The Cocaine Buttons: Romance scam victim in a Hong Kong prison for drug smuggling

ctv's W5 one thing my dad never did was prepare her to be on her own a lonely Widow looking for new love she was just really loving the attention and the affection that she was getting from these guys I told her they were all scammers but her search for Romance comes a fight for Freedom we've seen too many victims she's looking at serious jail time this is just a really really bad dream I'm ever going to see my mom again [Applause] welcome to a special edition of W5 from Hong Kong this vibrant city is a beacon for travelers they come here for the Lively outdoor markets the breathtaking views from the harbor as well as the high-end shopping but this is the story of a Canadian tourist who didn't see any of this she's a grandmother from a small City in Ontario whose desperate search for love and Adventure has ended in a Hong Kong jail where she's facing more than two decades Behind Bars [Music] foreign [Music] Thayer hates to fly yet here she is 10 000 meters above the Pacific Ocean traveling Halfway Around the World to Hong Kong [Music] it's a trip she never imagined having to make [Music] I have never traveled outside of North America and I've never been to Asia before [Music] Oh no I got one back there mid glass 40. it's just an amazing culture and thank you the people are so friendly being able to experience something that I never thought I would experience I wish my mom was walking this with me Angela is a reluctant tourist she's 12 000 kilometers from her home in Berry Ontario she's here because her mother Susanna is living here against her will [Music] I don't know when the next time I will actually be able to see her again because she's in prison for smuggling drugs into Hong Kong Angela's mother is 64 year old Susanna Thayer a mother of three grandmother of six she's never had a speeding ticket she lived a sheltered Safe Life and never gotten into anything that's illegal a sheltered Safe Life one that was totally dependent on her husband whom she met when she was just 13 and married five years later your mom never had another boyfriend other than your dad no that was the only man my mom's ever been with he really shielded her from the world's not in a bad way but it's just you know he was a police officer so he really seen all the stuff their marriage lasted a lifetime at least for Jim when he died in 2016 Susanna lost her provider her protector one thing my dad never did was prepare her to be on her own and how to look after and protect herself okay and that's why five years passed and the grief faded Susanna was ready to find love again and so she went online initially were you thinking this is great my mom's going to have a second chance at love that's what I was thinking because I know there's some guys you can find online that are going to be decent she would kind of get like that just all like Giddy and school girl and she was just really loving the attention and the affection that she was getting you know from these guys Susanna's family gave us permission to look through her emails and texts hey babe I hope everything is well with you hello Susie how you doing sweetheart why the silence we need to be together one man stood out he called himself Walter Williams said he was a military doctor in fact a neurosurgeon he worked for the United Nations on a mission in Syria just like Susanna he said he was 63 and a widower he bombarded her with love and their online relationship moved fast was she sharing this information with you about the relationship that she was having with this guy yes and she was like saying maybe he'll become your daddy your new Daddy and it did make me feel uncomfortable but I wanted her to be happy Susanna nicknamed him the good doctor they spent hours texting each other and it wasn't long just a month before they started saying I love you When Susannah came to you and said I'm falling in love with someone I met online what was your gut reaction my gut reaction was to get offline Sue Ryan is Susanna's best friend I told her to be very careful because you can be anybody online like what doctor or neurosurgeon I would tell her who has time to be on Facebook all day if he's working it didn't make sense that's at her house but the good doctor seemed to always have time to text Sue showed us pictures of an outing she had with Susanna in the summer of 2022 in almost every single photo she's on the phone texting I actually felt kind of ignored that visit because he was taking up all of us she was on the phone 24 7. with all the affluence I acquired you were the one that brought happiness in my life you gave me hope to never give up and be grateful all the time I cherish you baby you mean so much to me you are sweet I adore you I told him whatever you do whatever you do do not send them any money no matter what the reason you want to talk to them you want to do this sex thing I guess it's called with them you have your fun but do not send him any money what did she say oh I won't but she did when Susanna asked her children for a fifteen hundred dollar loan they started digging into her finances and were shocked by what they uncovered several loans credit cards lots of transactions being taken off transactions and loans that added up to more than two hundred and five thousand dollars every penny of it sent to the good doctor that wasn't all they found you found a marriage certificate that your mom had married this guy yep Susanna believed she was married to Walter A man she'd never met face to