Dateline NBC - Former American Idol contestant on trial. Plastic surgeon allegedly murders lawyer. Plus, AI scams.

Episode Date: September 24, 2026

In Ohio, former American Idol contestant Caleb Flynn is accused of killing his wife, Ashley, and staging the scene to look like a home break-in. Prosecutors reveal their theory of his motive – another woman. In Florida, plastic surgeon Tomasz Kosowski stands trial for the alleged murder of lawyer Steven Cozzi, who disappeared in 2023. Kosowski chose to represent himself in court. In Dateline Round Up, a major development in the case of Nolan Wells, a Mississippi teen who was found dead after a Fourth of July boat trip with friends, and updates in the murder case of University of North Carolina student Faith Hedgepeth, who was killed in her apartment in 2012. Plus, NBC News Chief Consumer Investigative Correspondent Vicky Nguyen discusses social media scams that use generative AI. Listen to new Dateline premium podcast "Before & After with Lester Holt": https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/before-after-with-lester-holt/id6806378137Find out more about the cases covered each week here: www.datelinetruecrimeweekly.com.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Good morning. It's the start of another workday for the Dateline team. Just talking to the DA, they were really looking at the boyfriend. Our producers are catching up on breaking crime news. Body cam and family are kind of front and center in this case. He's back in jail. It looks like he's going to be staying there for a while. Welcome to Dateline True Crime Weekly.

I'm Andrea Canning. It's September 24th, and here's what's on our docket. In Florida, a plastic surgeon is on trial accused of stalking and murdering an attorney, and he's representing himself. He showed up every day voluntarily in his orange jail clothes. In Dateline Roundup, an update from the prosecutor in the case of Nolan Wells, the Mississippi teen whose mysterious death over the July 4th weekend made headlines across the country. On Monday night, 11 weeks after Nolan's death,

the Jackson County District Attorney posted a video statement with the findings of the grand jury investigation. Plus, scammers using AI. to pull out your heartstrings. NBC News, chief investigative consumer correspondent, Vicky Wynn, tells us about something called sadness bait. These AI tools make it look like real people are suffering, real people are crying, real people are asking you for help. Before all that, we're taking you to a courthouse in Troy, Ohio,

where a former American Idol contestant is on trial for his wife's murder. In the early morning hours of February 16th of this year, 39-year-old Caleb Flynn was on the line with 911 making this plea for help. My wife, she got two shots to her head. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. So please me. Caleb told police that an intruder had broken into their home and fatally shot Ashley while she was sleeping.

But investigators didn't buy Caleb's story. After processing the scene, they suspected he'd staged the whole thing. Three days after making that 911 call, he was arrested and later charged with Ashley's murder. He has pleaded not guilty. Up until the trial, we hadn't heard much about the prosecution's case against Caleb. But in a dramatic opening statement, the prosecutor revealed for the first time what he believes Caleb's alleged motive might be, another woman.

Here to fill us in on all of it is Dateline field producer Justin Ratchford, who is calling us from the courthouse. Hey, Justin. Hi, Andrea. Thank you for coming on. So, Justin, this case is getting a lot of attention. As we mentioned, Caleb was once a contestant on American Idol, which is part of why this is making headlines. Give us a little bit of background on Caleb's time on the show.

It was back in 2013. He was the contested in season 12. And in his interview, he described himself as a music pastor who connected with his church through music. And the thing that you might remember about him is how we talk about Ashley, who really nudged him to even audition and the love that he had for her. I love my wife more than anything. She is very, very pretty. Just, oof, I love her. Wow.

Now, 13 years later, Ashley is dead. Do we know anything about what Caleb and Ashley were up to between 2013 and 2026? Yeah, so the couple actually settled in Ashley's hometown, Tip City. That's where she grew up. They had two daughters together. Ashley was a substitute teacher and middle school volleyball coach. And Caleb, he actually worked as the vice president of sales for. for Ashley's family business, a flooring company.

Okay, so it seems like, you know, your typical all-American family. The crux of this case, this is the question the jury has to answer, is whether an intruder murdered Ashley or did Caleb murder Ashley. So, Justin, what was Caleb's version of the event? So Caleb made the 911 call around 2.31 a.m. And that's actually what the jurors got to hear right away the first day of the trial. Prosecutors played it, and it was really even. and chilling, hearing Kayla's voice.

