0:00

From the BBC World Service -- These

0:02

attackers have no fear. -- they would have killed

0:04

me, had they found out. It was really

0:07

intense. I just saw the entire

0:09

financial markets grinding to a

0:11

halt. That says what they've stolen. So

0:13

many millions of dollars. Oh, it's gotta be North Korea.

0:16

So it's chaos. What do you mean they've disappeared? Almost

0:18

like a perfect crime. Where did they get them up? How

0:20

in the world did this happen? The lazarus

0:23

heist from the BBC World

0:24

Surface. Search for the

0:26

Lazarus HEist wherever you get your

0:29

podcasts. A BBC

0:31

World Service and CBC Podcast Production.

0:33

Before we start, please note

0:36

this series contains adult themes

0:38

and strong language. Good

0:43

morning.

0:50

You brought in with us. Bye.

0:53

And this is around. There we go. Alright.

0:56

Glad to see

0:56

you. How are you? Let

0:59

me set the scene. I'm in

1:01

Nigeria, and that second voice is

1:03

my producer, Laura, in Vanessa's apartment.

1:06

In the US and being carried

1:08

around on a

1:09

laptop, getting the full three

1:11

sixty tour via video chat I'm

1:14

really good things. It's so good to see

1:16

you. We're trying to figure out when we're gonna

1:18

do like the sound, but I think my

1:20

bedroom. She looks relaxed. Black

1:22

summer dress, a cascade of

1:24

thick black hair. It's

1:27

kind of fitting that even

1:29

though we're finally together, we're

1:31

talking to each other digitally. And

1:33

yet it still feels like a reunion, which

1:35

is ridiculous. Right? I mean,

1:37

I don't know Janessa at all. All

1:40

I know are the images of her alter ego,

1:42

Janessa

1:42

Brazil. I want to find out

1:45

exactly where Janessa ends, and

1:47

Janessa begins.

1:48

And he's coming up. I buzzed him in.

1:51

Yeah. So he should be coming up in a minute.

1:53

Donuts and coffee are being delivered.

1:56

Great. So then he'll just oh,

1:58

gosh. Yay. Coffee. Janessa

2:02

apartment is a one bedroom condo. Small

2:05

kitchen, big catch in the living room,

2:07

but not a ton of furniture. It's

2:10

nice but modest really

2:12

and it's very hot. I'm

2:14

sweating. Don't mind me. It's

2:16

supposed to get hotter though, and they need to get

2:18

this air conditioning fixed before it gets worse.

2:22

Alrighty. Let's check

2:23

Janessa dog is running around.

2:26

Jasper, he's a little French bulldog.

2:29

Oh, my gosh. He's so cute.

2:31

Yeah. He's a sweetie. It's

2:33

my baby.

2:37

Then we go into our bedroom. There's

2:40

a scented candle flickering, a

2:42

giant bed, piles of makeup

2:44

and

2:44

clothes. It's like a spa collided

2:47

with a slumber party. What do

2:49

the

2:49

words say? Oh, it

2:51

says dream in the

2:53

little neon sign. I've

2:55

seen it before actually. That

2:57

neon sign of the word dream

3:00

that sits on the wall above Vanessa's headboard.

3:03

It's prominent in videos from her coming

3:05

days. This room also

3:07

contains a lot of tech equipment and

3:09

Janessa how to use it. There's

3:12

problem with a laptop camera and she

3:14

solves it faster than my producers do.

3:16

And when we're all set up, she hops up

3:18

on the bed and looks directly into

3:21

the camera.

3:22

We are in my bedroom right now

3:24

where the magic happens.

3:28

And I mean where I make my money

3:30

on what them. Made my money.

3:32

But yeah, and the comfort of my own

3:34

bed.

3:36

Throughout this podcast, so many

3:38

people have spoken for Janessa Brazil.

3:40

The scammers, of course, who stole

3:42

her images and put words in her mouth,

3:45

and those who were scammed. Who

3:47

claimed

3:47

that Janessa Brazil needs their help.

3:50

Their love. I can't

3:52

imagine what it's been like for her if

3:55

she sees herself as victim or

3:57

if she feels a tall response for

3:59

the damage that's been done in her name.

4:02

But what right do I have to even

4:04

think she should be remorseful? Is

4:07

the wham on the hook guilty?

4:11

These are the questions running through my head as

4:13

we settle into talk at last. Now

4:16

finally, the real Janessa

4:18

Brazil gets to speak for herself. From

4:31

CBC Podcasts, and the BBC

4:34

World Service. My name is Hamajala,

4:37

and this is Love Janessa.

