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WHEN skint grandad Rodney Baldus got an email saying he was due an inheritance of £8.3 million from a long-lost relative, he initially filed it to trash.
The 70-year-old had a hunch it was a scam, but when the legal-looking emails offered to pay his flights to Mozambique to sort out the paperwork, Rodney got on a plane.
National Geographic
National Geographic
National GeographicToday he is serving 18 years behind bars in a dingy African prison after being cruelly tricked into becoming a ‘blind’ drugs mule for scammers targeting vulnerable grandparents.
After Rodney signed documents in Africa he was given a case full of paperwork to ‘take to lawyers in Europe‘ who would supposedly release his cash.
He was also given a gift of sweets and biscuits… that hid 4.6kg of heroin.
Rodney says: “I admit I’m naive, I’m stupid – that’s what I’m guilty of, not drug trafficking.”
He is one of an increasing number of pensioners around the world being preyed on by mafia bosses, who know old people look less suspicious at airports.
British granny Lindsay Sandiford, 67, is serving life on death row in Indonesia for drug smuggling – and claims she was bullied into it by a UK drugs syndicate.
Lindsay, of Cheltenham, was caught trying to sneak £1.6million worth of cocaine into Bali but alleged she was forced into it by dealers who threatened to kill her son.
A new documentary sees award-winning journalist Mariana van Zeller investigate the world of senior scammers.
She reveals that Rodney is one of three pensioners in the same jail who also got sucked into the hustle.
Marianna also comes face-to-face with the underworld scammers behind the scheme – members of a shadowy organisation called Black Axe.
One undercover cop tells her: “Whistleblowers are being killed.”
Rodney’s daughter Nicole tells Mariana how her dad was “vulnerable” when he started receiving emails about his payout from a mystery family member in Italy.
Nicole, 42, says: “When dad came to my house to tell me (about the emails), the first thing I thought was, ‘Okay, you’re going to get kidnapped and put into a diamond mine.’
“I think once they said they would pay for it all, that’s what got him. He said, ‘Why are they going to fly me halfway across the world if this isn’t real?’
Reuters
AFP
Rodney was sentenced to 18 years imprisonment for the possession and trafficking of illegal drugsMiramar“My mum had died and dad was going through a lot of emotional stuff. He was really vulnerable. He was trying to save the family farm.”
When jobless trucker Rodney, of Owatonna, Minnesota, arrived in Mozambique in June 2019, he didn’t even have enough cash to pay for his visa into the country.
He claims he sent his email contact a text saying, ‘I have no money’, who then called an airport security guard who paid the fee.
Rodney says: “I had only ever been on a cruise before. That was the only other time I’d ever left the States.”
He was instructed to wait in a hotel room until a man with paperwork brought him a suitcase to “hold bank details”. He was told to take it to Bologna in Italy where he could exchange it for his inheritance.
They call the victims Maga, which is Nigerian scamming lingo for fool
The sweets and biscuits given as a ‘gift’ inside the case contained a massive amount of heroin.
Rodney, a former US marine, says: “The authorities said I was a drug runner. I said, ‘No I’m not’, but nobody believed a word I said.”
Rodney will live out his days in the squalid Machava prison where fellow pensioners American William Vito, 85, and Canadian Dennis Hawkins are also held.
Hawkins was jailed for trying to smuggle 9kg of heroin hidden in sweets and biscuits just 12 hours before Rodney.
He claims to have been targeted by the same Nigerian gang.
National Geographic
Journalist Mariana van Zeller interviews Chris and Max from the shadowy underworldNational Geographic for Disney
Nigerian scammers refer to the people they con as ‘Maga’, a term for ‘foolNational Geographic for DisneyVito was caged for 16 years in May 2019 after being caught at Maputo airport with 3kg of cocaine and 2kg of heroin. He is serving 16 years.
Rodney said: “They branded us as three drug runners all working together, but we had never met before we got here (prison).”
Dark underworld
Marianna discovers that the men’s flights were paid for in Nigeria – 2,000 miles from Mozambique – and finds the gang behind the scheme are part of a global network.
She talks to ‘Mark’, a special agent with a US-led drugs taskforce that tackles cybercrime.
He tells her a Nigerian gang called Black Axe is behind the global scam.
If you are an elderly person, one from a first world country, you’re not likely to be a suspect in trafficking drugs through an international airport
He says: “These groups are targeting a vulnerable population. If you are an elderly person, one from a first-world country, you’re not likely to be a suspect in trafficking drugs through an international airport.
“We call these people blind mules.
“The vast majority who engage in this scam are with Nigerian syndicates like the Black Axe. They are notorious.”
Black Axe started off as a student protest group in Nigeria in the 70s and morphed into an international criminal organisation.
How to beat the scammers
The Met Police gives advice on how to escape scammers.
- Be suspicious of all “too good to be true” offers and deals. There are no guaranteed get-rich-quick schemes.
- Don’t agree to offers or deals immediately. Insist on time to get independent or legal advice before making a decision.
- Don’t hand over money or sign anything until you’ve checked someone’s credentials – and their company’s
- Never send money to anyone you don’t know or trust – or use methods of payment you’re not comfortable with.
- Never give banking details to anyone you don’t know or trust.
- Don’t rely on glowing testimonials. Find solid, independent evidence of a company’s success.
- Always get independent or legal advice if an offer involves money, time or commitment.
- If you spot a scam or have been scammed, report it and get help.
- Don’t be embarrassed about reporting a scam. Because the scammers are cunning and clever there’s no shame in being deceived. By reporting it, you’ll make it more difficult for them to deceive others.
Members swear allegiance to the group but Marianna found one man willing to break the oath who told her that emails are sent to thousands of potential victims.
He said: “They call the victims ‘Maga’, which is Nigerian scamming lingo for ‘fool’.”
A Black Axe drug dealer in Johannesburg tells her: “You know the drug world is a chain. It’s not something you do alone.
“Everyone is scammable. Even me.”
The Drug Mule Scam, part of the Trafficked: Underworlds series with Mariana van Zeller shows on National Geographic on Monday night
National Geographic
English (US)