0:01

This is a CBC Podcast. Who

0:10

is Janessa? Host, Hannah

0:12

Adjala, embarks on a wild search

0:15

for an adult entertainment star, whose

0:17

images are being used in global

0:19

catfishing schemes. The investigation

0:22

takes listeners from the UK to

0:24

Italy, West Africa, and the

0:26

US. Uncovering a criminal

0:28

network of scammers using Janessa

0:30

image to lure victims into

0:32

financial and emotional duress. Love

0:35

Janessa, is an eight part original

0:37

podcast from the BBC World Service

0:40

and CBC

0:41

Podcasts. Now, here's

0:43

the first episode of Love Janessa.

0:46

A BBC World

0:48

Service and CBC Podcast Production. Before

0:51

we start, please note this series

0:54

contains adult themes and strong

0:56

language. So

0:58

this is her initial message in this

1:00

conversation. Okay.

1:02

Me, you got me so worried as

1:05

I keep thinking so much about you.

1:07

I miss you so badly. I'd

1:09

like to send you something for Valentine's Day.

1:12

Maybe you could buy that car we talked about

1:14

so we could take a drive along the coast.

1:18

I would love that. Me. Make

1:21

sure it's a good one. Why am I

1:23

sending money to Ghana anyway? That's

1:26

in Africa, isn't it? You told

1:28

me you're in Spain. I'm

1:30

not really happy about sending fifty

1:33

thousand dollars to Africa to buy a

1:35

car.

1:37

Honey. Trust me as your wife

1:39

as I won't disappoint you because I love

1:41

you so much.

1:43

So you probably think you know what's going

1:45

on here. A fraudster is

1:47

trying to con this guy by text message.

1:50

Me, okay. I trust

1:53

you, but make sure it's got warranty. Are

1:55

you okay? I've been so worried about

1:57

you since the operation. The

1:59

person who's performing this dramatic reading

2:02

of his texts is Simon Debrassel.

2:06

Okay, my love. I'm so happy. Me,

2:09

good. I can't wait to see with

2:11

your double d boobs. That's

2:14

gonna be so much fun. You

2:16

can tell he's been primed for a scam.

2:19

The flattery, the money,

2:22

the boob job. I

2:25

can't wait to kiss and

2:27

make deep love to you all

2:29

day. You're my king and

2:31

goddess. I love you and

2:33

I want to feel your sweet arms around

2:35

me. You're getting me We're

2:37

now decades into living our lives

2:40

online. And anyone

2:42

with an inbox has probably been pinged

2:44

by a dodgy solicitation. Even

2:48

if online wear a mask scams are totally

2:50

recognizable with lines

2:52

like you are my king and

2:54

goddess, A shocking

2:57

number of people keep getting pulled into

2:59

them. Honey,

3:01

I wish you could assist me with some

3:03

meds. And food stuffs okay.

3:06

Me. But I gave you

3:08

five thousand dollars only last week

3:10

for your operation, remember. Then

3:16

she sent me a picture of of of Janessa,

3:19

topless in the bath. Obviously, topless because she's

3:21

in the bath. A picture

3:23

of a woman known online as

3:26

Janessa Brazil. And

3:29

it's a picture that he's seen

3:31

before. Because this

3:33

isn't the romance scam you think it is.

3:36

Simon isn't communicating with just one

3:38

account, one potential con

3:40

artist. He's chatting

3:42

with dozens, all

3:45

of them are using the same

3:47

photos. All of them

3:50

claiming to be the same woman.

3:53

This is Janessa, isn't it? Her.

3:57

This is Janessa, your wife.

4:03

That's a good time. Thank you. There's

4:06

more. There's there's loads more. From

4:12

CBC Podcasts, and the BBC

4:15

World Service. My name is

4:18

and this is Love Janessa.

4:25

The story of my wild quest

4:27

to find a woman whose face and

4:29

body is debates used

4:31

in catfishing schemes around

4:34

the world. Episode

4:41

one from my world to

4:43

yours.

