This week on The Perfect Scam.

We all know criminals are very adept at using technology to attack their victims,

using psychology to attack the victims.

But maybe their most diabolical tool is their ability to use our own generous instincts against us.

Our instincts to care for a grandchild who is in trouble or a lover who is stuck overseas or even

a perfect stranger who is suffering with a terrible illness.

Today's episode which we've plucked from our archives for you is a terrible example of this.

How one man's greed exploited a whole community, a Dartmouth league community.

How he kept up a terrible charade for months and months, stealing from friends and

strangers alike, and how so many hearts were broken when the scam finally unraveled.

Here is part one of our two-part story, dying to be ill.

I could hear people saying stuff like,

did you hear Jeremiah sick? I went and talked to his fiance and she

informed me that Jeremiah had stage four kidney disease and several forms of

cancer that was incurable.

Everybody was doing anything and everything to try to make the last months of his life memorable.

Everybody was giving, giving, giving.

I thought to myself, he looks pretty darn good

for having less than six months to live.

Generosity. It's such a beautiful human quality born out of a selfless desire to help other people, even perfect strangers.

And like so many human qualities, the internet has supercharged our capacity for generosity.

Now we can help strangers across the world with a few

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