Is she breathing? I don't, no, I don't think so. Ashley, Ashley, baby, baby, please. Oh, my God, no, she's not. Okay, she's not responding to you? No, no. Okay, do you see anybody in the house now? No, it's pitch black and the doors are long.

The door leading to the garage door was wide open when I ran in there. Tip City officers took the stand next, And they described finding Ashley's body in bed with the shots of the back of the head that Caleb was talking about. They said that there was no sign that she had been startled or awakened before she had been shot. And where did Caleb say he was during the shooting? The officers testified that Caleb told them that he had been sleeping on the couch that night because he was sick and Ashley had asked him to sleep there. He went to check on his daughters in the middle of night and fell asleep in their room. And the only thing that woke him up was the sound of the gunshot.

He also mentioned that the intruder must have come through the side garage door and shot her and fled right through it. Justin, were investigators suspicious of Caleb from the get-go? No. They said that Caleb was as appropriate as could be in the moment. You know, he was emotional. He was sobbing and just really concerned about the well-being of his daughters. So when do the red flags begin for investigators? The officers testified that the side-grateful.

garage door was open, like Caleb said. But they said that when they examined the door from the inside, it looked like there was a refrigerator that had been shoved aside so the door could be opened, meaning the door must have been opened from the inside and not the outside. And Justin, the prosecutor brought up something else that they believed pointed to an inside job. Yeah, the prosecutor called up a canine handler to the stand who had been at the crime scene. And the handler said that his dog couldn't pick up the scent of anyone fleeing from the area from that side door. But instead, the dog kept wanting to go back into the house. What's more, an FBI special agent testified that the deadbolt of the side door was damaged, but inconsistent with someone kicking the door open from the outside.

As I stood there inside of the garage, it looked to me like the damage had happened with the door open. Justin, as far as motive goes, we mentioned there's another woman in all of this. So that was the bombshell of the prosecutor's opening statement. The prosecutors say that Caleb was having a secret affair. The prosecutors actually started reading text messages Caleb sent to this other woman about wanting to kill Ashland. I was up until 4 a.m. last night, literally trying to think of ways to kill her and not go to jail. If I could literally kill her and not go to hell, I would do it in a heartbeat. That is how dark and how hateful I feel.

According to the prosecution, in the year leading up to Ashley's death, Caleb exchanged over 100,000 messages with his lover, often talking about how he hated Ashley and wanted her gone. Just hours before Ashley was killed, Caleb sent his lover a message saying, I choose you, I'm free, actions will come tomorrow. And then they allege that by staging this break-in, Caleb could get rid of Ashley while keeping the benefits of the life that they built together. He'd get to keep his mistress, have his daughters all the time. You'd benefit financially. Get to keep his lucrative job working for Ashley's family business. And he gets to keep his position as a worship leader. What does the prosecution believe actually happened?

So they allege that Caleb shot Ashley twice with his handgun that he kept in his truck. If you would hear Caleb kept a nine millimeter handgun. and his truck console. When officers arrived on scene, the console was up, and the gun was missing. You will hear that Ashley was shot twice with 9mm bullets.

How has the defense pushed back on all of this, Justin? So the defense, they start with the gun. They point out that police never found a murder weapon. It's missing. It's never been located. They can't show you who's gun killed Ashley. They can't show you if Caleb had a gun in his hands, that night, they can't show you if Caleb pulled the trigger.

They are merely guessing and they're asking you to do the exact same thing. Justin, how did the defense handle Caleb's affair and all those text messages with his lover? So right out of the gate, the defense admitted that Caleb had an affair, but it didn't mean he killed his wife. According to them, Caleb sent those messages about Ashley just to appease his lover. And despite all that, he loved his family and was regularly sending warm, loving mess. messages to Ashley. How has Caleb been reacting to all of this? He's been emotional every single day. It's been really hard to watch him react to testimony, the photos. Ashley's family has been reacting to. And it's just really painful to see them in the background while this is going on.