face W5 did a reverse search on the photos of Walter Williams and this came back scam alerts her kids called the Ontario Provincial Police who said the marriage certificate was fake and that her money was gone probably forever give me a sense of what that was like for her to make the realization that Not only was she out all this money but she was also at love I think she felt devastated hurt and upset she was taken advantage of she was really worried how people are going to think of her you know shaming her judging her Susanna had been duped in a classic romance scam broke and broken-hearted she moved into her daughter Angela's spare bedroom sleeping next to a photo of her late husband what was that like for her to move back in I think she was happy because she she felt comfortable you know be with us but at the same time it's got to be humiliating and devastating Susanna started researching romance scams and realized her hard lessons could help others your mom makes a decision that she doesn't want any other woman to be scammed the way that she was scammed and so she's going to write a book about her experience she was working in writing the book and the sky James caywood helped her write it who's James K wood well he's another man Susanna was now talking to online who used this photo he popped up right after the good doctor scammed her out of her life savings another military man special ops who lived in California or so he said she would send James what she was writing and he would give her feedback on it see like oh he's really nice and kind and generous and he wants to protect me and he wants to give me the world and he wants to you know shower me with gifts and she was just so tickled pink on how it made her feel and it was nice to see you've just watched your mom be robbed out of hundreds of thousands of dollars and now a new person is coming into her life were you concerned that this new person might not be on the up and up not right away because I'm thinking what harm could it do you knew that the doctor was a scam yes did you know that James yes you did yes and did you tell her that I told her they were all scammers and what do you believe about the doctrine James I believe it's the same guy her best friend Sue believes the same scammer who built Susanna out of all of her money had reappeared under the name James but this second character wasn't asking for anything in fact all he was doing was offering to give [Music] we talked about philosophy books like poems he said he wanted to build a place for homeless children he would call me to send to me pushed me to work on my book this is Susanna's book called I've been conned book for dummies the last chapter includes a text conversation with virtual co-editor James a man she's convinced she loves I love you so much sweetheart I love you so much with hearts love has truly been good to me not even one second or minute of pain if I had since you came into my life and she believes him she believes him because he's not asking for any money right so he does this for a year and then he says you know what I'm gonna do for you I'm going to send you on a trip sure enough in the summer of 2022 Susanna told her daughter Angela that she was going on a trip to a place that didn't sound familiar she said to me she's going to Utopia and I was like Utopia the word Utopia means an imaginary perfect place but that's not where Susanna was going on August 11th the day before the flight a ticket arrived and I'm like that's Ethiopia the tickets were for Ethiopia yeah and when you saw that I kind of felt panicked and one of my first instinctual reactions is don't go who paid for her flights he did James early the next morning Angela's mom woke her up she came in gave me a kiss and said she loved me sorry it was the last time I I seen her coming up she did meet with two individuals a sudden trip leads to suspicious events I was very scared very concerned when W5 continues [Music] August 2022 small town Widow Susanna Thayer embarked on an adventure of a lifetime after being built out of hundreds of thousands of dollars by someone using this photo in a classic romance scam a man using this photo came into Susanna's life online showering her with love and a trip to Addis Ababa Ethiopia her daughter Angela says it was all expenses paid food everything because there's no transactions came out that she had paid for anything for this trip while she was in Ethiopia she didn't spend a penny no actually the only thing she did spend was she had to buy herself a new pair of sandals because the one she had broke that's the only money she really spent [Music] tell where Susanna stayed for three weeks before her life took a terrible turn [Music] best friend Sue Ryan spoke with Susanna every day on the phone she went to Ethiopia under the premise that she was going to meet this man yes did she ever tell you if she met him she told me she met him she told me she actually sent me pictures tried to tell me she went on Safari I called her on it I said you didn't go on no Safari those are magazine clippings Santa professional photos clearly not taken by her and why do you think she was lying to you because she knew what my fear was do you think that she realized when she was there oh everything Sue told me is true no I don't think she believed it yet do you think that your mom ever met James in Ethiopia no I don't think she ever met him at all trying to piece together just what happened during those three weeks W5 worked with Ethiopian investigative journalist Samuel getachu what have you