4:44

The story of my wild quest

4:46

to find a woman whose face somebody

4:48

is the bait used in catfishing

4:51

schemes. Around the world.

5:00

Episode 6. Love

5:02

Vanessa. Should

5:05

I say my real name or

5:07

my model

5:07

name? Janessa is

5:10

my real name. My model name

5:12

is Janessa Brazil.

5:14

And where were you born? Rio

5:16

de Janeiro Brazil. In

5:19

nineteen eighty two. Vanessa

5:26

grew up in a mountain village about

5:28

three hours north of Rio. Very

5:32

small town fuel. It was

5:34

a street that went downhill and

5:36

a bunch of houses, you know, up and down the

5:39

Havoc zone streets. All

5:41

the kids play together. It was just kind

5:43

of a little community village type of

5:45

thing. You know? And then

5:47

we had to park up there and we hung

5:49

out on the park. I used to love

5:51

just walking around the streets,

5:53

and then that night used to love going out and

5:55

dancing at the disco tax. So

5:58

I sneaked in. So it's

6:00

pretty disturbing because I didn't realize it

6:02

until I went back there after so many years

6:04

and seen these little girls act

6:07

like that

6:07

Like, I started drinking at nine years

6:10

old. Janessa childhood,

6:12

as she tells it, contained a lot of Janessa.

6:15

Her father wasn't in the picture much. Her

6:18

parents divorced when she was young. Soon

6:21

after, Vanessa's mom moved to the US

6:23

with a new boyfriend.

6:26

My mom actually left

6:29

me and my brother behind on my

6:31

sixth birthday and my brother

6:33

was too. And I

6:35

will never forget that day.

6:37

So yeah, it was tough. Janessa

6:41

father had thirteen siblings and

6:43

for years, she and her brother bounced

6:45

around between relatives homes, finally

6:48

landing with an odd ton uncle. In

6:50

nineteen ninety four, when she was

6:52

twelve. Vanessa joined her mother in

6:54

the states.

6:56

So she used to be a dentist in Brazil.

6:58

But when she got here, she couldn't practice.

7:01

She would have to go back to school. So

7:04

she became a dancer or a stripper.

7:07

Vanessa describes herself as a shy

7:09

immigrant kid with an unhappy

7:11

home life. To fit

7:13

in, she learned English fast

7:15

and swallowed her accent. She

7:17

went to a private or girl school.

7:20

I put myself through high school because

7:22

my mom was like, I can't afford to pay.

7:25

So my mom went from being a stripper to

7:27

making costumes for strippers.

7:29

That was her business. And

7:31

so she taught me how to sew and

7:34

I helped her make costumes. I made my own

7:36

prom dresses. My own bikinis

7:38

and she paid me

7:41

six hundred dollars a month goes to

7:43

school. That's how

7:45

I put myself through. She'd

7:50

always been a good actress, dressing

7:52

up from pretending to be someone she wasn't

7:54

for fun. You know, it was just

7:56

my thing. I love that. I

7:58

was living such a horrible

8:02

life. What

8:04

I was doing was pretending

8:06

that I was an actress in a movie.

8:10

These things were not true. They were

8:13

a script. So

8:15

I detached myself and just

8:19

became this other person. This

8:22

was my role and I was gonna play it and

8:24

I was gonna play it well. Little

8:27

did I know that everything that I played

8:29

well at was gonna

8:31

lead me here

8:32

today. Be careful which you wish

8:34

for.

8:38

I know that many of us are walking around,

8:40

wondering about paths not taken. What

8:43

if fill in the blank? Then

8:45

who would I have been? But

8:47

Vanessa's story seemed unusually riddled

8:50

with these junctures, points

8:52

where things just happened to her. Things

8:54

beyond her control. Events

8:56

that changed everything. Here's

8:59

one. Vanessa was a really good

9:01

student. She says she has a

9:03

photographic memory. She could

9:05

study for a test on the bus to school

9:07

and ace it. By the

9:09

end of high school, she had her eye on

9:11

studying international business at

9:14

university in Hawaii.

9:17

But I didn't realize that I didn't

9:19

have a Social Security number and I was illegal.

9:23

So I was not able to apply

9:25

for college. Janessa

9:27

says her mother hadn't told her that she was

9:29

undocumented. She has her papers

9:31

now, but at the time, a doorslam's

9:34

shut. She didn't go to college

9:36

and said she got serious with her boyfriend,

9:39

an older

9:39

guy, a bouncer she met at a nightclub.

9:42

And

9:42

we grew up together. I was a kid.