4:49

When we talk, Simon is looking out

4:51

the window of his country home. What

4:53

he described sounds like Storybook

4:56

England I

4:58

live in Wilshire, which

5:00

is very rural. One

5:02

sheep farm in fact surrounded by

5:04

lots of cheaper at the

5:06

moment. The lambs are just appearing,

5:08

so there's lambs bouncing around in the

5:10

fields. Simon is a lot

5:12

of impressive things. He's

5:14

a journalist, a father to grown

5:16

children. He collects antiques,

5:19

and does photography. He's

5:21

had a long notable career,

5:24

covering all kinds of stories, like

5:26

the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the

5:28

discovery of Etsy of Iceland, a

5:30

guy who was frozen inside an Italian

5:33

glacier for five thousand

5:35

years. Where are you actually?

5:37

There's a lot of interest. Yeah. I'm in Lagos,

5:39

Nigeria. This is where I spend a lot of my

5:41

time actually

5:42

working. We've got a BBC office.

5:44

Have you got an apartment there or have you

5:47

got somewhere to stay in? But this story is

5:49

different for Simon. More

5:51

personal. A little delicate.

5:58

It was New Year's Eve, twenty

6:01

eighteen. Simon was getting ready

6:03

to go out. Well, I got

6:05

a notification that I'd been sent a message

6:07

and I think it was on Twitter and

6:10

It was from someone that I didn't know, but then I occasionally

6:13

do get messages from people that I don't know

6:15

in this

6:15

one. The

6:15

message was a compliment. The

6:18

right to admire some photos he'd posted.

6:20

I've seen them and she wrote how

6:22

nice it was to see someone taking

6:24

proper pictures. Pop black and

6:26

white pictures with film because

6:28

I still use film rather than digital and

6:31

send me greetings, you said from my part

6:33

of the world to yours. It was nice.

6:37

Seems quite strange we were saying

6:39

something good and wishing you

6:41

all the best and your family all the best.

6:43

For the New Year, it was a woman

6:46

who calls herself Shirley,

6:48

except it had been spelt

6:50

Shirley, which seemed a

6:52

little strange. To clarify,

6:55

her Twitter handle wasn't Shirley,

6:57

but Shirley. SHR

7:00

ILEY, followed by a

7:02

bunch of numbers. But anyway,

7:04

I just replied returning

7:07

your greetings and wishing you a happy new

7:09

year. Where in the world

7:11

are you? Because she'd said

7:13

sending you greetings from my part of the world.

7:15

After hitting send, Simon

7:17

went to a party throwing in the New Year

7:19

with friends. He got home after

7:22

two AM and noticed a wham

7:24

of new messages on his computer. Shoney

7:27

wanted to get to know him better. She

7:29

told him she was living in Flint. Flint,

7:32

Wales, he wondered? Nope.

7:34

Flint, Michigan in the US.

7:36

Acute misunderstanding.

7:39

And then having broken the ice like

7:41

that, she was a little bit more forthcoming and

7:43

told me that she'd been a TV presenter

7:45

in Rio and had some difficult

7:47

personal circumstances, had to leave

7:50

the country and recruited by a I

7:53

think it was a green energy company

7:55

that she was representing in

7:56

Michigan. They sent a few messages

7:59

back and forth. The compliments

8:01

about Simon's photography kept

8:03

coming.

8:04

That ain't small talent. And

8:07

I hope you know that people with this kind

8:09

of gift are few in the world.

8:11

So

8:11

I can imagine that you probably had

8:14

a look at the profile picture quite quickly.

8:16

Yeah. And I mean and

8:18

she looked perfectly

8:20

respectable and well

8:23

dressed, well presented young

8:26

woman, and she said she had

8:28

two children. So I imagine that she was

8:30

probably, you know, late twenties or

8:32

early thirties. I've seen pictures of

8:34

the woman who reached out to Simon.

8:37

And while we're talking, I have a

8:39

few of them open on my laptop.

8:41

Here's what I see. A

8:43

racially ambiguous, beautiful

8:45

woman, not the type that would need to

8:47

wear a ton of

8:48

makeup. Dark hair and eyes

8:50

The gym is certainly her friend.

8:54

Over

8:56

the next few weeks, Shelley and

8:58

Simon became digital pen pals.