It is really heartbreaking. Thank you for these updates from the courthouse in Ohio, Justin. Thanks so much, Andrew. And we have another quick update on this story. The day. after we taped our conversation with Justin, the woman that prosecutors say Caleb was having an affair with took the stand. We will catch you up on all the details from her testimony next week. Coming up, three years after an attorney went missing from his office in the middle of the workday, a Florida plastic surgeon is on trial for his murder, and he's representing himself. On March 21st, 2023, Florida attorney Stephen Cozy walked into his law office and never

came back out. When his coworkers went looking for him, they found blood in the bathroom, but no sign of Stephen. Days later, police arrested plastic surgeon Tamas Kaczyowski, a man Kosey had been battling in a contentious civil lawsuit. Prosecutors charged him with Stephen Kosey's murder. They alleged Kosowski killed him inside the law office, wheeled his body out in a cart, and eventually got rid of it in a remote dumpster. However, Kosey's body has never been in a car. found. Kazowski has pleaded not guilty. If convicted, he faces the death penalty. We are in the second week of his trial, and there's been a twist in this trial. Kuzowski is representing himself. So none of the videos makes a positive idea of me. Tampa Bay Times reporter, Alexa,

has been following the trial. Welcome to the podcast, Alexa. Thank you. So Alexa, first off, tell us about the victim in this case, Stephen Kosey. Right. Stephen Kosey was 41. He was an attorney in Largo, Florida, even married to his husband, Michael, for about three years, and his co-workers described someone who really loved being a lawyer. So how did Tomas Casowski come into Stephen's life? Through a lawsuit. So Casowski was a Ivy League educated plastic surgeon who sued his former employer in several related businesses in 2019. After a couple years of the lawsuit not having much progress, Kisowski decided to represent himself. And in 2022, Stephen was representing most of the people he was suing. Okay. Walk us through, Alexa, March 21st. What was Stephen doing that day?

According to his husband, Michael, it started like a completely normal morning. Stephen brought him coffee in bed, kissed him goodbye. And he went to work. A few hours later, Michael said someone from Stephen's office, reached out to him and asked if he'd taken Stephen to lunch because he was missing. Michael rushed to the office. Stephen's car was still there, locked in the parking lot. His phone, wallet, and keys were still on his office desk, and his computer was open in the middle of an email he had been typing, but he was gone. Stevens' co-workers suspected something was wrong.

They did. Stephen's boss, Jake Blanchard, went looking for him. When Jake went into the men's room, he smelled a strong odor of bleach and chemicals. He saw blood stains on the toilet seat, on the walls, and he called 911. It's horrible. How quickly, Alexa, did investigators focus on Kaczyowski? Pretty much right away. The investigators started pulling surveillance videos, cell phone records, which allegedly put him at the scene of Stephen's disappearance, but then later stopping at a remote dumpster. And then, as we know, days after Stephen disappeared, he was arrested in Tarpon Springs where he lives.

That brings us to the trial, which we should notice happening in front of a judge, not a jury, so it's a bench trial. What did prosecutors lay out in their open? statement, Alexa. They argued that this wasn't some sudden confrontation that Kassowski had been plotting the murder for quite a while. He believed that the lawsuit and Stevens' arguments to throw it out had cost him money and damaged his professional reputation. And friends and family testified that in January 23, two months before Stevens' disappearance, Kassowski confronted him in the same bathroom. Prosecutors say he was later murdered in and called him a scumbag. His husband, even suggested he start bringing pepper spray to work or hiring security.

Prosecutors laid out a series of events, things that Kazowski did, which they say added up to planning the murder. Yes. They say Kosowski researched Stephen, his home and his husband by Googling their names, wedding, their address, their property appraisal. The morning before Stephen disappeared, investigators say Kasowski searched online for a paralytic drug and how long its effects last. Stephen's body has never been recovered, so his manner of death is unknown, but prosecutors say as part of their theory that he was given that drug in the bathroom before Kosowski murdered him. And about a week before Stephen disappeared, a woman testified that she found a man wearing a surgical mask hiding in a utility closet in the shared building of the law firm. She identified that man in court as Kasowski because she actually followed him out of the office, hid behind a bush, and watched him get into a gray Toyota Tundra. the same truck which prosecutors say is the one Kisowski drove the morning of Stephen's disappearance. This is all very, very disturbing.