9:45

So How long were you

9:47

together? Let's

9:50

see. We were together six years

9:52

before we got engaged and

9:54

then nine years of marriage. The

9:57

day before they were married, Vanessa

9:59

got in a car accident, not

10:01

too

10:02

serious, but she got a settlement.

10:04

I've always wanted a boob job. So,

10:07

you

10:07

know, I made money with

10:09

my car crash. So I figured, you know

10:11

what? Revised myself new

10:14

boobs and a new car.

10:16

So that's what I did. Vanessa

10:19

modeled a

10:19

bear. Then worked as a massage therapist.

10:22

She took an admin job in an office. What

10:25

was the amount of money I used to make?

10:28

I would say probably like five hundred bucks a week.

10:30

You

10:30

know, I was married. I

10:32

had a nice little job. I

10:35

helped out with bills or whatever. A

10:38

low key life. Vanessa

10:40

describes herself as someone who wore

10:42

a lot of turtlenecks. But

10:44

then on a holiday, another one

10:46

of those junctures.

10:52

Me and my ex husband We're

10:54

on vacation in Florida, and

10:57

we're just sitting there minding your own business, beach

11:00

was packed, and we

11:03

just get that, like, feeling. You know when that feeling

11:05

people, like, staring at you. I

11:07

looked back and I see this

11:09

couple. They

11:12

keep moving over until they finally get

11:14

to us and we start talking nice couple.

11:16

And She

11:18

was very beautiful, you know,

11:20

very corn syrup.

11:22

Like, you know, big boobs and

11:24

big lips and just that distinctive

11:27

look her. So we got to talking

11:29

and she finally tells

11:31

me that she's a porn star and

11:33

her husband is her manager.

11:36

At that time, I was very, very innocent. Next

11:39

thing you know, start telling

11:41

me about webcam and how much money I

11:43

make and I'd be really great at this

11:45

because I'm so beautiful, blah blah blah, the whole

11:48

story. We go back home and

11:50

I was like, yeah, I don't think I don't think we're gonna

11:52

do that. But, you know, I kept it in

11:54

the back of my head.

11:56

I was already having problems at work

11:58

with sexual harassment. So

12:01

I gave it a second thought and

12:03

I I like to give things a chance, you know,

12:05

tries everything once, then you

12:07

can say if you'd like it or you don't.

12:11

So I talked to my husband

12:13

and he said he'd be totally cool with

12:15

me working on webcam

12:17

and, you know, nudes,

12:19

whatever I was comfortable with,

12:22

he was okay with me doing. So that was

12:24

like the biggest thing for me. As

12:26

long as he's fine, I'll take it at my

12:28

own pace because you don't have to be

12:30

new, you can start off with clothes, then progress

12:33

from there. They

12:34

were living in Tampa, Florida at the time.

12:37

So I'd get home around five thirty in the

12:39

afternoon from my regular job.

12:41

Hop on camp for a couple of hours

12:44

and kind of get warmed

12:46

up. See if something was

12:48

gonna be of my liking or if I was

12:50

gonna be comfortable right away,

12:53

she made a connection with the fans. I'll

12:55

never forget the noises from the site

12:57

like the the noises that it made.

12:59

Every time a guy would I

13:02

don't know what it is from their end, but if they

13:04

liked you, there would be a whistle noise.

13:09

That noise would just be constantly

13:12

going to the point where it didn't stop.

13:16

A woman taking her clothes off

13:19

in front of her camera. What

13:22

is that experience like? Alright.

13:24

Well, my husband was my first.

13:26

I was a virgin when I met him.

13:29

So I don't have a lot of experience

13:32

and I was really shy So

13:35

I just went on there and I said, you know what?

13:38

I'm gonna make an alter ego and

13:40

I'm gonna be someone completely different.

13:43

You know? It's not really me,

13:46

so I won't be ashamed of what I was

13:48

doing. Once

13:50

that camera turned on, that

13:52

was it. She

13:55

decided to give the persona a name.

13:58

Janessa Brazil, There's

14:00

only two reasons why I picked

14:02

that name. So still the

14:04

same but different.

14:05

Right? The last name Brazil

14:07

obviously is from where I'm from,

14:10

but also is one of the most

14:13

searched words. On

14:15

the Internet. First page

14:17

on Google immediately. You

14:20

know, that was pretty much it. I hate that name, Janessa,

14:22

the result. But it

14:24

helped me. It helped me get popular

14:27

quickly.

14:32

How did you learn to get into

14:34

the act and and perform on camera?

14:36

I just went with

14:37

it. Like, whatever came to

14:39

my mind, and whatever

14:41

the guys were asking me to do.