9:01

Her backstory was complex and

9:03

stuffed with drama. Her father

9:05

had been killed in a car accident accident. She'd

9:07

had an affair with her manager who was a

9:09

drunk and a drunk at it. To

9:11

get away from him, she up and

9:13

left. Now she was living in

9:15

Flint, Michigan. Supporting her

9:17

kids and mother in a six

9:19

bedroom

9:19

house. So many details. She

9:22

was kind of dizzying. I

9:26

just thought that we were having a conversation

9:29

because I basically spent

9:31

most of my life online because it was

9:33

my job. I get literally

9:35

sometimes two hundred emails and

9:37

messages a day. And so it

9:39

was just something that's nice to

9:41

break it up from what my normal work

9:43

routine was. And because the time

9:45

difference, a lot of it would arrive

9:47

while I was asleep. So I time messages

9:49

when I woke up in the morning and things.

9:51

So so it was quite nice to be

9:53

able to have a communication with

9:55

with someone on the other side of the world interesting

9:58

story to

9:58

tell. At

9:59

the time, Simon was married.

10:01

He was

10:02

in his late fifties and didn't have a lot

10:04

of first hand experience. With

10:07

online flirting.

10:07

So when a sudden type of

10:10

message arrived, the kite was not

10:12

so novel to those of us who grew

10:14

up online He was

10:16

thrown.

10:17

It was all perfectly innocuous until

10:19

she asked me for a picture of

10:21

my dick, which

10:24

I found it a little

10:26

bit surprising, and I did tell her

10:28

that I would never ever consider

10:30

sending anybody even if I knew

10:32

them, a picture like that.

10:34

And asked her why she'd asked me. And,

10:37

I mean, she didn't really answer

10:39

that.

10:40

Pretty quickly, the exchanges spun

10:42

out into other kinds of requests.

10:45

I'll be going to make my hair

10:47

and also do some few shopping

10:49

next weekend, and I'll love for

10:51

you to pay for it if that's okay

10:53

with you.

10:53

It was not okay.

10:56

Simon said no. And

11:00

she then asked for I

11:02

think, three hundred dollars.

11:04

And I told her I wouldn't give it to

11:06

her. She got quite abusive. And

11:09

I said, look,

11:11

can't honestly, why

11:13

would I send you three

11:15

hundred dollars? But wouldn't you

11:17

possibly put it down to maybe like a cultural

11:19

thing? Because I'm I'm

11:21

Nigerian and it's it's very

11:23

normal in cultures and traditions

11:25

for men to fund

11:27

the lifestyles of

11:28

women. I did think that was a possibility.

11:31

And she

11:33

actually said that. She said men always

11:35

fun there. Well, I said, Lee, you're not my

11:37

worst. So she has

11:39

her own job. She's got her own career. I mean, why will

11:41

I need send money to someone that I don't

11:44

know and I didn't. But, I

11:46

mean, the fact is that at that point, I

11:48

realized that she was a scammer.

11:50

And that she was trying to

11:52

get me to send her money,

11:55

and she probably wasn't even

11:57

in Flint, Michigan. She

11:59

might well be in anywhere in the

12:01

world.

12:03

So Simon put on his journalist hat.

12:05

He ran Shirley's profile pictures through

12:07

a reverse image search

12:09

engine. It's a kind of matching

12:11

software that locates the same image

12:13

on other websites. If there

12:15

are other copies on the Internet, it will find

12:17

them and tell you where they're

12:19

from. And each one I

12:21

put in came back with his name,

12:23

Janessa Brazil. Janessa

12:26

Brazil. Simon

12:28

did a quick search on IMGB, an

12:31

online database of millions of

12:33

movies and TV shows that list

12:35

cast and crew. There she

12:37

was with a single credit.

12:39

Girls gone dead. A low

12:41

budget film from twenty twelve.

12:43

Where bikini clad spring breakers are murdered

12:46

by a stalker wielding a

12:48

medieval war hammer. Crazy

12:50

girls are luminous. Go crazy.

12:54

It's

12:54

billed as a comedy. Upstairs. I'm

12:56

on the A List.

12:57

Yes. What's up? Sally Girl down here named

12:59

Destiny. Cinder on know. A

13:01

lot of somebody at the door. What's up

13:03

about this? Vanessa

13:08

Brazil's character is listed.

13:10

As topless slide go.

13:12

A few more clicks, and Simon had

13:15

uncovered hundreds of

13:17

videos and stills. A

13:19

wave of not safe for work

13:21

content starring Janessa.

13:24

Not hardcore, but explicit.

13:27

Sex toys, showers, masturbation.

