Free Daily Podcast Summary
The Hidden Third: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Mariana van Zeller
From Emmy and Peabody Award–winning journalist Mariana van Zeller comes THE HIDDEN THIRD, a weekly dive into the underground markets that quietly power a third of the global economy. Every episode Mariana sits down with people who know these worlds firsthand - the hustlers, smugglers, scammers, kingpins, and those trying to shut them down. The series reveals how they function, why they endure, and the profound ways they impact us all.
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- Yesterday1h 23m
The Military Sent Her Family Overseas. Then It Wouldn't Let Them Come Home
Jamie Lenio found out her husband, an active-duty Marine, was having an affair with his direct boss, a one-star Army general. After 16 years of marriage, it was over. Then she found out she was stuck in Germany and couldn't bring her three kids home. The family was only there because of his assignment. But his command told Jamie it couldn't send her and the children back to the United States early without his approval. Lawyers warned her that under the Hague Convention, an international treaty on child custody, a German court could decide that's where her children now lived. If she took them anyway, it could be treated as kidnapping. Her right to stay in the country depended on her husband's military status. If the divorce went through, she feared she'd have 90 days to leave, and her kids would have to stay. Jamie is far from alone. Military spouses going through a military divorce overseas have been getting stuck for decades, but almost no one talks about it. Other spouses in the same situation have described rationing money for groceries and gas, turning to food pantries and going thousands of dollars into debt while custody cases dragged on in foreign courts. So one night Jamie recorded an Instagram video explaining her situation and asking for help. Hundreds of thousands of people watched it. Within days, the acting Secretary of the Navy commented: "You and your family will be home soon." Jamie landed in California just hours before we sat down to record this conversation. In this episode of The Hidden Third, Jamie tells me about the moment she realized she was trapped. How she was asked to testify against her husband while they still lived together, and what it's like when your car, your mailing address and your visa all depend on your spouse. She also tells me about the military spouses, women and men, who reached out to her after the video. One father hasn't seen his son in two years and a mother in Spain has been stranded for five. We talk about the Stranded Spouses Project, started by former military spouse Shannon Vavich, and what Jamie thinks has to change so the next military family doesn't need to go viral to get home. Join The Hidden Third Patreon today! patreon.com/thehiddenthird 🎙️ From Emmy and Peabody Award–winning journalist Mariana van Zeller comes THE HIDDEN THIRD, a weekly dive into the underground markets that quietly power a third of the global economy. Every episode, Mariana sits down with people who know these worlds firsthand - the hustlers, smugglers, scammers, kingpins, and those trying to shut them down. The series reveals how they function, why they endure, and the profound ways they impact us all. 🔔 Subscribe for new episodes every Wednesday. THE HIDDEN THIRD: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoCiI8nJacn8gDiHxr6aQGA Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thehiddenthirdpodcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-hidden-third/id1845989117 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3n1BBoj3BgVuEYaiZ6SotF MARIANA: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mariana_vanzeller Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marianavz Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- 6 days ago1h 17m
The Hacker Who Tracked Down My Romance Scammer
He's been hacking since he could type. Now Arman the Cyber is a white hat hacker who hunts down romance scammers. He tracked down the fake Jon Bon Jovi who took almost everything from Leslie Pickett, and my personal favorite, the four-star general "deployed to Syria" who was trying to win my heart. Join The Hidden Third Patreon today for exclusive behind-the-scenes footage from SUPER SCAM ME! https://patreon.com/TheHiddenThird Arman is the hacker featured in my new National Geographic documentary, SUPER SCAM ME. Watch it now on Disney+ and Hulu. Disney+: https://www.disneyplus.com/browse/entity-3bf2735c-0983-47ea-b927-3ac38c2bf7ef Hulu: https://www.hulu.com/movie/super-scam-me-3bf2735c-0983-47ea-b927-3ac38c2bf7ef I found Arman at DEF CON, the giant hacker conference in Las Vegas, while I was making SUPER SCAM ME. In this conversation, he walks me through how he is tracking down the people behind the fake profiles targeting millions of Americans. Arman also talks about his own story in hacking. By fifth grade he was hacking into his school's mainframe. As a teenager, he got pulled into the infamous Xbox Underground case, an alleged conspiracy that federal investigators said targeted Microsoft and its partners and that the FBI valued at more than $100 million. He