14:44

And then, eventually, I, you know,

14:46

made my own thing go, like, my

14:48

own personality. It helped me

14:50

become very sexually

14:53

aware of myself as a

14:55

woman. So it

14:57

was a great learning experience. Immediately,

15:00

the money started rolling in. So she

15:03

decided to quit her day

15:04

job. This is what everyone

15:06

wants to do. Going your bosses

15:08

off and be like, I quit

15:10

in and not have a worry

15:12

in the world because they're making triple

15:15

of the money somewhere else. In half

15:17

of the time.

15:24

It was the late two thousands, and

15:26

sex on the internet was evolving

15:29

fast. The shit from the web

15:31

as a gigantic library of corn

15:33

to a perpetual peep show was

15:36

underway. But it would still be

15:38

several years before Subsea description

15:40

platforms for live sex shows, Rini

15:43

took off. The idea

15:45

of an adult entertainment model having

15:47

a website building and controlling

15:50

her own image and money, it

15:52

was still relatively new. Paul

15:54

is an industry that often marginalizes female

15:57

creators or flat out

15:59

exploits

16:00

them. Vanessa says she was

16:02

one of the first to upend that

16:04

system. I started

16:06

being able to think outside the box.

16:08

I was trying to think of ways of

16:10

doing things that nobody else was

16:12

doing.

16:14

I launched my website December

16:17

two thousand eight and made

16:19

my first appearance on Howard

16:21

Stern shortly after and that's

16:23

when everything blew up.

16:28

At the time, Howard Stern was one of the

16:30

biggest radio hosts in the US.

16:34

There's a video of disappearance online.

16:36

Vanessa walks into the studio in

16:38

a leopard print bikini and high heels.

16:41

And Stan asks her if she'd like to

16:43

remove everything but the hills. She

16:47

does, then she wides a machine

16:49

that resembles a pommel horse from

16:52

gymnastics. That's probably the

16:54

part of the segment most people tuned in

16:56

for. But Vanessa also hangs

16:58

around for an interview. She holds

17:00

her own, standing naked among

17:02

a group of clothes, middle aged dudes.

17:05

She's funny, impressive, unflappable,

17:08

and only twenty seven years

17:09

old. And

17:12

when I did my interview, my

17:14

whole website crashed. So

17:16

many people joining at. I mean,

17:18

it was insane. You know, it was on

17:20

the air for forty five minutes. It

17:23

was a great experience. Janessa

17:26

was building herself into a

17:28

brand.

17:35

My family spent twenty years on the

17:37

run, fleeing from threats, I

17:39

still struggle to fully comprehend. People

17:42

out there that wanna do us harm. We got a phone

17:44

call saying that your father's

17:47

thugs were coming to break my leg. Run

17:50

hide repeat, the unbelievable true

17:53

story of a fugitive family, and

17:56

the unimaginable truth of what

17:58

we were running from Available

18:01

now, everywhere you get your podcast.

18:11

The Janessa Brazil image was

18:13

carefully cultivated. She

18:15

had a long

18:16

game. And mind. I

18:19

never crossed over and did boy girl because

18:21

once I did that, there was no coming back

18:23

from that. I like I could go and get a

18:25

regular job still. If

18:27

I crossed over, I'm not really sure

18:29

that would be possible. I was offered,

18:31

I think, like, five hundred thousand for my first

18:34

boy girl scene. But I was,

18:36

like, No.

18:39

No. No. No. No. Because if I were to do

18:41

boy girl, I would control the content.

18:43

I would do the video. And

18:45

everybody that's been waiting for me

18:47

to do boy girl, I would get

18:49

a hundred percent of that money. I'm like, I'm not that

18:52

dumb. I'd probably triple

18:54

that. Over time. You

18:56

have to think about these things, you know.

18:58

And a lot of girls make that mistake

19:01

because they offer them a lot of money

19:04

way girls scenes, instant gratification.

19:06

That's what they're looking for, and they don't think

19:08

about these things. And they

19:10

don't last.

19:13

Janessa had her sights set on a more

19:16

analog marker of success. She

19:18

says she called penthouse, the adult

19:21

magazine. She got a meeting

19:23

and ended up with an eight page spread.

19:26

And then in twenty thirteen, Vanessa,

19:29

as Janessa made the cover

19:31

of penthouse Portugal. Another

19:34

one for the books At

19:40

the peak of her career through subscriptions

19:43

and live shows, and carefully

19:45

managing her brand. Vanessa

19:47

says she was bringing in about a million

19:49

dollars a year, and it

19:51

wasn't just money. There were gifts

19:53

too. Janessa would post wishlist

19:55

online of Sasha wanted, and

19:58

it would show up on her doorstep. Piles.