13:31

Shirley or Janessa, she's

13:33

actually known. Was popular on

13:35

sites like pornhub and Bank

13:37

Bank. The tornado of

13:39

x rated content was surprising.

13:41

But then he found something even

13:44

wilder. Googling

13:46

her, I discovered that she was also

13:48

according to a website I found. The

13:51

most impersonated person in

13:53

the entire world, with

13:55

over a hundred thousand fake

13:57

IDs using her photographs.

14:01

It's hard to measure if a hundred

14:04

thousand fake profiles is actually

14:06

an accurate number. But

14:08

if you search the

14:09

Janessa Brazil, millions

14:11

of results come

14:12

back. And Simon discovered

14:15

that the internet is filled with

14:17

angry men, who'd been taken in by

14:19

images of Janessa. Their

14:21

stories are heartbreaking. Millions

14:24

of dollars

14:25

lost, marriages, destroyed.

14:29

Simon

14:29

had stumbled into the grim world

14:32

of catfish victims. A

14:34

catfisher is someone who

14:36

uses a fake online profile to

14:39

lure an unsuspecting person into

14:41

a

14:41

relationship, sometimes to

14:44

steal from them. There

14:46

was a website called ramanscan dot

14:48

com, which was the one that said Janessa

14:50

was the most impersonated person

14:53

in the world. And

14:55

it also pointed out that she was

14:57

not herself responsible

14:59

for any of the frauds that were perpetrated

15:01

in her name because these were pictures that

15:03

have been stolen from her and

15:05

used by other people, the scammers

15:07

were sharing images. And

15:10

maybe even sharing details

15:12

of victims as far as I could work

15:14

out later. And it it's a huge

15:16

industry. I mean, she was just one

15:18

tiny part of of of

15:20

absolutely massive fraud

15:22

that's going on all around the world.

15:24

So Simon was now certain that

15:27

Churney was a fake, yet

15:29

another scammer using Janessa

15:31

image. By that

15:33

point, she was already a lot

15:35

less interested in his photography than

15:37

she had been in the

15:38

beginning. In

15:40

fact, she has some demands

15:42

She said that she needed the money to

15:44

tide her over during the Christmas New Year season

15:47

because basically she wasn't back to work

15:49

until the middle of January and she needed

15:51

to muck the money for her

15:52

kids. So he asked me to send her

15:54

a new three hundred

15:55

dollars. The tone was

15:57

almost threatening. Cash,

16:00

How much can you get me and when?

16:03

After doing it for me, I'll know that you'll

16:05

be there for me and will never

16:07

disappoint me. You still don't

16:09

trust me. If you ain't do it,

16:11

that's fine. But don't try pulling my

16:13

ear

16:13

first. I don't like it when someone is

16:15

making it hard for me.

16:18

She said, if you really loved

16:20

me, you'd do what I

16:22

asked you to do. And then you

16:24

responded And I responded, you

16:26

used a fake identity, a

16:29

false story, and stone

16:31

and

16:31

photographs. Why the fuck should I give you

16:33

anything at all? Simon

16:36

blocked and reported, Shirley.

16:38

Twitter killed the account. Janessa

16:41

number one was done. Simon

16:53

was now determined to find

16:55

the real Janessa. He

16:57

wanted to turn his quest into an

16:58

article. He began

17:01

sifting through accounts using the name

17:02

Janessa. I just

17:05

thought, well, this is a great story. I'm gonna

17:07

look into this because these old

17:09

people obviously aren't Genesee Brazil. Some of

17:11

them didn't even really claim to be, but

17:13

they were using her pictures, and some of them did

17:16

claim to be, and they were using other people's

17:18

pictures. And there were some

17:20

who were using the name Janessa Brazil

17:22

and using her pictures. So I I

17:24

emailed a selection of them just to get

17:26

a conversation going. It wasn't long

17:29

before he had back from one.

17:30

Good evening. My love.

17:32

And them, a mother. I dreamed

17:34

you were close to me on bed. As you

17:36

kiss and hold me tightly. You make love to

17:39

me and got me pregnant. I

17:41

wanna fall asleep in your arms

17:43

always as you kiss and gaze into

17:45

my

17:45

eyes. The

17:46

propositions were goofy, but kind of

17:49

intoxicating too. Simon

17:52

was determined to keep it professional.