tells me why he decided to leave the black hat world behind and use his skills for good. For the full story of his years in the hacking underground, watch our first episode with Arman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AT2Pv-BxCU We talk about AI, and how Arman is now using agentic AI (AI that can carry out tasks on its own, not just answer questions) to hack into companies. He explains the threats AI poses, and what happens when these tools end up in the wrong hands. Arman also breaks down The Com, a network of young crypto scammers and hackers in the US who are causing havoc and stealing millions. And he shares his best tips for protecting yourself from online hacks and scams. For SUPER SCAM ME, I got a new nose. And new hair. And a full makeover. As Mary Zell, a woman looking for love online, I became the bait. Along the way I started dating a four-star general deployed to Syria, got wooed by "George Clooney," and teamed up with a hacker who helped me unmask several scammers, including my own. I wanted to understand their tactics and tools, and how they earn such deep trust. If you think you or someone you love is being scammed, stop sending money, save every message and report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and IC3.gov. You can also contact me here: https://marianavanzeller.me 🎙️ From Emmy and Peabody Award-winning journalist Mariana van Zeller comes THE HIDDEN THIRD, a weekly dive into the underground markets that quietly power a third of the global economy. Every episode, Mariana sits down with people who know these worlds firsthand: the hustlers, smugglers, scammers, kingpins and those trying to shut them down. The series reveals how they function, why they endure and the profound ways they impact us all. 🔔 Subscribe for new episodes every Wednesday. THE HIDDEN THIRD: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoCiI8nJacn8gDiHxr6aQGA Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thehiddenthirdpodcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-hidden-third/id1845989117 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3n1BBoj3BgVuEYaiZ6SotF MARIANA: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mariana_vanzeller Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marianavz Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- 1 weeks ago1h 31m
She Thought She Was Dating Jon Bon Jovi. Then He Asked for Money.
Start your free trial of Perplexity Computer today at https://pplx.ai/hiddenthird and experience the next phase of AI. #ad Go to http://Quince.com/hiddenthird for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. She thought she was in a relationship with Jon Bon Jovi. For almost a year, Leslie Pickett sent "Jon" almost all her money, until she was on the verge of losing her house to foreclosure. That's when she reached out to me. Leslie's story is featured in my new National Geographic documentary, SUPER SCAM ME. Watch it now on Disney+ and Hulu. Disney+: https://www.disneyplus.com/browse/entity-3bf2735c-0983-47ea-b927-3ac38c2bf7efdisneyplus Hulu: https://www.hulu.com/movie/super-scam-me-3bf2735c-0983-47ea-b927-3ac38c2bf7ef Leslie has been a Jon Bon Jovi fan since she was a teenager. She had just created a new Instagram profile when she commented on what she thought was a verified JBJ account. Soon she was talking to "him" every day, for months. It wasn't until several months into the relationship that "Jon" asked her for money so she could attend a meet and greet. The requests kept coming, and she kept sending money, until the moment she realized he might be a scammer. Leslie had been caught in a celebrity romance scam, where criminals pretend to be famous people to win a fan's trust and then their money. Leslie is far from alone. One in seven American adults say they've lost money to an online dating or romance scam. In 2025 alone, Americans reported losing nearly $1.5 billion to romance scams, which makes them one of the fastest-growing and most devastating forms of financial crime. When Leslie contacted me, I was in the middle of production on SUPER SCAM ME. With help from Arman the Cyber, a white hat hacker (an ethical hacker who uses his skills to protect people, not exploit them) I met at DEF CON, the giant hacker conference in Las Vegas, we were able to track down her scammer. In this conversation, Leslie and I talk about the shame so many victims carry, and why "how could anyone fall for that?" is the wrong question. We look at the videos "Jon" sent her that looked completely real, and how scammers are using technology and AI. Generative AI can now convincingly imitate celebrities and public figures, and that's making these scams harder and harder to spot. We also go through the warning signs everyone should know. For SUPER SCAM ME, I got a new nose. And new hair. And a full makeover. As Mary Zell, a woman looking for love online, I became the bait. Along the way I started dating a four-star general deployed to Syria, got wooed by "George Clooney," and teamed up with a hacker who helped me unmask several scammers, including my own. I wanted to understand their tactics and tools, and how they earn such deep trust. If you think you or someone you love is being scammed, stop sending money, save every message and report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and IC3.gov. You can also contact me though my website. Join The Hidden Third on Patreon for exclusive behind-the-scenes footage from SUPER SCAM ME: patreon.com/thehiddenthird 🎙️ From Emmy and Peabody Award-winning journalist Mariana van Zeller comes THE HIDDEN THIRD, a weekly dive into the underground markets that quietly power a third of the global economy. Every episode, Mariana sits down with people who know these worlds firsthand: the hustlers, smugglers, scammers, kingpins and those trying to shut them down. The series reveals how they function, why they endure and the profound ways they impact us all. 