About this episode

Joseph talks to cybercrime researcher Paul Raffile and Operation Shamrock founder Erin West about their recent trip to Nigeria to track down a scammer.

This week Joseph talks to Paul Raffile, a cybercrime researcher, and Erin West, founder of Operation Shamrock. The pair recently traveled to Nigeria to track down a scammer and meet a bunch more. This conversation is some fascinating insight into how scammers live, how they can be identified, and platforms like Meta’s responsibility. I Hunted the Men Who Blackmail Children Online  Youtube Version: https://youtu.be/973m4leS25c Subscribe at 404media.co Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People in this episode

Host: Joseph

Guests: Paul Raffile, Erin West

Topics covered

• cybercrime
• scamming
• investigation
• technology
• online safety

Keywords

• cybercrime
• scammer
• Nigeria
• investigation
• Meta
• Operation Shamrock
• online safety

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Operation Shamrock, Meta

Places: Nigeria

More episodes of The 404 Media Podcast

• DHS’ Secretive ‘Predictive Policing’ Unit Pulling People Over · September 9, 2026 · 43 min
• This Innocent Woman Spent 13 Days in Jail Because of a False Flock Hit · September 7, 2026 · 37 min
• We Spoke to an Amazon Worker Destroying Books for AI · September 2, 2026 · 41 min
• Cops Are Making Fake Flock Cameras and Amazon Packages · August 26, 2026 · 33 min
• Your AI Companion Doesn’t Love You with Bridget Todd · August 24, 2026 · 47 min
• Amazon is Destroying Rare Books to Train AI · August 19, 2026 · 53 min

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the The 404 Media Podcast podcast page.