17:56

After the initial approach,

17:58

which I was completely

18:01

bemused by III

18:03

was doing this as a

18:05

journalist. I was really careful about

18:07

how I how I dealt with this woman and

18:09

and and why I said to her soon.

18:11

So I'm not the average punter

18:13

who may be taken in by the woman on the end of the

18:15

line or sort of was

18:17

keen to reveal too

18:19

much about

18:20

myself. But still,

18:22

as his inbox overflowed,

18:24

Simon was coming to understand

18:26

the power, the intimacy in

18:29

these exchanges. That total

18:31

strangers over the internet

18:33

could form such thrilling

18:34

connections. And I can

18:37

see that some people who

18:39

are lonely or needy

18:41

might find it

18:43

quite sort of

18:45

rewarding because every single

18:47

conversation started off with

18:50

are

18:50

you, my darling? Have you cleaned

18:52

your teeth today? Have you had a shower

18:55

yet? Are

18:55

you warming up? The wife that you've

18:58

never met. Your online wife.

19:00

What

19:00

exactly? You don't know? It really it

19:03

really felt like that. When

19:05

Simon responded to one

19:07

professor, Another one would pop up in his inbox.

19:09

The geneticists were starting to multiply.

19:12

I mean, The obvious

19:15

ones would start

19:17

referring to me as my husband -- Oh,

19:19

gosh. -- within five

19:22

minutes of starting a conversation. Simon

19:25

social media accounts became a

19:28

cascade of geneseopics. One

19:30

Janessa was topless. Another was

19:33

wearing Mickey Mouse ears. There

19:35

was Janessa in sweatpants, in

19:37

a bikini, in a

19:39

bandaged dress, so many

19:41

accounts, so many

19:43

geneticists. Simon kept

19:45

asking them, who are you

19:48

really? But the Genesa

19:50

shrugged off the question, they had

19:52

different approaches. One

19:54

Genesa had a sick mother.

19:57

Another needed money for a

19:59

car. You

20:01

got me so worried as I keep

20:04

thinking so much about you. I

20:06

miss you so badly. It's

20:08

Valentine's tomorrow, and I am on my

20:10

own again. Honey, I'm not

20:12

feeling well since yesterday. I

20:14

wish you could assist me with some vital

20:16

mets and food

20:16

stuffs. Okay. The

20:19

stories were so complex. But

20:21

even Janessa couldn't keep track of

20:23

the

20:23

details, what they had asked for from

20:26

Simon and what he'd agreed to.

20:28

Simon wrote back But I gave

20:31

you five thousand dollars only

20:33

last week for your

20:35

operation. Remember?

20:36

And

20:36

no. You haven't given her

20:39

any money. Yes, honey,

20:41

but the doctor prescribes some meds

20:43

I need to buy for the health on the

20:46

operation. It very vital meds vape. very

20:48

important to my health.

20:50

Simon noticed that a lot of these

20:52

tech circled back to West

20:55

Africa. This is

20:57

Janice, your wife, hearing Ghana

20:59

from Spain, due to my terrible

21:01

situation on my surgery operation.

21:03

This place is much better and

21:05

alright for the treatment. I'm gonna

21:07

get back from recovery sooner.

21:13

This is where

21:13

I come in.

21:15

I'm British Nigerian,

21:18

and I divide my time between

21:21

London and Lagos.

21:23

I've also

21:23

spent time in Ghana. So to

21:26

me, this story is

21:28

personal. Not

21:29

all internet fraud originates in

21:32

West Africa, but it

21:34

does have a reputation. Maybe

21:36

you've heard of the four nineteen

21:38

or Nigerian prince comes, I

21:41

can't stand these associations. It

21:43

doesn't speak of the Africa, I

21:46

know. And I'm

21:46

wary of in a story that could

21:49

amplify these impressions.

21:50

But I'm also a

21:52

millennial who spends a lot of time

21:55

clicking, liking, swiping.

21:58

Someone who guards her

22:00

privacy very carefully. The

22:03

selfies on my phone would probably not

22:05

be interesting to a scammer, but

22:08

they are

22:09

mine. As Simon is talking,

22:11

I feel for Janessa. She

22:14

seems to have lost control of her

22:16

image on an unimaginable scale.