Alexa, prosecutors walked the judge through what they believe actually happened that morning. Right. And a big part of their timeline is that gray Toyota Times Drive pickup truck. On the morning of March 21st, they say that surveillance video shows it arriving at Stevens' law office at about 8.30. A man is seen carrying a box and walking into the building. Stephen arrives a few minutes later, and at 10.22 a.m., surveillance video shows the same man leaving the building, pulling what appears to be a heavy wagon covered in red material. Cameras then captured the tundra leaving the parking lot with the covered wagon in the bed of the truck. And when police later searched Kaczywski's home, they found the truck inside his garage. Did the tundra turn up anything when investigators tested it?

It did. Investigators found what appear to be blood inside the truck on the walls of it. They also found blood on the floor of Kasowski's garage. DNA testing linked Stephen to that blood. And so you talked about this dumpster. They believe that he dumped Stephen's body there, but they weren't able to find the body. So what happened? So this is where, you know, it gets, it gets speculative, but Casowski's cell phone shows. that he was driving down towards Miami that night. His red Toyota Corolla stopped off a remote dirt road, and he stops there for about a minute, minute and a half before continuing on.

So investigators had law enforcement officers go to the landfill where that dumpster is dumped in Collier County, Florida. They actually did a three-day search with a lot of law enforcement officers. Remains were never found, but the garbage truck driver who picked up the load from the dumpster that day actually testified in court,

and you said it was unlike anything he had ever smelt coming from the load. Oh, so awful. Alexa, with this being a no-body homicide, how are prosecutors handling that? Right. It is very challenging. Prosecutors have presented quite a bit of forensic evidence from the bathroom.

A blood spatter expert testified that there was, quote, a significant bloodletting event that took place there. And in fact, the state's last witness before they arrested their case on Tuesday afternoon was a District 6 medical examiner who testified that it's his opinion that that Stephen is dead based on the totality of the evidence. And investigators say they found what they call a murder kit, Alexa? Yes. So investigators say they found a black bag in the passenger seat floor.

of Kasowski's red Toyota Corolla. There were masks, syringes, a stun gun, among other items. There were also ballistic vests that were just found in his car, and the DNA analyst testified that a blood spot on one of them provided very strong support for Stephen being the source of that blood. And that bag is also where investigators found the paralytic prosecutors had talked about. All right. The prosecution spent six days presenting its evidence. Casalski, as we mentioned, decided to represent himself.

So he's actually sitting at the defense table by himself, Alexa. How did this all come about? Yes, yes, very peculiar indeed. And he even showed up every day voluntarily in his orange jail clothes. He had several attorneys during this criminal case up until about a month before trial when he asked the judge to represent himself. What kinds of questions did he ask the prosecution witnesses on cross-examination? How did he do? For the first few days, not a lot. He stayed mostly quiet. He was making some objections, but repeatedly declined to cross-examine witnesses. Then on Thursday, that changed. An FBI agent who analyzed his cell phone data was on the stand, and for the first time, Kassowski started cross-examining the state's witnesses.

Yes, Mr. Corian. How much time was the device stopped at the state? dumpster. It's hard to say, but it's consistent with it being in the area for maybe a minute or so. A minute? Yes, sir. Okay. So somebody stopped at that dumpster for one minute? The records are consistent with that happening. Yes, sir. Thank you. No further questions. What point was Kisowski trying to make? He was basically asking what the roughly one minute stopped near the dumpster actually proved. There's no body. There's no video of him killing Kosey. So he was saying, how does the one-minute stop show that he did anything. Kisowski also went head-to-head with the lead detective.

What happened there, Alexa? He did. On Tuesday, he challenged a lead detective on the security cam video. Prosecutor Say shows Kisowski at the scene of the alleged murder. Was there ever a positive ID made of me in those videos? From the surveillance footage? Yes. No.

Then Kisowski really drilled down into how the prosecution thought that he got Stephen's body into the truck. Stephen weighed roughly 190, 195 pounds. His husband testified, and Casowski was questioning how he could have loaded Stephen's body into a cart and lifted him into the back of a pickup truck. Casowski tries to do a show and tell in the courtroom with the detective as his assistant? Correct. Would you be willing to help in a demonstration?

I could. He asked the detective to try to lift the cart and get a hundred and nine. pound person from the gallery to volunteer to approximate loading it onto the truck. The prosecution objected and the judge sustained the objection and told Kosowski he made his point. But Kosowski kept pushing. Your Honor, their theory is that I took those two weights together and loaded it onto the back of the truck. He's telling you that I committed murder and he's trying to kill me for it. The judge still wouldn't allow the demonstration.