20:01

Piles of

20:02

boxes. Like, clothes,

20:05

shoes, anything I put on my wish list,

20:07

I would get it. Go buy me gifts

20:09

for my birthday or just anything. Outfits

20:12

for cam, like costumes, gift

20:15

cards. We had to get a storage unit.

20:19

I paved the way to the other

20:22

girls and they used to watch my video so

20:24

this day to see what

20:26

was she doing. And

20:28

what exactly was the thing that Janessa Brazil

20:30

did so well? So

20:33

you gotta think, like, your mind is powerful.

20:36

Right? You can really

20:38

get yourself going by just thinking

20:41

of things. You ask

20:43

them what they want, what do they like.

20:45

Not about me, me, me, me. They're paying

20:48

me twenty dollars a minute. It's

20:50

all about them. It's

20:52

kindness and caring.

20:55

You don't judge them for weird things

20:57

they're into. I feel like I'm

20:59

into it too. Let's let's go.

21:02

And when they see a hot girl, not

21:05

judging them and making things okay.

21:08

So that's what sets me apart because

21:10

most of the time, I

21:13

actually do care and I want

21:16

to please them and I wanna have fun

21:18

with them. And they get

21:20

hooked. And they get like oh, they

21:22

get like oh, shoots, I really like that.

21:24

I didn't even know I like that. I

21:26

do. I know you like something before

21:28

you actually like. Because I

21:30

read and research. I read

21:33

endless books on psychology, hypnotism,

21:36

and how to manipulate

21:39

their minds, but not in a bad way.

21:41

That's what they're there for. So

21:44

let's play. Bring it. You

21:46

know, and I shock them every time.

21:49

You know, they're like, whoa. Whoa.

21:51

What's next? They come back for

21:53

more. Caring

21:55

in kindness, you win their hearts,

21:57

you win their wallets, and the rest

21:59

is history.

22:05

But as the Janessa machine

22:08

got bigger and bigger, it

22:10

needed to be fed. And

22:12

the fuel was Janessa. It

22:14

became too much. Coming

22:17

had started as an after work side hustle,

22:19

but several years in, it had become

22:22

all consuming. Vanessa

22:24

says that she was now the breadwinner in her marriage,

22:27

and the marriage was falling apart. All

22:29

of it was wearing on her mental health.

22:32

She said she got a diagnosis of bipolar

22:34

disorder, which she contested. And

22:37

started taking prescription drugs.

22:39

She was working long hours in front of the

22:41

camera, sometimes twenty

22:44

four, forty eight hours at a time.

22:46

I wasn't getting sleep. Just

22:49

like money making machine, you

22:51

know. Eventually, I became

22:53

soulless. I was just like, gone.

22:56

Like, my eyes there was no no one

22:58

in

22:58

there, and my fans saw that.

23:01

They all knew something

23:03

was happening. You

23:05

know, I couldn't get on camera unless I was

23:07

wasted drinking

23:10

two bottles of wine a night.

23:12

Four, five days a week. I'm

23:15

like, this is not a life. And if

23:17

I need to do this to get on

23:18

there, there's no way I

23:21

can keep this going. And

23:23

to make matters worse, there was

23:25

another layer of stress in her life.

23:29

That layer is the reason for this interview

23:32

and this whole journey, and

23:34

why I wanted to meet with Vanessa in the first

23:36

place. The scammers.

23:41

If we go back to the first

23:43

time that you discovered

23:45

someone was using your

23:47

name with a scam. Do you

23:49

remember him? This started a

23:52

very long time

23:52

ago. This guy comes into

23:55

my chat. And he

23:57

says that we're married. And

24:00

I was like, I'm sorry,

24:02

what? And they're like, you're my wife, and

24:04

you told me you were gonna quit this. And

24:07

I went, is this kind of joking

24:09

with me? Is this like a prank?

24:12

And I was like, why don't you send me an email

24:14

and tell me what's going on?

24:17

And that's when I started to realize

24:20

what was happening.

24:22

And it wasn't just the victims. She

24:24

says the scammers started popping up in

24:26

the chat during her shows too.

24:29

They would come in and ask me to do weird

24:31

things. Put your hand on your

24:33

head or like put a red hat

24:35

on because that was the

24:37

ways they would prove to

24:40

these other people they're scamming, that's

24:42

the real me. It got out of control.

24:45

But what was crazy was

24:47

my friends We're getting messages

24:50

from these

24:50

cameras, pretending to

24:52

be me.