22:19

And I want to know, what

22:23

happened? Simon

22:26

also wondered what the real Janessa Brazil

22:29

the striking woman in the pictures would make of

22:31

all this.

22:32

He wrote to

22:33

a modelling agency that seemed to represent

22:36

her asking, Did you know your

22:38

images being used by scammers?

22:40

To Simon's surprise,

22:43

he got a response.

22:52

Simon receives

22:57

an email from but

23:00

get this. She told him her real

23:02

name was Vanessa.

23:04

And she basically said,

23:08

thank you for alerting me to this.

23:10

I'm well aware of it. This scam

23:13

has been so enormous

23:16

that I'm absolutely unable to work at

23:18

the moment. And it's

23:20

made my life a misery. I've been subject

23:23

to court proceedings in

23:25

Florida. I even had one man

23:28

who claimed that he'd given me

23:30

two million dollars that

23:32

I'd embezzled from

23:34

him. And I was taken

23:36

to court, my assets have been

23:39

frozen. I'm not allowed to post

23:41

anything in public online.

23:44

And I'm basically

23:47

struggling to try and clear my name so that I

23:49

can get back to work

23:49

again. The person using

23:52

the name Vanessa told him that she had been

23:54

the victim of a hack. Her personal

23:56

photos were stolen, and her

23:58

image had spiraled out across

24:00

the Internet. Now, Simon was on the receiving

24:02

end of yet another drama

24:04

pack story, and he was a

24:06

little wary by this point. And

24:09

so I said, well, how do

24:11

I know who you are? He wanted

24:14

cooperation.

24:16

She gave me her name and I

24:18

was able to trace that name to a

24:21

house in Florida near Tampa.

24:24

And I found it on a estate

24:26

agent's website and it had

24:28

interior shots of the house. And

24:30

the furniture in the estate agent's

24:32

shots was exactly the same as

24:35

the ones in her glamour

24:37

shots. So the pictures had been

24:39

taken in the same room in

24:41

in in Janessa's house that

24:43

Vanessa was registered

24:44

at. So it was

24:47

pretty convincing. Simon

24:49

asked for a selfie and she sent one.

24:51

It was a picture of the woman known

24:53

online as Janessa Brazil. But

24:55

a little older than in other pictures, maybe

24:58

in her

24:58

forties, not too made up.

25:01

The kind of casual picture anyone might have

25:03

on her phone. The

25:06

excessive data which is the information

25:08

that comes attached to

25:10

photograph was

25:12

current, and it appears to have been taken

25:14

like the day before rather than

25:16

than the other ones, which have been taken

25:18

up previously and months before

25:20

or even years before And then she sent

25:23

me a picture of her Florida

25:25

driving license just

25:27

to confirm that she was who she said

25:30

she was. And I

25:32

believe them. So

25:36

I then thought I had

25:38

I had contacted the real

25:40

Brazil. But

25:45

Simon didn't get to savor his victory

25:47

for long. The text which had

25:49

been cordial, filled with

25:50

gratitude, suddenly shifted in

25:53

tone. Vanessa said

25:55

she was in

25:56

trouble. She told Simon that

25:58

she'd gone to Toronto to get away

26:00

from the Janessa Brazil impostor

26:02

scandal. Now she was

26:05

holed up in an hotel room.

26:07

She gave me the name

26:09

of the hotel and

26:12

She told me that while

26:14

she was there, she received an email from

26:16

her bank in

26:17

Florida, telling her that her

26:20

credit cards had been frozen. The

26:22

only way to unfreeze her credit cards would be to

26:24

visit her branch in Florida, but

26:27

she didn't have money to settle her hotel

26:29

bill in Toronto. Or

26:31

money for anything else.

26:33

So she told me that she hadn't eaten

26:36

three days. I

26:38

checked on the weather app,

26:40

and it was minus thirty in Toronto at

26:42

the time. She said she hadn't got any

26:44

proper shoes and no warm clothes. She

26:46

just come for literally for a couple of

26:49

days and and was stuck in this

26:51

hotel. So

26:53

I said go to the manager and explain

26:55

the situation and write

26:57

in affidavit whatever it takes to say

27:00

that you will pay

27:02

and whatever you owe them.