When it was Kisowski's turn, the defense's turn, he did not call any witnesses and he declined to testify. Where do things go from here, Alexa? So we will hear closing arguments Wednesday morning from prosecutors and from Kisowski himself before the judge returns to his chambers to deliberate. Such a bizarre case. Alexa, thank you for bringing us all of this. Thank you for having me. After we taped our conversation, Alexa headed back into court. and things moved very quickly.

She called us back to tell us what happened next. Hey, Alexa. Hi. Yeah, so the state in Kisowski gave their closing arguments. Overwhelming weight of the evidence and the totality of the analysis of this case lead to only one conclusion. And that's on March 21st of 2023.

This man murdered Stephen Kossi. Kassowski reinforced his belief that the prosecution's theory just didn't add up. The state would have you believe that everything is very clear-cut, cut and dry in this case. If the state's theory of the murder is correct, you have to find Stephen Kossi's body in that landfill, but they didn't. After he finished his argument,

the judge said he needed 15 minutes to come back with his verdict. The court, as a trier of fact, having considered testimony and evidence presented at trial, enters the following verdict. The defendant is guilty of murder in the first degree as charged. signed by Honorable Judge Joseph A. Salone, Circuit Judge. All right. Thank you. Kisowski was found guilty of first-degree murder. Stephen's husband, Michael, spoke afterwards during the penalty phase in which prosecutors

asked the judge to impose a death sentence. There is a saying, to the world, you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world. Stephen was that person to me. I cannot describe the horror this has brought me. and all of steep loved ones, it brings me more anger than any than I can put in the words. What happens now, Alexa? When will we know whether Kosalski will be sentenced to death or life in prison? Well, the judge still has more to consider before making that decision. He found that the state had proven two of the three aggravating factors it needs for the death penalty, that the murder was committed for financial gain and that it was cold, calculated, and premeditated. But he said that without a body, it's difficult to prove.

that it was committed in a particularly heinous manner. He'll wait until after a hearing next month to decide between death or life in prison. Okay, Alexa, thank you for this major update. We appreciate you coming back on the podcast. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Up next, it's time for Dateline Roundup. Updates in the Nolan Wells investigation and a game-changing ruling ahead of trial

in the case of murdered UNC student Faith Hedgepath. Plus, AI sob stories. Vicky Wynn tells us how to protect our wallets and our hearts. Welcome back. Joining me for this week's roundup is Dateline producer Sue Simpson. Sue, thanks for being here. Thanks for having me. So Sue, up first, we have a decision out of Mississippi in the case of Nolan Wells.

He was the black teenager who never came home from a boat trip with his friends over the 4th of July weekend. His body was found a few days later on Horn Island where they'd gone to party. Sue, this case grabbed national attention earlier this summer when theories swirled that his death could be racially motivated. That's right, Andrea. After Well's body was found, the family hired well-known civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who questioned whether his race might have had something to do with his mysterious death. The state promised a thorough investigation into what happened to Nolan. But until this week, we hadn't heard much. Finally, on Monday night, 11 weeks after Nolan's death, the Jackson County District Attorney posted a video statement with the findings of the grand jury investigation. Let's take a listen to some of that.

After a thorough and exhaustive investigation, your grand jury met last week concerning the death investigation of Nolan Wells and unanimously returned a no true bill. Okay, so what does that mean a no true bill? So the members of the grand jury concluded that there was insufficient evidence to prove that anyone committed a crime connected to Nolan's death. Sue, Nolan's parents and Ben Crump commissioned an independent autopsy several months back, which found Nolan's cause of death to be undetermined and flagged two bruises on the back of his head. We've been waiting to see if the state would release the medical examiner's autopsy. They did not do that this week. but the grand jury had access to that independent autopsy and the medical examiner's findings. So based on what they learned, what do they believe Sue happened to Nolan? In their report, jurors noted there was an injury on the back of Nolan's head,

but they said it was not fatal and concluded that he'd not been in any physical altercation or argument of any kind. In their words, the position of, the condition of, the time of discovery, and the location of Mr. Wells' body was consistent with drowning, but that wasn't something jurors could say for sure. So, Sue, we still don't know for sure exactly how Nolan died. How did Nolan's family respond to all of this? Well, at a press conference on Tuesday, Ben Crump pointed out that no one knows how Nolan died yet, including the state. He said that the grand jury's report leaves them with more questions than answers. Jackson County District Attorney Angel Myers Macarraf will have you accept that Nolan Wells death can be summarized in three words. We'll never know.