🔔 Subscribe for new episodes every Wednesday. THE HIDDEN THIRD: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoCiI8nJacn8gDiHxr6aQGA Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thehiddenthirdpodcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-hidden-third/id1845989117 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3n1BBoj3BgVuEYaiZ6SotF MARIANA: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mariana_vanzeller Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marianavz Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- 2 weeks ago1h 30m
I Was Set Up by a Cartel. Now I’m Going to Federal Prison
Get 15% off OneSkin with the code MARIANA at https://www.oneskin.co/MARIANA #oneskinpod Use code HIDDENTHIRD at http://Monarch.com to get 50% off your first year of Monarch Core! Join The Hidden Third Patreon today! https://patreon.com/TheHiddenThird Nine years after a chance encounter on a flight to Las Vegas, Niki Burke is just two weeks away from reporting to federal prison. Her story begins in 2017, when Niki boarded a flight from Florida to Las Vegas with two friends. A well-dressed man from Indiana sat next to them, and midway through the flight, they struck up a conversation. He offered to buy them drinks, paying with $100 bills, and they kept in touch after landing. Over the course of the trip, he paid for limousine rides, expensive dinners, gambling and extensions to their hotel stay. The friendship continued after Vegas. Eventually, the man told Niki he was starting a home-goods distribution company and offered her the opportunity to help build and run it. The business would source inexpensive products from Mexico and distribute them across the United States. Niki accepted. She moved to South Texas, found a warehouse and began operating the company. The man financed the venture, but most of the business was put in her name. Niki says she spent her days managing operations, solving problems and learning how to run a business. She was proud of what they were building and believed it could become her future. Then, one day, she received a call. A semi-truck registered in her name had been seized at a checkpoint. Inside, authorities found more than 20 kilograms of cocaine worth approximately $1.5 million. Niki says the man and the truck’s driver suddenly stopped responding to her. She later learned that federal agents believed the man had connections to a Mexican cartel. More than a year later, Niki received a text claiming someone had found her friend’s missing purse at a mall. When she arrived to collect it, federal agents were waiting. Niki says she was placed in an unmarked vehicle, interrogated for approximately five hours and taken into federal custody. She was charged with conspiracy to traffic narcotics. Federal prosecutors characterized her as a recruiter because she had introduced the Indiana man to two of her friends. According to Niki, she faced a choice: accept a plea agreement or go to trial and risk a potential sentence of 10 to 20 years. Niki was initially sentenced to three years in federal prison. That sentence was later reduced to one year and one day, and she expects federal time credits to reduce the amount of time she actually spends inside. In this episode, we talk about Niki’s childhood growing up around crack addiction, losing the grandmother who raised her, the breakup that preceded her trip to Las Vegas, what happened to the two friends she introduced to the Indiana man, and why she believed the distribution company was a legitimate business. We also discuss the moment she learned that the truck had been seized, her interrogation by federal agents, the pressure to accept a plea deal, the years she spent waiting for the case to end, and how she now looks back on the decisions that brought her here. Niki is preparing to report to FPC Alderson, a minimum-security federal prison camp for women in West Virginia. Often called “Camp Cupcake,” it is the same facility where Martha Stewart served her five-month federal prison sentence from October 2004 to March 2005. Rather than enter prison consumed by anger, Niki says she wants to make the most of her time inside. She even hopes to produce a podcast from federal prison, interviewing incarcerated women and sharing stories that rarely reach the outside world. This is Niki’s account of how a chance encounter, a business opportunity and a semi-truck registered in her name led to an alleged Mexican cartel connection, a federal cocaine-trafficking conspiracy case and a sentence in federal prison. 