27:04

When you get your account unfrozen, which

27:07

will be as soon as you get back to

27:09

Florida. And then she

27:11

said, I've done what you've told me

27:14

and he asked to see my

27:16

passport and then he took it away and put it in a

27:18

drawer and said I wouldn't get it back until

27:20

I paid the bill for the room.

27:22

And obviously, you believed

27:23

her. I

27:24

didn't know whether to believe her. I quite

27:27

honestly, I couldn't I couldn't

27:29

prove it one way or the other. Every

27:31

question he threw at

27:31

her, she deflected. I'd

27:34

even run the hotel

27:36

and they'd had no record of her.

27:38

Being in the hotel. And

27:41

when I put that to her, she said, well, I'm

27:43

not under my own name because I've

27:45

got a high profile and I don't want the paparazz

27:47

finding out that I'm

27:47

here. So there was always an

27:50

excuse. Question.

27:52

Could she send a photo of herself

27:54

in the hotel room? Answer.

27:57

The court order prevented her from

27:59

uploading pictures. Question. Could

28:01

she confirm her identity by

28:04

giving her father's first name? Answer.

28:07

She never shared private information.

28:09

Of course, Simon was suspicious,

28:11

but he'd been pulled in. Simon

28:13

believed he had given this woman advice that

28:15

had led to her passport being confiscated.

28:19

He felt a bit guilty, especially

28:21

when she wrote that she hadn't eaten in

28:24

days. It was

28:25

snowing. She didn't even have a coat.

28:28

I was feeling really

28:31

bad that it was possible this person,

28:33

whether or not it was

28:34

Janessa. Actually hadn't

28:36

had anything to eat because she was going

28:38

on about it so much. He seemed to

28:40

be in conversation with a person

28:43

who was suffering in real time,

28:45

right in front of him.

28:47

All these details, the granular

28:50

storytelling, plus

28:52

at researching for his article.

28:56

So he

28:58

sent her two hundred dollars.

29:00

PayPal blocked

29:03

the payment and

29:05

asked me to call their fraud department.

29:08

And When

29:10

I spoke to them, they told

29:12

me the reason that they blocked it was because

29:14

my payment had been made or

29:16

would have been made. To

29:18

someone called Hillary Wealth in

29:21

Legals in Nigeria. Where

29:23

I am right now? Where

29:25

you are right now? Yeah.

29:27

Of course,

29:29

when Simon confronted her, the person

29:31

calling themselves Vanessa could

29:34

explain away this hiccup too.

29:36

She was banned from PayPal due to

29:38

the scammers, so she had to use her

29:40

landlord's account and he

29:42

was from Nigeria. All

29:46

vanessa needed was five thousand

29:48

dollars to get to the

29:50

airport. journalist

29:52

in Simon was telling him to

29:54

keep going. Simon came up with

29:56

a

29:56

plan. He had a friend in

29:59

Toronto, Donald, a playwright

30:01

and vintage watch collector. He

30:03

called Donald and asked if he'd be prepared to

30:05

go to a bank machine and

30:07

withdraw a thousand dollars for someone staying at a

30:10

very nice downtown hotel. Simon

30:12

didn't say who. He promised

30:14

to PayPal Donald the

30:16

money. Donald said, no

30:19

problem. He waited for the signal

30:21

from Simon. Simon

30:24

texted Vanessa his plan.

30:27

Dawn would come and drop off the cash

30:29

as long as she showed her face

30:31

and proved who she was.

30:34

This didn't

30:34

go over well. She went ballistic

30:37

when I told her this, and

30:40

she claimed that I should

30:42

not have involved another

30:44

person in this business because it

30:46

was gonna cause her

30:48

huge amount of problems if it turns

30:50

out that The papers got a hold

30:52

of the story that Janessa Brazil

30:54

was penniless in having to rely

30:56

on charity to get

30:57

home. That's when Simon

30:59

reminded her that he was a journalist and

31:01

that he planned to write a story to

31:03

expose all the fiction letters.

31:06

She didn't

31:06

like that either. You really

31:08

want to

31:09

bring me out into public. Is that it?

31:11

If you ever break my secrets,

31:14

My spirits will never forgive you.

31:18

Simon had reached the end of the

31:20

road.

31:20

He could no longer

31:22

deny what I'm sure you figured out already. While

31:25

researching the woman behind the images

31:27

that had been used to catfish

31:29

him, he'd

31:32

been catfished for the second

31:34

time.

