2104: The Digital Pickpocket Revisted
PRETEND
05/06/25
•29m
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While speaking at a hacker conference in Dubai, Javier revisits a conversation with professional pickpocket and entertainer James Freedman. James reveals how a childhood scuffle led to a lifelong obsession with the art of pickpocketing, evolving from swiping coins to mastering social engineering and even digital fraud.
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🛡 Stay safe:
Learn how to defend yourself against modern pickpockets — both analog and digital.
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Previous Episode
LaDonna's Easter Egg Hustle
April 29, 2025
•21m
How LaDonna Humphrey Used a Children's Event to Funnel Money Through Oasis of Northwest Arkansas.
What happens when a glow-in-the-dark Easter egg hunt turns into a glowing red flag?
In this bonus episode of PRETEND, host Javier Leiva exposes a so-called family event that promised “magic,” but delivered mayhem — all tied to LaDonna Humphrey and her questionable nonprofit, Oasis of Northwest Arkansas.
Held at Mt. Hebron Park on April 12, 2025, the event was marketed as an unforgettable glow-in-the-dark Easter experience. According to the Facebook ad, attendees were told to:
“Embark on an egg-citing adventure under the starry sky..." “Search high and low for luminescent treasures..." “Watch the park come alive with a kaleidoscope of vibrant colors..." “A plethora of prizes and surprises await..."
But in reality, it was more like the FYRE Festival of Easter egg hunts.
One parent described the event as “no different than any free egg hunt at a church”—except this one cost $50 per family.
Instead of a kaleidoscope of vibrant colors, this event featured crying kids, confused parents, and a nonprofit operating in the dark, literally and figuratively.
👀 New LaDonna episodes are in the works — featuring new fake accounts, missing persons cases, and a sheriff caught in the crossfire. Stay tuned.
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Next Episode
2105: The Man Who Stole 200 Million Identities
May 10, 2025
•28m
In this episode of PRETEND, recorded live at the GISEC cybersecurity conference in Dubai, I spoke with Hieu Minh Ngo, once one of the most prolific identity thieves in the world.
Operating out of Vietnam, Hieu stole and sold personal data on over 200 million Americans. We're talking names, birth dates, Social Security numbers—everything you’d need to become someone else.
But he didn’t hack his way in. Instead, he used open-source intelligence and even impersonated a private investigator to gain legal access to massive data broker networks.
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