buyer.

1:46:30 MARIANA: He's gonna show us some of the fake dollars that he sells.

1:46:45 MARIANA: This looks pretty great to me.

1:46:49 MARIANA: This sounds like money to me, no?

1:46:58 MARIANA: Pull the bill out, turn it over, feel it, there's texture,

1:47:03 it's rough and smooth, there's a watermark security thread,

1:47:08 layers and layers of detail.

1:47:11 Each element presents a new challenge for counterfeiters,

1:47:15 but the better their handiwork, the more they can charge.

1:47:18 And the more their services will be in demand.

1:47:43 MARIANA: So, touch, look and turn.

1:47:48 We all have intimate relationships to money.

1:47:51 We chase it, we spend it, we save it, we make big life decisions because of it,

1:47:57 and yet it's so common, I've never really looked at it.

1:48:01 The best fake bills are so exquisitely crafted, they aren't noticed at all.

1:48:41 MARIANA: Before the money changer left,

1:48:43 he confirmed what the Secret Service told me in D.C.,

1:48:46 that once the designs for the fake bills have been produced,

1:48:49 there are essentially three key positions

1:48:51 in any counterfeiting operation: the printer,

1:48:54 who is the master artisan in charge of bill production; the finisher,

1:48:58 who adds the necessary texture and polish to the bills to make them passable;

1:49:03 and the burrier, who transports the fake cash out of the country.

1:49:08 I want to find all three, something an outsider has never done before.

1:49:13 It's the best way for me to fully understand the inner workings

1:49:17 of this black market and the circumstances

1:49:20 and motivations of the people who run it.

1:49:25 (engine revving) Enter another of my contacts.

1:49:30 A local producer who shares a nickname with Peru's national dish, Ceviche.

1:49:53 MARIANA: Over the last several years,

1:49:54 he's been building connections in Lima's underworld,

1:49:58 specifically through a man we'll call Diego.

1:50:02 Ceviche tells me that the counterfeiting racket

1:50:04 in Lima is run by a handful of families.

1:50:07 And Diego's gotten tight with one of them.

1:50:11 Each of these families controls underground workshops,

1:50:15 where old-school offset printers churn out sheet after sheet of fake bills.

1:50:22 MARIANA: Criminal organizations bound by blood

1:50:24 are notoriously difficult to penetrate.

1:50:27 Getting inside one of these operations,

1:50:29 especially with cameras, is next to impossible.

1:51:00 MARIANA: In this business there are always risks,

1:51:03 but I felt okay with a daytime meeting, hopefully somewhere public.

1:51:08 That is, assuming they call.

1:51:15 Three hours pass, and still nothing from Diego.

1:51:20 (dog barking ringtone) MAN: Hello?

1:51:43 MARIANA: When the adrenaline kicks in, I know things are about to get good.

1:51:54 MARIANA: We're on our way to meet with a gang

1:51:55 of Peruvian counterfeiters in one of the shadier neighborhoods in Lima.

1:52:17 (dog barking ringtone) MARIANA: At the last minute,

1:52:28 they change the meeting spot.

1:52:35 MARIANA: They're waiting for us already.

1:52:37 With a location change, we'll be late to the meeting.

1:52:40 Part of me wonders if these guys are looking for an excuse to bail on us.

1:52:45 Lima's counterfeiters are extra skittish these days.

1:52:49 I would be, too, if I was being hunted.

1:52:53 There have been a series of huge busts recently,

1:52:56 including one only days before we arrived

1:52:59 that intercepted $5 million in fake bills.

1:53:03 The Peruvian National Police gave us this footage.

1:53:06 It wasn't at all what I'd expected.

1:53:08 I'd imagined these counterfeiting operations happening in warehouses

1:53:12 or factories in dark corners of the city,

1:53:14 but much of it seems to be happening in residential neighborhoods.

1:53:18 On quiet streets, inside garages, hidden in plain sight.

1:53:35 Okay, cameras down.

1:53:37 For obvious reasons, we couldn't record this initial meeting,

1:53:41 but let me tell you how it all went down.

1:53:47 I've been on a lot of these underworld first dates over the last 15 years.

1:53:56 You never know exactly what you're walking into.

1:54:02 At an outdoor cafe, Diego introduces us to the boss and his bodyguard,

1:54:07 who is covered in tattoos.

1:54:09 One on his arm reads in English,

1:54:11 "Only God can judge me." The mood is tense, suspicious.

1:54:21 As I always do in these situations, I order beers.

