What if you could stop a scam in real-time before the damage is done? In this episode, I’m joined by Nick Stapleton, an investigative journalist and the face behind Scam Interceptors, the BAFTA award-winning BBC series that exposes online fraud and steps in to protect victims as scams unfold.

Nick brings a decade of undercover documentary experience to his current mission: fighting digital deception and empowering everyday people to stay safe. He shares jaw-dropping stories from the front lines, including the near miss that almost caught him off guard, and breaks down the complex operations behind everything from romance scams to global scam compounds.

As the author of How to Beat Scammers, Nick also gives practical advice on how to recognize red flags and build your own defense against a rising tide of fraud.

• [01:06] Nick presents a show called scam interceptors for the BBC. He also does scam advice on a chat show called Morning Live. He also wrote a self-help book about How To Beat Scammers.
• [01:59] We learn how Nick got into the space. He began in investigative journalism and hidden camera work and now 5 years later Scam Interceptors is his full-time job.
• [06:17] He came very close to becoming a victim of a scam, because a lot of scammers try to get him.
• [14:30] About 300,000 accounts a day get hacked on Meta.
• [15:10] There are things you can enable on Meta to help protect your account.
• [16:43] In the UK scammers rarely go to prison.
• [17:18] When he first started the series the scale of some of the scam operations out there really shocked him.
• [18:43] There can be 200 people working in a scam call center.
• [20:52] A lot of the people who run pig butchering scams are indentured slaves.
• [24:12] They would even hire models to have video conversations with potential scam victims.
• [25:22] Why local governments don't break up these scam centers.
• [26:38] It's difficult to motivate the authorities when the victims aren't from that country.
• [29:21] APP refunds in the UK. In most cases we need to be aware and protect ourselves.
• [30:52] Assume everything out of the blue is fake. Come from a position of skepticism.
• [35:04] When investigations go wrong filming the show and they lose people to scams.
• [39:10] When the show first began, sometimes the people they were trying to stop from being scammed thought they were the scammer.

Thanks for joining us on Easy Prey. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes and leave a nice review.

• Podcast Web Page
• Facebook Page
• whatismyipaddress.com
• Easy Prey on Instagram
• Easy Prey on Twitter
• Easy Prey on LinkedIn
• Easy Prey on YouTube
• Easy Prey on Pinterest
• Nick Stapleton
• Scam Interceptors
• Nick Stapleton - Instagram
• Nick Stapleton - LinkedIn
• Nick Stapleton - Facebook
• How to Beat Scammers: The Complete Guide to Keeping Yourself Safe from Fraud
• Morning Live
• Scam Clinic Podcast

People used to think fraud was something that happened in the shadows, rare, distant, and mostly affecting big companies. But after talking to PJ Rohall, it’s clear that fraud is evolving fast, and it’s showing up in places most of us don’t even think to look.

In this episode, I sit down with PJ Rohall, Head of Fraud Strategy and Education at SEON and co-founder of About Fraud. PJ’s work is all about staying ahead of scammers and helping businesses and individuals understand how fraud actually works. From synthetic identities and AI-powered scams to account takeovers and refund fraud, he breaks it all down in a way that’s both eye-opening and surprisingly accessible.

We talk about how fraudsters think, what makes people vulnerable, and why collaboration is one of the best defenses we have. PJ shares practical tips, real-world examples, and some of the patterns he’s seeing that everyone should be aware of. Whether you run a business or just want to better protect yourself online, this conversation might change the way you think about trust, technology, and the digital world we live in.

• [00:52] PJ Rohal is a co-founder of About Fraud and Fraud Fight Club, which is our in conference, in-person experience. He started that back in 2017, but his fraud prevention journey started back in 2011.
• [02:45] He began studying finance and business. He had some mental health issues and was open to trying something different when he saw a job for a fraud analyst.
• [06:22] His experience transferred really well into the entrepreneurial journey.
• [11:13] It's in the best interest of everyone to collaborate and share tips and tricks when trying to prevent fraud.
• [13:05] Everybody is open or vulnerable to being a victim of a scam. There shouldn't be a stigma around it.
• [14:51] It's powerful to see even tech savvy people being victims of scams.
• [17:20] How a contextually relevant scam could actually get you.
• [21:16] It's PJ's dream to get outside of his bubble and help educate the community the best he can.
• [23:43] Two-factor authentication codes have changed, because they give warnings and instructions for the consumer now.
• [28:45] People with platforms could get the word out about the risk of scams.
• [34:30] Getting fighting scams to the front and center is a challenge.
• [36:57] Handling calls from people who've lost large amounts of money in a scam. Having a psychologist or people who understand human behavior would really help with this journey.
• [40:39] Banks and financial institutions are starting to think differently about handling these issues.
• [41:05] There's also a lot of technology on the market that's designed for scams.

Thanks for joining us on Easy Prey. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes and leave a nice review.

• Podcast Web Page
• Facebook Page
• whatismyipaddress.com
• Easy Prey on Instagram
• Easy Prey on Twitter
• Easy Prey on LinkedIn
• Easy Prey on YouTube
• Easy Prey on Pinterest
• PJ Rohall - LinkedIn
• SEON
• About Fraud
• Fraud Fight Club
• PJ@about-fruad.com