Stolen Podcast

Scams, cryptofraud, investment fraud, celebrity impersonation, romance baiting, sexploitation, crypto ATM fraud, job scams, toll scams, human trafficking... Stolen is a weekly podcast that uncovers the global rise of the transnational scam industry. Stolen investigates the global rise of digital crime — and the people caught in the crossfire. Join host Erin West — prosecutor, cybercrime investigator, global keynote speaker, and your guide into the dark corners of the internet. Hear from law enforcement, cyberfraud experts, and the survivors who’ve lived through the crimes. These are the voices behind the head

Stolen Podcast is a education podcast hosted by Erin West, with 72 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Erin West hosts Stolen Podcast, a education show with 72 episodes published.

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  Episode #71

  Small-town Police Officer Takes on the Big World of Crypto Fraud (Mike Bliss)

  Sep 23, 202635 min

  Episode 70: Mike Bliss didn’t know much about crypto fraud when he met his first victim in August 2025. With coaching from experienced peers, he now investigates fraud cases and helps other officers. She said, ‘I just lost $15,000.’ She was distraught; she didn’t know what to do. And quite honestly, I didn’t know what to do. — Mike Bliss, Crypto Coalition Erin West talks with Mike Bliss, a patrol officer in Fairway, Kansas, who dove headfirst into crypto fraud investigation after a single case pulled him in. In August 2025, a 27-year-old victim told Bliss she'd lost $15,000 through a crypto ATM — a concept he initially dismissed as untraceable “fake money.” But the case intrigued him. He posted a message on a listserv and was lucky enough to connect with Tom Alber, known as “ US Crypto Cop .” Alber drove out to Fairway in the middle of the night shift, walked Mike through tracing the funds, and introduced him to Operation Shamrock’s Crypto Coalition , a global network of law enforcement crypto investigators and analysts. Episode notes and video: https://operationshamrock.org/podcast/stolen -- Episode Sponsors Thank you to our Stolen podcast sponsors, ‪ BioCatch and Scamnetic .‬

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  Episode #70

  How Iowa is Beating Scammers at Their Own Game (Matt Mortvedt and Jessica McGraw)

  Sep 16, 202644 min

  Iowa has found a way to stop elder financial fraud on the very first transaction, before the money is gone. Matt Mortvedt and Jessica McGraw of the Iowa Insurance Division join Erin West to break down their "detect, deploy, disrupt" playbook. They explain how they reach victims early, seize scam websites and the crypto wallets behind them, curb crypto ATMs, and treat every scam victim as the victim of a serious crime. It is a blueprint that any state could copy.

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  Episode #69

  Rewriting the Fraud Conversation to Focus on Empathy (Susan Ralston)

  Sep 9, 202658 min

  Episode 68: Susan Ralston outlines the evolution of fraud and why she considers it a human, emotional crime whose victims deserve empathy over judgement. Erin West meets with Tower Federal Credit Union VP and COO to talk about changing the fraud conversation to focus on empathy. Susan’s career started at a grocery store cash register and evolved into decades of frontline fraud-fighting experience. We need to put our banker hats down and be human. — Susan Ralston, Tower Federal Credit Union Susan traces the transformation of fraud from small-town check washing to organized, transnational scam operations that exploded after COVID-19. She explains why considers fraud to fundamentally human, emotional issue. And she shares how her team trains credit-union staff to spot red flags, avoid judgment, and slow suspicious transactions before it’s too late to help the member. The victimization isn’t just money. It’s trust, it’s loved ones, it’s people’s dreams that are being taken away. — Susan Ralston, TFCU Get the episode notes and video . Episode Sponsors: Thank you to our Stolen podcast sponsors, ‪ BioCatch and Scamnetic .‬ Subscribe to Stolen for straight truth, survivor-centered storytelling, and bold conversations about the scamdemic and the people fighting back.

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  Episode #68

  A Detective’s Journey from Street Patrol to Chasing Stolen Crypto (Scott Simons)

  Aug 26, 202658 min

  Episode 67: How an assignment with the DEA led to Detective Scott Simons becoming one of the nation’s go-to crypto tracers and the investigative lead for Operation Shamrock’s Crypto Coalition . The Greenfield, Wisconsin officer's career took an unusual turn in 2015 when he opened one of the earliest cyber drug-trafficking cases in the history of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. Simons taught himself to trace cryptocurrency and navigate the dark web to investigate cases that spanned Miami, Argentina, and Albania. Scott’s self-taught expertise now anchors his role leading Operation Shamrock’s law enforcement triage team, where he has personally worked on or overseen hundreds of crypto fraud cases. Erin West and Scott trace his path from beat cop to one of the country’s most trusted resources for tracing stolen crypto. Watch the video of the episode on the Operation Shamrock website. Episode Sponsors: Thank you to our Stolen podcast sponsors, ‪BioCatch and Scamnetic .‬ Subscribe to Stolen for straight truth, survivor-centered storytelling, and bold conversations about the scamdemic and the people fighting back.

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  Episode #67

  Romance Scam Revisited: Life After “The Tinder Swindler” (Cecilie Fjellhøy)

  Aug 19, 202657 min

  Romance scam survivor Cecilie Fjellhøy helps expose fraud — and find justice for fraud victims. Well-known for Netflix’s The Tinder Swindler documentary, Cecilie Fjellhøy joins Erin West to expose the real cost of online fraud — and why justice is still out of reach for victims. This isn't just a story about one scam. It’s a roadmap of what happens when a financial crime destroys your life — and no one shows up to help. In this powerful episode of The Stolen Podcast, Erin and Cecilie dive deep into: What really happened in the “Tinder Swindler” romance scam The psychological tactics scammers use to trap targets Why fraud victims are sometimes ignored — or even criminalized — by law enforcement How romance fraud survivors can fight back The nonprofit Cecilie built to help other victims navigate the system Watch The Tinder Swindler on Netflix Watch Cecilie’s Netflix series Love, Con, Revenge ️ Visit Cecilie’s nonprofit at LoveSaid.org This episode was originally released on August 5, 2025.

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