1:54:29 Soon after, I'm sharing my unofficial résumé:

1:54:32 photos on my phone of me hanging out

1:54:35 with men like these from all around the world.

1:54:38 Then, the food arrives.

1:54:41 More talk.

1:54:42 More drinks.

1:54:44 I then explain that I've heard they're

1:54:46 the most talented counterfeiters in the world.

1:54:48 You'd be surprised how many doors flattery can open.

1:54:53 I knew I'd passed the test when the bodyguard gave me a nickname.

1:54:56 He pointed at me from across the table and said, "Mi reina," my queen,

1:55:01 "you're gonna see amazing things tomorrow night." In any city,

1:55:19 there are people who play by the rules and people who don't.

1:55:23 (echoing laughter) Usually it's hard to tell the difference.

1:55:28 Finding my way into the criminal underworld is always an adventure.

1:55:34 That's why I love what I do.

1:55:40 It's also knowing that once you're in, you

1:55:42 get to witness what very few outsiders ever do.

1:55:49 A universe governed by its own laws and power

1:55:53 structures that teaches us a whole lot about our own.

1:56:09 MARIANA: Okay, let's do this.

1:56:15 (man speaking Spanish over loudspeaker) (man speaking Spanish over

1:56:23 loudspeaker) (man speaking Spanish over loudspeaker) MARIANA: Game time.

1:56:55 MARIANA: Okay.

1:57:06 MARIANA: In Peru, like many places in Central and South America,

1:57:10 "gringos" is synonymous with Americans.

1:57:13 In this case, the counterfeiters are on guard that any

1:57:16 gringos could be Secret Service agents trying to infiltrate their operation.

1:57:37 CEVICHE: Hello?

1:57:55 MARIANA: They've told us to meet them here at a downtown park.

1:57:59 Ironically, only blocks from the Palace of Justice.

1:58:02 Somewhere in these surrounding buildings fake money is being made.

1:58:13 They've set two rules: Only the crew they met with are allowed inside;

1:58:18 and once inside, we stay the entire shift, from 8:00 PM to 8:00 AM.

1:58:24 No one leaves.

1:58:30 I imagine it's a rush to see your net worth

1:58:33 growing with every new sheet of bills coming off the press.

1:58:37 You could print yourself out of debt or into a new car or a new house.

1:58:43 It's not hard to see the allure or the desperation

1:58:48 that would cause someone to enter this line of work.

1:58:54 One hour, no call back from Diego.

1:58:58 Two hours, Diego's phone is off.

1:59:16 MARIANA: Things aren't looking good.

1:59:30 It's been over three hours and they still, they haven't shown up.

1:59:34 I think it's pretty safe to say that we've been stood up.

1:59:39 No chance this is going to happen tonight.

1:59:52 MARIANA: There's nothing worse than getting this close

1:59:54 and not coming home with a story.

1:59:58 But giving up isn't an option.

2:00:02 They're still out there, and I'm going to find them.

2:00:18 MARIANA: Stories go cold.

2:00:20 Sometimes you can't explain it.

2:00:22 You make a connection, you make plans, things seem to be falling into place,

2:00:28 and then you find yourself staring at your phone for a call that never comes.

2:00:33 In these moments, I always remind myself that nothing's changed.

2:00:38 The story is still out there.

2:00:40 Somewhere in the city,

2:00:42 offset printing machines are churning out sheet after sheet of fake dollars.

2:00:51 MARIANA: I just need to find a new way in.

2:01:09 MARIANA: Nothing happens as fast as you want it to.

2:01:12 This isn't the safest neighborhood,

2:01:13 so we should try to avoid showing off our cameras.

2:01:17 But I have faith that another door will open.

2:01:28 MARIANA: They were definitely, like, sussing us out.

2:01:44 MARIANA: Until I can find some of these counterfeiters in the wild,

2:01:48 I lean on the contacts I've already made.

2:03:12 MARIANA: So, he's showing us how he works.

2:03:22 MARIANA: El fantasma.

2:03:23 The watermark.

2:05:42 FERNANDO: Okay, seems that everything is in place.

2:05:44 MARIANA: Yeah?

2:05:45 FERNANDO: So far, so good.

2:05:48 MARIANA: Fingers crossed.

2:05:51 It's 5:00 AM.

2:05:52 And my initial contact in Lima, Fernando,

2:05:54 has a new lead on a printer who seems willing to meet with us.

2:05:58 We got this meeting set up in a legal

2:06:01 printing operation where we're going to meet

2:06:03 a guy who is supposedly an ink master

2:06:06 and finally see what these printing operations look like.