But Nolan family offers three other words. We will never stop. We'll never stop. Until we get to the truth. Nolan's parents both spoke, too. Here's a clip of his mother. Nolan is loved. He is cherished.

He is honored. And he did not deserve to have his life taken away so suddenly. Okay, heartbreaking to be sure, Sue. We'll see if anything more develops in this case. Next up, there was a pretrial hearing in North Carolina on Monday for the man accused of murdering UNC student Faith Hedgepeth in her off-campus apartment back in 2012. Miguel Salguero Oliveris was charged nearly 10 years after the crime in 2021. Prosecutors allege his DNA links him to the crime scene. He has pleaded not guilty. Sue, both sides were in court on Monday arguing one last

motion, and it was an important one. Yeah, it was. This motion was a request from the state to block any evidence suggesting that someone other than Miguel was responsible for Faith's death. Did the defense indicate at all who they are trying to point the finger at? They did, Andrea. Faith's roommate at the time of the murder, a woman named Carina Rosario, who was one of the people to find Faith's body, and they presented over three hours of evidence that they say shows she should be considered an alternate suspect. We should say Carina Rosario has never been charged in connection to this case. So Sue, what argument, did the defense make? Well, they played interviews of Rosario talking with investigators,

and, you know, this was the first time her voice has been heard in court. Here's a clip of the hearings live streamed by CBS 17. Yeah, I was drunk, but I'm not stupid. The defense played several clips where Rosario repeated the same phrase. Like I said, I'm not stupid. They were trying to suggest that this phrase, I'm not stupid, was something Rosario said often. The defense then brought up a cryptic note written on the back of a white fast food takeout bag that was found next to Faith's body. It said, I'm not stupid... Jealous. Trying to tie Rosario, of course, Andrea, to that threatening note.

Did they have anything else, Sue, that could tie Rosario to the crime? Well, they argued that Rosario's statements to police were inconsistent, and that a red smudge seen on her hand, the night of Faith's murder, wasn't properly tested for blood by investigators. The prosecution argued that the evidence the defense presented did not meet the legal standard to suggest that someone else committed the crime. Sue, what did the judge decide? Well, the judge agreed with the state. Sue is Faith's roommate expected to testify? She is.

And it's going to be interesting to see how the defense handles her on cross. The trial is expected to start next week, and you know we'll be watching. Okay. Thank you, Sue, for all these updates. Thanks, Andrea. Talk soon. It's not uncommon to be scrolling on your social media feed and come across videos like these. Someone please stay nine seconds to tell my son, his crowsated handbags are not ugly. I don't normally do this, but please, God, don't scroll. Just give me a second. Please, please don't scroll.

Sob stories are all over the internet. It's nothing new. But what happens when the people in the stories aren't even real? According to the reporting of my next guest, NBC News Chief Consumer Investigative correspondent Vicky Wynn, scammers are now creating fake AI tearjerkers on social media to take advantage of consumers. Hey, Vicki. Hey, Andrea. Always great to be with you. Thanks for coming on. Vicki, we've talked on the podcast before warning people to be on the lookout for scammers using generative AI.

AI is such a powerful tool. It really is. And it's so effective for scammers who are now used. using it to really turbocharge the types of scams that they're able to put out there all over the internet and especially on social media because they can create fake images, also fake videos, right? The FBI has issued multiple alerts about this in their 2025 internet crime report. They said Americans lost $893 million in AI-related scams just last year. Unbelievable.

Vicki, you did some reporting into a troubling scam that uses some. something called sadness bait. What is this all about? What these fraudsters are doing is they're using artificial intelligence to create a video that pulls on your heartstrings that tries to get into your wallet for donations for charities for GoFundMe accounts. These AI tools make it look like real people are suffering. Real people are crying. Real people are asking you for help. It's infuriating. Vicki, that brings us to the story about the boys selling pro-shade handbags. Tell us more about what you learned. This one really hit close to home for us because it happened to involve one of our younger producers at NBC News Daily.