🎙️ From Emmy and Peabody Award-winning journalist Mariana van Zeller comes THE HIDDEN THIRD, a weekly dive into the underground markets that quietly power a third of the global economy. Every episode, Mariana sits down with people who know these worlds firsthand: the hustlers, smugglers, scammers, kingpins and those trying to shut them down. The series reveals how they function, why they endure and the profound ways they impact us all. 🔔 Subscribe for new episodes every Wednesday. THE HIDDEN THIRD: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoCiI8nJacn8gDiHxr6aQGA Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thehiddenthirdpodcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-hidden-third/id1845989117 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3n1BBoj3BgVuEYaiZ6SotF MARIANA:TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mariana_vanzellerInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/marianavz Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- 3 weeks ago2h 15m
From College World Series Hero to $32M Ponzi Scheme
Go to https://meetfabric.com/HIDDENTHIRD and apply today, risk-free He was a College World Series champion, a pro baseball prospect and a relative of Tampa mob boss Santo Trafficante Jr. Then a gambling addiction drove Sam Favata to run a $32 million Ponzi scheme that sent him to federal prison. In 1979, Sam hit .418 for Cal State Fullerton, a national college record that stood for 16 years, and scored the winning run in the school's first College World Series title. The Milwaukee Brewers drafted him. Two years later, in Modesto, an 87 mph fastball hit him in the head. He needed surgery for three brain bleeds, and doctors weren't sure he'd survive, let alone walk or talk again. Nine months later he was back on the same field, and almost 5,000 fans gave him a three-minute standing ovation after his first hit. But Sam was already hiding something. He placed his first bet at 19, at a Las Vegas craps table on a road trip with his Fullerton teammates, and lost everything his father had given him for the weekend. On the drive home, he realized he was more upset about losing at the casino than losing at baseball. He kept that secret for 26 years. Gambling ran in the family. Sam was born in Tampa, and his second cousin was Santo Trafficante Jr., the mob boss who ran Florida and pre-Castro Cuba for the American Mafia. Trafficante was later tied to the CIA's plots to kill Fidel Castro and long rumored to be connected to the JFK assassination, which he denied under oath. Sam's father ran bolita numbers for the organization before he walked away and moved the family to California to give his son a different life. Sam talks about growing up close to that world, and about the secret Trafficante is said to have revealed about Kennedy on his deathbed. After baseball, Sam built a career in mortgages and started a family with his wife, Sandra. He talks about losing their baby son, Joey, and the grief that followed. Through all of it, his gambling kept growing: VIP status at Caesars, a $1 million credit line at the Rio, a $985,000 win on a March Madness parlay. Then, in 2005, he bet $1.425 million on a single regular-season NHL game and lost. To keep chasing his losses, Sam turned his Orange County company, National Consumer Mortgage, into a Ponzi scheme. He persuaded more than 200 people to refinance their homes and invest with him, promising returns of 30 to 60 percent. There was no investment. According to the SEC, he used more than $10 million of their money to pay off his own gambling debts. Some victims lost millions. We also talk about Dodgers legend Steve Garvey, Sam's friend, who endorsed the company without knowing about the fraud and later testified as a character witness at his sentencing. When federal investigators contacted his wife in 2006, it all came crumbling down. Sam pleaded guilty to mail fraud and spent 33 months in federal prison at Lompoc. His father died while he was inside, and he couldn't go to the funeral. Today Sam is in recovery from gambling addiction, a quarter of everything he earns goes to restitution, and he'll be paying his victims back for the rest of his life. Americans legally bet more than $160 billion on sports last year, and there's a sportsbook on every phone. Sam's story is a warning about baseball, the Mafia, addiction, fraud, prison, grief and what gambling can take from someone before anyone around them notices. Join The Hidden Third Patreon today! https://patreon.com/TheHiddenThird The Hidden Third is a series of intimate conversations with people who have lived inside hidden worlds, from crime and addiction to exploitation, survival and recovery. Hosted by award-winning journalist Mariana van Zeller. Follow Mariana:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marianavz/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@marianavanzeller X: https://x.com/marianavz/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- 4 weeks ago2h 23m
Evan Rachel Wood: The Cost of Speaking Out Against Marilyn Manson