24:56

How did you feel knowing that your image was

24:58

being used in such a way? I

25:00

didn't think it was gonna get out of control

25:03

the way it did. I thought it was gonna be one

25:05

of those things I was just gonna pass. And

25:08

I was like, you know what? This is probably like a

25:10

fad. It's gonna blow over.

25:13

Gonna be fine. And

25:15

next thing you know, I'm just like everybody

25:20

would come in my chat and would say, you're

25:22

my girlfriend. I sent you

25:24

money to get your visa. What do you still

25:26

do? I'm like, what? He's

25:28

going on. It was

25:30

a nightmare. I felt

25:32

bad for these guys. What am I supposed

25:35

to do? They're asking me to

25:37

prove my identity

25:38

now. I'm like, that's not my job.

25:41

I'm here to have fun on webcam.

25:44

Did

25:44

you respond to any of them? I

25:46

did. I did respond to a

25:48

pretty much all of it at first.

25:51

It took me about five hours a day

25:53

to respond to these scam mails. I would

25:55

literally would respond to every single one of them.

25:57

And then my ex husband started

25:59

monitoring my chats and

26:02

he's like you cannot keep doing this because

26:06

people are leaving your chat, you're losing

26:08

money. It's

26:10

becoming like a drama, you

26:13

know, negativity, drama, and

26:16

affected everything.

26:18

My mood, my money, I

26:20

didn't wanna work. It was, like, it's

26:22

too much. Do you have a

26:24

sense or a figure in mind

26:26

of how many of these imposters

26:29

have been using your face or identity?

26:33

Well, I have a few fans

26:35

that told me

26:37

how much they lost. And

26:41

I have to say, think

26:43

the one with the most money was

26:45

seventy thousand dollars. How

26:49

do you send that much money to somebody

26:51

you don't know? Like, if

26:53

I got all the money that these guys

26:55

sent, all these cameras, I would be billionaire

26:57

today.

26:58

Not sitting here in my little apartment. It's

27:01

incredible. It

27:03

is incredible. And to

27:05

be honest, it's something I don't think

27:08

I've ever been able to wrap my head around.

27:10

Why these men keep going back?

27:13

Emptying their pockets for someone they

27:15

think is Janessa Brazil, someone

27:17

they've never met in the real world. But

27:20

Janessa has a very clear view of

27:23

what she thinks is going on.

27:26

It's the heart. Men are

27:28

caretakers. By nature, they

27:31

wanna take care of a woman. And

27:33

there's a purpose for them because they're gonna

27:35

take care of this girl. And she's

27:37

possibly gonna love him back.

27:40

See, most of us grow up not

27:42

knowing what unconditional love is.

27:45

Most of us grow up knowing what

27:47

conditional love is. So

27:50

even if they don't have the money, they're still

27:52

willing to give it just to

27:54

feel loved. The

27:57

bread crumping is

27:59

the worst part that these scammers

28:01

do. They keep them on the hook.

28:04

So they show love, and then

28:06

they take it away. And

28:08

when they take it away, The

28:11

guys get desperate and they're willing to do

28:13

anything to get it back.

28:16

That's just how the brain works.

28:19

I know this because I went through it

28:22

just to get that tiny little bit of love.

28:25

It's all about wanting someone

28:27

to love you and

28:29

you're willing to do anything just for a little

28:31

bit of that high and

28:33

the highs and lows. Is what they're

28:36

doing. So they bread crumb them. Take it

28:38

away. Give it. Take it away. And

28:41

every time they take it away, these men

28:43

are willing to do

28:45

little bit more than the last

28:47

time, and

28:48

that's why they keep coming back.

28:53

It hurts me. My heart hurts.

28:56

Not even because of the money, like where I could

28:58

have had it, but for them.

29:05

By the mid-twenty tens, a decade

29:07

since the invention of Janessa Brazil,

29:10

the internet was changing. New

29:12

online platforms for explicit performances

29:15

were emerging, and Vanessa gave

29:17

it a try. But reentering

29:19

the calm world didn't feel very good to

29:22

her. So just

29:24

decided to give it up. I couldn't look

29:26

at myself on there anymore. Couldn't look

29:28

at pictures of myself. I couldn't look at videos

29:30

of myself. I just

29:33

I was like, nope. I can't do this. Just

29:35

brings me back. I knew every

29:37

video that I've recorded, every

29:40

picture I've taken, I could go

29:42

through it all and tell you exactly what was

29:44

happening that day and how I felt. You

29:46

can see it in my

29:47

eyes. This

29:49

was around twenty sixteen, the

29:51

time when Janessa Brazil's online presence

29:53

faded. The fake Janessa

29:55

Brasil's were proliferating and

29:58

their targets were tracking down

29:59

Vanessa. The

30:02

stories, it was sad. I've

30:04

start becoming depressed, you

30:06

know, and then like blame me myself.