2:06:15 What can and can't we do?

2:06:16 FERNANDO: What he's told me is basically keep the team as small as possible.

2:06:21 Don't call his name in front of anyone.

2:06:24 Just keep it low key.

2:06:30 MARIANA: We just want to actually be

2:06:31 absolutely sure that we play by their rules,

2:06:33 because we want to be able to get this in the bag.

2:06:40 Everybody's anxious and nervous and hoping that this is,

2:06:44 that this will all go as planned.

2:06:50 We park outside a shopping mall and wait for word from our contact.

2:06:57 Okay, there are two guys walking.

2:06:59 Is that him?

2:07:00 FERNANDO: Yeah, that's him.

2:07:02 MARIANA: Right?

2:07:02 Like, he just came out.

2:07:05 MAN: Fred, be careful.

2:07:06 MARIANA: Yeah, Fred, if he sees you, we're (bleep).

2:07:14 Okay.

2:07:15 He's here.

2:07:16 Okay.

2:07:17 Let's go, guys.

2:07:55 MARIANA: This is it?

2:08:00 Wow.

2:08:00 This is incredible.

2:08:02 And they're just printing fake money.

2:08:15 MARIANA: It's early morning in Lima, and the smell of fresh ink is in the air.

2:08:23 I found my way to a printer who specializes in counterfeit U.S.

2:08:27 dollars.

2:08:28 It's like no underworld scene I've accessed before.

2:08:32 It's so out in the open, that I'm actually nervous for them.

2:08:38 Wow, this is incredible.

2:08:39 This is amazing.

2:08:40 I mean, we're in a printing mall.

2:08:42 It's too early, so all the shops are closed.

2:08:44 So it's this surreal scene where we walked down these corridors,

2:08:47 and everything was closed and then suddenly there's a bright light here,

2:08:50 and they're just printing fake money.

2:09:07 MARIANA: Printing is the most daring aspect of fake note production.

2:09:11 It's loud, it's long, and it's often done in public locations like this.

2:09:16 It's also very difficult.

2:09:19 It takes years to learn the secrets of this trade.

2:09:22 The inks.

2:09:23 The paper.

2:09:23 The machine.

2:09:24 The process of forging bills is equal parts art and science.

2:09:29 Very few have the right combination of talents.

2:09:42 MARIANA: This is the beginning of everything they do here.

2:09:44 Every single hundred-dollar bill that's done here starts with this metal plate.

2:09:49 And it's essentially the watermark.

2:09:50 La, el fantasma?

2:09:53 These plates are made by coveted designers

2:09:56 and are critical to the whole operation.

2:10:13 MARIANA: Check this out.

2:10:14 All the bills coming out.

2:10:22 MARIANA: Ah, the second part is the off-white color of every banknote.

2:10:44 MARIANA: Wow.

2:10:45 That is crazy.

2:10:46 So the whole process takes a month and a half.

2:11:03 MARIANA: Holy (bleep), that's a ton of money.

2:11:05 That is crazy.

2:11:06 They can make $6 million with a machine that costs them $7,000 to buy here.

2:11:29 MARIANA: The later it gets, the more nervous the printer becomes.

2:11:32 We can hear other shops opening, voices echoing down the hallway.

2:11:50 MARIANA: The mood totally changed, and they're super nervous,

2:11:53 because you can see the hundred-dollar bills here,

2:11:55 the metal plate, and so they wanna do this process really fast.

2:12:06 MARIANA: Wow.

2:12:07 Check this out.

2:12:11 This is amazing.

2:12:12 (Mariana speaking Spanish) We've got the watermark,

2:12:15 the background color of the banknote, and now Franklin's face.

2:12:21 Yeah, okay.

2:12:21 (man speaking Spanish) He's hiding everything.

2:12:24 They heard that there's somebody walking down the corridors.

2:12:30 MARIANA: We have to go.

2:12:34 As we head for our van, it hits me that what surprised me most about

2:12:39 the printer is something that also surprised me about the prisoner.

2:12:43 They were both conflicted about their decision to get into counterfeiting,

2:12:47 but both realized that perfecting their craft

2:12:50 was the best way to stay in demand.

2:13:33 MARIANA: Once the bills come off the printer,

2:13:35 there's still work to be done to make a convincing fake.

2:13:39 Fernando is able to locate another

2:13:41 of Peru's finest underworld artisans: the finisher.

2:13:45 His role is to add texture and weight to the bills

2:13:48 so they will pass the touch, look and turn test.