Disclaimer: Marilyn Manson, whose legal name is Brian Warner, has denied Evan Rachel Wood’s allegations. He has previously said that her claims are “horrible distortions of reality” and that his intimate relationships were consensual. In January 2025, Los Angeles County prosecutors announced that no criminal charges would be filed following a four-year investigation, stating that the domestic-violence allegations fell outside the statute of limitations and that they could not prove sexual-assault charges beyond a reasonable doubt. The DA’s office also said it “recognize[s] and applaud[s] the courage and resilience” of the women who came forward, noting that their advocacy helped bring greater awareness to the challenges faced by survivors of domestic abuse and sexual assault. Visit https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/HIDDENTHIRD and use code HIDDENTHIRD and get $150 if you win your first $5 lineup! Evan Rachel Wood has spent much of her life in the public eye, from Practical Magic and Thirteen to her unforgettable role as Dolores in Westworld. But in recent years, Evan has used her platform in a very different way, speaking publicly about the physical and psychological abuse she says she experienced during her relationship with Marilyn Manson. In this episode, Evan shares more about that relationship, including the sexual assault she says she experienced during the filming of Manson’s 2007 Heart-Shaped Glasses music video. She talks about the control and isolation she says she experienced, her use of alcohol and drugs during those years, and what it took to survive and rebuild her life. Manson has denied the allegations. We also go back to the beginning. Evan remembers auditioning for Interview with the Vampire, a role that ultimately went to Kirsten Dunst but helped get her noticed. She talks about moving to Los Angeles with her mother, growing up as a child actor in Hollywood, and appearing in Practical Magic alongside Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman. Then came Thirteen. Evan was 14 when she made the R-rated film that became her breakout role. She talks about having to kiss a 23-year-old actor and the impact that experience had on her. It was an early lesson in how little control a young actor can have over what is asked of them. Evan also talks about the backlash she faced after naming Manson publicly, and how speaking out has affected her career, her family and her sense of safety. She reflects on following the very public Johnny Depp and Amber Heard trial while dealing with the fallout from speaking out herself, and on the messages later made public between Depp and Manson, in which the two men discussed Heard and allegations of abuse in crude and dismissive terms. She also helped pass California’s Phoenix Act, which gave survivors of domestic violence more time to come forward by extending the statute of limitations from three years to five. That fight became part of the HBO documentary Phoenix Rising, which follows Evan as she prepares to name Manson publicly and works to create more time and support for survivors who may not yet feel ready, or able, to come forward. Join The Hidden Third Patreon today!https://patreon.com/TheHiddenThird The Hidden Third is a series of intimate conversations with people who have lived inside hidden worlds, from crime and addiction to exploitation, survival and recovery. Hosted by award-winning journalist Mariana van Zeller. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- Sep 23, 20262h 25m
He Helped Save Thousands of Abused and Exploited Kids
Join The Hidden Third Patreon today: https://patreon.com/TheHiddenThird Try ZipRecruiter for free at http://ZipRecruiter.com/HIDDENTHIRD Jim Cole spent two decades as a Homeland Security Investigations special agent, working child-exploitation cases. Early in his career, he saw a problem. Investigators were focused on the people making, possessing, and distributing child sexual abuse material. But the children in the images often went unidentified. Jim helped change that. In 2010, he founded HSI’s Victim Identification Program from scratch, including the first dedicated Victim Identification Laboratory at HSI’s Cyber Crimes Center. Its purpose was to answer a different question: Who is the child in the image, where are they, and are they still in danger? Sometimes the answer begins with a clue most people would never notice: a window, a label, a piece of furniture, a blanket, something in the background that can lead investigators to a child. The program has helped identify and rescue thousands of children around the world, and it continues to operate today. When Jim began tracking victim identifications at HSI in 2011, the agency rescued 262 child victims that year. The following year, after the program’s methods and technology were put in place, that number rose to more than 1,000. This is not an easy subject for a podcast. But given the scale of this crime, and the people most affected by it, it is an important conversation to watch and share. In 2025, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children’s CyberTipline received 21.3 million reports of suspected online child sexual exploitation. Those reports contained 61.8 million images, videos, and other files. In this episode of The Hidden Third, Jim takes Mariana back to his early years, from his time in the U.S. Army to becoming a patrol officer and then a detective on a Native American reservation in Oregon, investigating