Her mom was on Facebook and she saw a page under the handle at Jaden Nuts. And on this account, what appeared to be a young man, Jaden, began posting videos last April, promoting what looked like a small business. that he was running, he was selling these hand crocheted bags. The video really appealed to her because he was getting allegedly bullied for being a black boy who was doing crochet. The boy on the page was saying, I'm being bullied for pursuing my passion. It would be great if you all would support me. Everyone is making fun of me for making these bags. I spent hours every day crocheting them, but all I get is backlash. So if you are still watching, please let me know should I keep going? And so people were buying his bags, thinking that they were helping a young man

who was being bullied. These videos have garnered over 9 million views, which is incredible. It shows you how people have big hearts, right? Which is the nice side of this. But then the scam side of this is that people were not getting the bags that they were paying for. Yeah. In some cases, people said nothing ever arrived. In other cases, people after waiting weeks and weeks would get a bag that looked nothing like what was in the video that was allegedly posted by Jaden. So these videos were not legit. They were not. We showed the page and the Jaden videos to the cybersecurity experts over at Brand Shield. They said it had the hallmarks of an AI-created persona. And it's also the location, right? It says that he's located in Washington, D.C., but the page manager is nowhere near Washington, D.C.?

It turns out that this page was based outside of the country. When we reached out to the administrators of the page, we never heard back. It was an impersonation scam using a compilation of videos of different people. And if you looked very carefully, sometimes the mouth of the lip sync would look a little off. But if you're looking at this on a small screen on your phone, very, very difficult to detect. But in this case, Jaden looked real. Totally. And we ended up actually talking to a young creator online who says that some of her videos were used by this scam account.

And she showed us clips side by side of things that she truly does crochet, things that she truly did post. And they were ripped off, clipped, and put into these Jaden videos. A lot of these AI tools are enabling the scammers to mix what's real with what's fake. And that's what makes the lie more powerful. But the videos were intense, right? They would show this boy being yelled out by other kids, of eggs being thrown at him. Do you really think people are going to buy these ugly crochet bags for $40?

And then that is where actually, you know, some of the victims in the comments started to say, this is odd, this doesn't feel real. How is there always a camera on you when people are coming up and bullying you? So there were some comments that indicated people were suspicious. And how prevalent are these sob story scams? This is what's so crazy, Andrea. I don't think anyone is even able to quantify the number of scams and accounts that are popping up because it's so easy for them to be made.

And it's like a game of whackamol. You get some taken down, new ones crop up. What makes it harder to tell, too, are some of the comments that people post, which end up being bots? Yeah, exactly. Scammers know that the more people they reach, the more chances they get of, stealing money. And so they use bots to like posts. They try to get them to make positive comments or leave positive reviews. The telltale sign is these comments are often very generic. They're very short. And if you go and look at the actual profile of who is making the positive comment,

they may not have very many followers. So I always say you should read the comments. I would read the negative comments. And for all the positive comments, to see if it's a real person leaving it. All right, Vicki. So much to navigate out there, right. It's hard. For sure. Thank you so much for bringing us all of this. That's it for this episode of Dateline True Crime Weekly. But don't forget to check out Lester's new podcast before and after.

You can listen to his interview with actor Jeremy Renner now, wherever you get your podcasts. What's it like to die? If you're going to die, you don't want to die alone. And to get early access to future episodes, subscribe to Dateline Premium. And coming up this Friday, it's the premiere. of Dateline's 35th season. Josh is bringing you an all-new episode full of twists, turns,

and unbelievable family drama that ensnared several people. I tell my mom, we're at war. Do you understand that that makes it look as if you're complicit? Watch the family plot at 9-8 Central on Dateline on NBC. And if you're in New York City,

take a look up at the sky tonight. The Empire State Building will be lit up in Dateline Blue in honor of our season. premiere. Thanks for listening. Dateline True Crime Weekly is produced by Carson Cummins, Caroline Casey, and Keani Reed. Our associate producers are Ellery Gladstone Roth and Aria Young. Our senior producer is Liz Brown-Kurloff. Veronica Mazaka is our digital producer. Rick Kwan is our sound designer. Original music by Jesse McGinty. Paul Ryan is executive producer, and Liz Cole is

senior executive producer of Dateline. Thanks very much. I