This week on The Perfect Scam.

He's a retired truck driver and soon after his wife died, he started receiving these emails saying that he had some inheritance in Italy.

And this wasn't completely something that wouldn't be believable for him because his wife actually had Italian heritage.

And he thought, I mean, what do I have to lose?

They'll pay for my flight.

They'll pay all expenses.

And so he decided the minimum this can be a great adventure for me.

Welcome back to The Perfect Scam.

I'm your host, Bob Sullivan.

Four years ago, Rodney Baldas tried to board a plane in Africa and deliver what he thought was a gift. Instead, the 74-year-old

is sitting on a crowded jail cell in Mozambique with little hope of ever getting out. His

daughter Nicole terrified her diabetic father, will die alone in Africa.

Rodney is what is sometimes called a blind mule, a victim who was persuaded to transport

money or contraband for a crime gang, an unwitting participant in a serious crime. Rodney's story, while dramatic, is alarmingly common.

There's no good data on how many blind mules have been persuaded to leave the U.S. and get caught up in criminal activity,

but federal authorities have issued many warnings about it in the past.

In just one drug mule incident back in 2016,

U.S. officials said 144 mules, averaging 60 years old, did work for a crime gang. The

oldest was 87. When they can, FBI agents intercept would-be mules from leaving the country before the crimes are committed.

But Rodney Baldis wasn't so lucky.

And that's how journalist Mariana Vinceller, host of National Geographic TV show,

trafficked, recently found herself in a Mozambique prison sitting across from Rodney. So the conditions in the prison were awful, and we actually saw videos and photos of Rodney when he first got there.

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