30:09

Maybe if my pictures weren't out there,

30:11

these men wouldn't be getting scammed

30:13

or Maybe I should stop

30:15

doing content. I no longer

30:18

want to give them the power to use. Anything

30:20

in mind ever again. You

30:22

know, when I shut that cam off, I was just

30:24

like, I felt not

30:27

awful, but numb. I

30:29

knew it wasn't for me anymore. I

30:31

need to move on. That

30:33

person is no more. It's

30:36

just too many bad memories attached

30:39

to that. I left that

30:41

behind. The one thing that

30:43

I was still hanging on to was

30:46

Janessa attached me to

30:48

that past life, and

30:50

I needed to let it go. That's

30:55

when I started focusing on Vanessa,

30:57

finding her again, pulling her

31:00

out, and

31:02

healing everything. That came along with

31:04

her that I had forgotten because

31:08

Vanessa got lost in there, you know.

31:11

So now it was time to care

31:13

about Janessa, like take care of

31:16

me for once.

31:18

She got divorced and she says she

31:20

left without much money. I

31:23

backed my car and I

31:25

left. Everything behind.

31:28

And I drove from Florida and

31:30

started my new life from

31:32

scratch. I had nothing to show

31:35

for. My previous work.

31:36

Vanessa ended up in this

31:39

small town where she is for her interview.

31:42

Even though she wasn't posting much, she

31:44

kept hearing from people who had fallen for

31:46

the scammer version of Janessa Brazil.

31:49

So here's a question. There are

31:51

a lot of pictures of beautiful, semi

31:53

naked women online available for

31:56

the taking. What was

31:58

it about Vanessa that made scammers

32:00

choose her?

32:01

How do they know she would have this massive

32:03

pill? I say

32:05

my looks my look is very

32:07

versatile. I can't pass off for

32:09

Italian, maybe creek, you

32:12

know. It's true.

32:14

Vanessa's beauty is racially ambiguous.

32:17

A global look for a global scam,

32:20

and the sheer volume of Janessa Brazil

32:22

images in circulation was

32:24

exceptional.

32:26

You know, I had a lot of candid videos just

32:28

like I did with my pictures, I took phone

32:30

videos, you know, and just me

32:32

out there being regular girl and

32:35

they use that. I put

32:37

myself out there completely, you

32:39

know, my private life and

32:41

then my work life. So they

32:43

had a lot to work with.

32:45

They never really died out. The scammers

32:48

kept alive. They kept my image alive.

32:51

No publicity is bad publicity. So

32:54

even people that were new

32:56

online, fans, guys online

32:58

that never knew me before, Now

33:01

they do, not because I'm on there,

33:03

because they see Janessa, Brazil from

33:05

the scammers. Scammers kept

33:07

me relevant. So thank

33:09

you guys, but unfortunately for

33:11

the fans. I'm sorry. So

33:14

Vanessa, what are you doing with

33:16

yourself now? I

33:19

live pretty much day by day.

33:21

I have loyal fans that literally

33:24

send me money weekly

33:27

just to say, hey,

33:29

I appreciate you.

33:31

Don't expect anything back.

33:33

I

33:33

mean, I have this one mysterious guy.

33:35

And he sends me a few hundred dollars

33:37

a week, which I use for

33:39

groceries and, you know, whatever else.

33:41

And and I scrape by

33:44

and then some of my fans help me with

33:46

my rent every once in a while. It's

33:49

literally like I tore myself

33:51

down to nothing, to,

33:53

like, the bare minimum. And

33:56

I'm still here living. Pretty

33:59

comfortably other than the air conditioning,

34:02

but that's not my fault. I fade

34:04

the electric bill I swear. Did

34:07

I? Hold on. I thought I

34:08

did. But yeah.

34:11

What do you think of the time,

34:13

sugar daddy? I've

34:15

had a couple. A sugar

34:18

daddy is a man, usually older,

34:20

richer, who pays the way of a

34:22

younger woman. Usually in exchange

34:24

for sex.

34:26

So this this man, would you say he

34:28

is a clear example?

34:30

Yeah. He was a sugar daddy, but

34:32

I never gave him any sugar. He

34:34

was just a daddy. Sugar

34:35

daddy but hold the

34:36

sugar. He was more of a Splendid Daddy

34:38

or a equal daddy. No sugar.

34:41

Mhmm.