2:13:53 We're driving to Villa El Salvador on the south side of Lima.

2:13:58 An area that locals describe as "picante," meaning hot;

2:14:03 hot with every criminal enterprise you can imagine.

2:14:07 (barking) FERNANDO: Because the murder rate is not particularly low.

2:14:19 MARIANA: Is that him?

2:14:20 Just keep the camera up and rolling.

2:14:47 MARIANA: He's going to show us the stuff that he just got.

2:14:51 MARIANA: So it's a sponge, a regular.

2:14:55 MARIANA: Oh, this is for cutting the notes, to make a straight cut.

2:15:29 MARIANA: The U.S.

2:15:30 spends millions and millions of real dollars to deter counterfeiting,

2:15:35 and these counterfeiters get around it with school supplies.

2:15:42 In an effort to look less conspicuous, we plan to meet back up in his workshop.

2:15:55 (dog barking) We sneak in our cameras in bags.

2:16:08 I wonder if his neighbors have any idea what's happening inside this room.

2:16:16 If they only knew.

2:16:22 MARIANA: My search for the makers of the finest counterfeit bills

2:16:25 in the world has brought me to this working-class neighborhood outside of Lima.

2:16:36 And to this man.

2:16:38 They call him "the finisher," and his skills are in high demand.

2:17:01 MARIANA: It's a painstaking process all done by hand.

2:17:07 With a popsicle stick he applies glue for weight and texture.

2:17:25 MARIANA: To get the feel just right, he adds what he calls English cornstarch.

2:17:32 MARIANA: Which I recognize instantly.

2:18:05 MARIANA: You can really feel the texture, it's changed.

2:18:08 It's amazing.

2:18:10 He says he also works on 100s and 50s,

2:18:13 but 20s are easier to fake and much less scrutinized.

2:18:17 With just a few items you can get

2:18:19 at any corner store and a whole lot of patience,

2:18:22 the touch, sound and smell of the bills are totally convincing.

2:18:30 (siren) FINISHER: No.

2:19:44 MARIANA: It's always fascinating to me how

2:19:46 people end up working in black markets.

2:19:48 In many ways, counterfeiting is just another crime of opportunity.

2:19:54 A driver by day discovers he has the extraordinary

2:19:57 patience and craftsmanship to finish bills by night.

2:20:01 A printer specializing in calendars and business cards realizes he can deploy

2:20:06 the same machines and skills to produce stacks and stacks of fake bills.

2:20:13 But all the time and work that goes into making a convincing

2:20:17 fake is worthless if those bills don't reach the legal economy.

2:20:24 And that's where this man comes in.

2:20:26 They call him "the burrier," a Peruvian mash-up

2:20:29 formed from the Spanish word "burro," meaning donkey,

2:20:32 and the word "courier." MARIANA: Counterfeiting networks know that some portion

2:21:59 of their shipments will be confiscated.

2:22:02 So, they employ an army of ants who transport fake bills into the U.S.

2:22:07 by airplane, by car, by boat, on foot,

2:22:10 they even ship fake bills through the mail.

2:22:13 But getting these fake bills into the country isn't enough.

2:22:17 They need to get them into circulation.

2:22:21 The counterfeiting game is all about getting change.

2:22:26 AGENT: What you might do is hit different shopping centers.

2:22:29 Going down a highway corridor, you could hit malls on the north side

2:22:31 of town and malls on the south side of town, one fast food place,

2:22:35 one convenience store, you spend, you know, $8,

2:22:38 $9, and then you pay with the 100,

2:22:40 and that means you're coming back with, you know, 90-some dollars of genuine.

2:22:44 MARIANA: Of real money?

2:22:45 AGENT: Yeah.

2:22:46 AGENT: You could, you know, pocket a thousand dollars by the end of the day,

2:22:49 and you're not really doing much.

2:22:50 It's like an ATM that doesn't belong to you.

2:22:56 MARIANA: When counterfeiters do get busted, their stash of fake bills gets sent

2:23:03 to the Secret Service where they are examined,

2:23:07 catalogued, used in prosecution, and then destroyed.

2:23:14 Some of these fake bills are probably from Peru.

2:23:18 Maybe they even passed through the hands of the guys I met.

2:23:25 MARIANA: But even if the Lima scene is shut down, there will be others.

2:23:55 MARIANA: Nadie, nadie.

2:23:56 Nobody's coming.

2:24:04 MARIANA: It's an old con and an old truth:

2:24:07 If you're desperate enough to make some money, one option is to make some money.