everything from narcotics to violent crime. He explains how a series of seemingly accidental turns led him into the work that would define his career. Jim tells the story of one victim, abused by her father, whose case changed the course of his career and made him determined to focus on identifying children. He also tells Mariana about the schoolteacher who abused children for years before Jim’s team uncovered what he had done. They discuss the tactics offenders use to groom children and why the people posing the greatest danger are often not who a child or family expects. They also talk about how artificial intelligence is changing this crime, from the creation of new synthetic abuse material to the ways technology can make it harder for investigators to tell what is real, identify victims, and keep up with the volume of material online. Jim also reflects on the toll of doing this work for decades, what he has carried with him, and why he continues to fight for children who might otherwise never be rescued. Jim now serves as Senior Advisor for Cyber Strategy and Child Protection at Our Rescue, a nonprofit whose mission is to end human trafficking and child exploitation. He also co-hosts Unlikely Allies: Inside Our Fight with Sonny Von Cleveland, a previous guest on The Hidden Third. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- Sep 23, 20262h 20m
He Helped Save Thousands of Abused and Exploited Kids
Join The Hidden Third Patreon today: https://patreon.com/TheHiddenThird Try ZipRecruiter for free at http://ZipRecruiter.com/HIDDENTHIRD Jim Cole spent two decades as a Homeland Security Investigations special agent, working child-exploitation cases. Early in his career, he saw a problem. Investigators were focused on the people making, possessing, and distributing child sexual abuse material. But the children in the images often went unidentified. Jim helped change that. In 2010, he founded HSI’s Victim Identification Program from scratch, including the first dedicated Victim Identification Laboratory at HSI’s Cyber Crimes Center. Its purpose was to answer a different question: Who is the child in the image, where are they, and are they still in danger? Sometimes the answer begins with a clue most people would never notice: a window, a label, a piece of furniture, a blanket, something in the background that can lead investigators to a child. The program has helped identify and rescue thousands of children around the world, and it continues to operate today. When Jim began tracking victim identifications at HSI in 2011, the agency rescued 262 child victims that year. The following year, after the program’s methods and technology were put in place, that number rose to more than 1,000. This is not an easy subject for a podcast. But given the scale of this crime, and the people most affected by it, it is an important conversation to watch and share. In 2025, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children’s CyberTipline received 21.3 million reports of suspected online child sexual exploitation. Those reports contained 61.8 million images, videos, and other files. In this episode of The Hidden Third, Jim takes Mariana back to his early years, from his time in the U.S. Army to becoming a patrol officer and then a detective on a Native American reservation in Oregon, investigating everything from narcotics to violent crime. He explains how a series of seemingly accidental turns led him into the work that would define his career. Jim tells the story of one victim, abused by her father, whose case changed the course of his career and made him determined to focus on identifying children. He also tells Mariana about the schoolteacher who abused children for years before Jim’s team uncovered what he had done. They discuss the tactics offenders use to groom children and why the people posing the greatest danger are often not who a child or family expects. They also talk about how artificial intelligence is changing this crime, from the creation of new synthetic abuse material to the ways technology can make it harder for investigators to tell what is real, identify victims, and keep up with the volume of material online. Jim also reflects on the toll of doing this work for decades, what he has carried with him, and why he continues to fight for children who might otherwise never be rescued. Jim now serves as Senior Advisor for Cyber Strategy and Child Protection at Our Rescue, a nonprofit whose mission is to end human trafficking and child exploitation. He also co-hosts Unlikely Allies: Inside Our Fight with Sonny Von Cleveland, a previous guest on The Hidden Third. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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About The Hidden Third
From Emmy and Peabody Award–winning journalist Mariana van Zeller comes THE HIDDEN THIRD, a weekly dive into the underground markets that quietly power a third of the global economy. Every episode Mariana sits down with people who know these worlds firsthand - the hustlers, smugglers, scammers, kingpins, and those trying to shut them down. The series reveals how they function, why they endure, and the profound ways they impact us all.
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