34:42

I have this I don't know

34:44

what it is. Like, this ability to just be

34:46

able to get them to give me money.

34:48

But I don't give anything back.

34:51

What it is is it comes down to him

34:53

thinking that eventually I'm

34:55

gonna give in. They're gonna change

34:58

my mind. And they know the

35:00

game. I don't have sex

35:02

with fans. Like, that's not

35:04

my thing. And I make it clear. You

35:06

want a pretty girl to go to lunch with? Great.

35:09

But that's worst. That's right there. That's

35:11

where it stops.

35:17

And here's the twist. These

35:19

men who help Vanessa pay her bills,

35:21

these splendor daddies, some

35:24

of them were scammed by fake

35:26

Vanessa Brazil's. So

35:29

maybe this is part of what Vanessa means

35:31

when she says she should thank the

35:33

scammers. You could say

35:35

she's benefited from their work if

35:37

indirectly. Of course,

35:40

there's a massive difference between her

35:42

and the scammers. Beyond fraudulently

35:45

claiming to be Janessa, They

35:47

lie about being sick or needing money

35:49

for fake boobs. Lie about

35:51

being stranded without food in Toronto

35:54

in the winter. Lie about

35:56

being in love. Meanwhile,

35:58

Vanessa says that she is upfront with the

36:00

men in her life about who she is and

36:03

what they get and won't get

36:05

in

36:05

return. Transparency all

36:08

around. The one

36:10

that has bought me all this furniture in here

36:13

and a lot of my stuff, my clothes,

36:15

shoes, everything. He's

36:17

also another one that was catfished

36:20

and then found the real me. So

36:22

he emailed me and said, hey, can we

36:25

do a Skype show? And I

36:27

charge like a hundred dollars for ten

36:29

minutes. Right? He's like, let me just get ten

36:31

minutes. think he just wanted to see if I

36:33

was real. So we

36:36

got on there and we just started talking

36:38

and just kind of like the time went

36:40

on and on. I took the time.

36:43

I didn't ask him for the extra

36:45

money for the extra minutes because I

36:47

care. And I

36:49

made him comfortable and gain

36:51

his trust.

36:53

And that was it. Like,

36:55

they're very grateful for that.

37:01

When you think that there are possibly thousands

37:04

of fake Janessa Brazil accounts out there,

37:06

maybe even thousands of scammers hiding

37:09

behind her image. It feels

37:11

like lottery odds that these men

37:13

actually track down Janessa, let

37:15

alone became part of her life. That

37:18

made me wonder about one person who

37:20

was sure he'd contacted the

37:22

real Janessa Brazil. Roberto.

37:26

Remember Roberto? The romantic

37:29

Sardinian farmer. Who lost two hundred

37:31

and fifty thousand dollars to scammers.

37:35

We asked Vanessa to check her inbox for messages

37:37

from him.

37:38

She opened up her laptop, I

37:41

am logging into my Gmail to

37:44

see if we can find this

37:46

guy. See if we ever communicated with

37:48

him. Okay. So

37:50

let's

37:51

see. What's his email? Her

37:54

inbox contains thousands of

37:56

unread emails. Here

37:58

we go. So it dates back

38:00

to

38:01

what is the first one? Here we go.

38:04

Two thousand sixteen. This

38:06

first female

38:07

to me is ten

38:09

thirty AM, so this is it. Hi.

38:12

I have the need to talk with the Rio Janessa

38:14

Brazil. And guess

38:17

what? The real Janessa

38:19

Brazil brought him back.

38:29

Next time on the final episode

38:32

of Love, Jamessa.

38:34

Hi, Roberto. How are you?

38:36

I'm very good. Thanks. And you? Good.

38:38

Look at you. Very handsome.

38:52

Love Janessa is produced by Antica

38:55

Productions and telltale industries for

38:57

the BBC World Service and CBC

38:59

Podcasts. I'm Hannah

39:02

Jella. Our producers are

39:04

Katrina Onstar and Laura Reger.

39:06

Associate producers are Hailey Choi

39:09

and Sumunarata. Sound design

39:11

and audio mix by Philip Wilson with

39:13

help from Cameron McIver. Executive

39:16

producers are Stuart Cox and Jago

39:18

Lee. At CBC Podcasts,

39:21

Emily Canal is coordinating producer.

39:24

Chris Oak is executive producer. And

39:27

RF Narani is the director. At

39:30

the BBC World Service, Andixi

39:32

is senior podcast producer. And

39:35

John Menau is a podcast commissioning

39:37

editor. Thanks for listening.

39:49

A BBC World Service

39:51

and CBC