31:34

Would you give her

31:37

some props for how she's

31:40

sort of constructed the best

31:42

scam, you know, from the Oh,

31:44

she was absolutely brilliant. She was

31:46

absolutely brilliant. I mean, it got it

31:48

got better and better. And

31:50

then The text just

31:53

stopped. The conversation over

31:56

a period of days

32:00

fizzled out. I mean, I'd even gone to

32:02

the extent of saying to go to the

32:04

airport. I'll pay

32:06

you Uber fare. I'm

32:09

I'm gonna pay your airfare to Florida.

32:11

Just take a picture of the departure board with

32:13

the flight on it and I will pay it

32:15

immediately by

32:16

card. And she never did

32:19

that of course because she couldn't she wasn't in

32:21

Toronto. And that

32:24

was the end of

32:26

Vanessa.

32:39

Simon published his article on the

32:42

Janessa in spring twenty twenty.

32:44

The timing

32:45

meant that the story was overshadowed

32:48

by the start of the global

32:50

pandemic.

32:50

But with so many potential

32:53

victims now stuck at home, lonely

32:55

and trying to live their lives

32:58

online, The crime he was

33:00

documenting only increased.

33:03

Today, Simon still gets

33:05

pinged by the occasional Janessa

33:07

clearly his info is being passed

33:09

around. But by who? Who is

33:12

on

33:12

the other end of these messages?

33:14

And from what part of the world

33:17

are they sending their

33:19

greetings? Because either the

33:21

person Simon connected with

33:23

was the real Janessa Brazil,

33:25

which would mean she's in on it,

33:27

or maybe these fake Janessa

33:29

scams are seriously

33:32

elaborate affairs Perhaps some

33:34

might use front companies. Others could

33:36

be run by people with the ability

33:39

to forge documents and

33:41

alter photos. Regardless,

33:43

it makes me wonder, what

33:45

does the real Vanessa Janessa

33:47

think of all this? I'm

33:50

determined to finish what Simon

33:52

started. To figure out who

33:54

really is, how her image

33:56

became the ultimate bait for

33:59

catfishes. And how it got so out

34:01

of control. But

34:04

first, I need to find her.

34:08

So this is a lady

34:10

called Janessa, and I just wanted to

34:12

tell me if you've ever seen

34:15

this woman before. We're

34:25

sorry you have reached a number that has been

34:28

disconnected or is longer in service.

34:30

Please check the number and try your

34:32

calling again. And

34:36

while I'm

34:40

trying

34:40

to track down Janessa,

34:43

I'm finding out that Simon got off

34:46

easy. Other people who got entangled with

34:48

Janessa didn't walk away so

34:52

undamaged. Some fell hard and paid a

34:54

high price. Every time

34:56

it was an excuse like no, now I can't

34:58

or now, now I broke my phone or now

35:00

this phone

35:02

doesn't work, blah, blah. So for almost two months was

35:04

like that. Initially, it was like

35:06

fifty euros, next one hundred, next

35:08

five hundred.

35:10

So I was sending like probably fifty to

35:12

twenty five k in the first

35:14

two, three months. That's

35:16

next time on love. Janessa.

35:29

Lav Genesa

35:34

is an Antica and Telltower

35:36

production for the BBC

35:38

World Service. And CBC Podcasts. I'm Hannah

35:40

Jala. Our producers are

35:42

Katrina Anstead and

35:44

Laura Reger.

35:45

Associate producer is Hayley Choi,

35:47

sound designed by Finibelson and

35:49

Janine White. Executive producers

35:52

are Stuart Cox and Jae Gongle

35:54

Emily

35:54

Cannell is our coordinating producer. Chris

35:57

Oakes is executive producer

35:59

of CBC podcasts. Ariff

36:02

Nirani is the director of CBC Podcasts, and

36:05

John Menell is the

36:07

podcast commissioning

36:08

editor. At the BBC World

36:12

Service. Thanks

36:14

for listening. A

36:20

BBC World Service

36:22

and CBC Podcast Production. That

36:24

was the first episode of

36:27

the brand new podcast love Janessa.

36:29

You can listen to more episodes everywhere you

36:31

get your podcasts. For

36:33

more CBC podcasts, go to CBC

36:36

dot c a slash podcasts.