been able to uncover about where Susanna went when she landed in Addis and how long did she stay there well she stayed in Addis Ababa for approximately three weeks she stayed in an apartment like Hotel Samuel will travel to the hotel in an upscale part of the capital city in search of answers did she meet with anybody when she was there she did meet with two individuals Samuel spoke to Hotel staff who confirmed that two men repeatedly visited Susanna here during that three-week period I'm actually doing some video this is the closest we can come to identifying the two men cell phone video shot by Susanna you need to try yeah sorry you can kind of see one man in the mirror the other is invisible at all what were you able to decipher about who these guys might be and where they might be from what we know is they're not Ethiopians but from their accent it's a broken English that's frequented in Western Africa to be precise in Nigeria we know that Nigeria really does have a reputation for being at the Forefront of of romance scams unfortunately that's the reality and we've seen too many victims with her mom Halfway Around the World Angela started doing some digging she sends me a picture of this James caywood guy so my son he knows the internet a little bit better so he ended up doing a reverse picture look up and it said that this James caywood is a scam that this image has been used by scammers to con women including your mind and I was afraid that if I were to try to talk to her about it her being so far away it would be totally disconnect not wanting you know not talking to me for the second time a scammer using a fake photo has tricked Susanna the first time to rip her off of hundreds of thousands of dollars and this time to lure her halfway around the world and so when your son told you that what was going through your mind I was very scared very concerned but at the same time I'm talking to her every day everything seemed to be fine she is happy she's enjoying the nice warm weather and talking to the the people at the hotel she seemed happy besides Susanna was scheduled to come home in a matter of days and then a strange development with her tourist visa about to expire Susanna needed to leave Ethiopia the mysterious boyfriend with a fake photo arranged for that to happen but instead of a flight home to Canada he had a different plan I kept asking my mom I'm like what's going on and then it was he's sending me to Hong Kong the solution was to send her to Hong Kong instead of sending her back to Canada yeah why she said that he was out on a mission and that's where he was going to meet her next when she was in the hotel in Ethiopia I told her straight I said sue I'm going to tell you my biggest fear is that this guy is turning you into a drug Runner if he gives you anything to take with you to Hong Kong don't take it and what did she say to that oh he won't do that to me she didn't believe me she should have right before Susanna left for the airport the two men she'd met in the car brought her gifts strange gifts I was actually on the phone with her maybe the day before leaving she was given a suitcase and she was given clothing and she was like oh my God I got some clothing and they're really loud but I'm gonna bring them home to you and you can pick what clothes you want out of it and she was really excited this is a photo Susanna took of the suitcase she was given it was cheap and rickety she put on one of the new dresses and wore it to the airport for her flight to Hong Kong your family had set up a find my phone that was myself yeah so you were able to track your mom through your phone and you watched as she went to the airport in Addis Ababa and then she kind of disappeared off the face of the Earth so I started calling her phone at 10 o'clock and she wasn't answering so I like texted her a bunch of times where are you what's going on I checked the find my location it showed that she was still at the Hong Kong airport so I was checking every half hour just to you know see where she was and then find my location disappeared I'm head then I kind of started panic [Music] Angela's Panic Instinct was bang on how did you learn that your mom was in really big trouble at the Hong Kong airport it wasn't really to the next day and what did you learn last year's arrest she was arrested for trafficking cocaine and all she said was there's cocaine in a button in a button this is the police photo showing 262 buttons that were on the clothes she'd been given in her new suitcase and this is what was inside of them police say it's cocaine one kilograms worth with a street value of about 150 000 Canadian she's said to me she goes I just want you to remember I will always love you never forget that and that I didn't do anything wrong Hong Kong drug police announced the bust publicly and released this photo imagine seeing your mother like this with a hood over her head accused of a crime that could put her behind bars for decades Susanna was taken here to Thailand Center for Women a Maximum Security Prison just north of the airport what do you know about what they do to people who are smuggling drugs in Hong Kong I've just heard that it could be lock you up and throw away the key and you may never you know talk to anybody ever again coming up if you are the victim of a scam you're an unwitting drug meal blinded by love and duped into a crime what do you think the odds are of ever finding the people who set up Susanna when W5 continues [Music] thank you Angela Thayer is packing her bags at her home in Barrie Ontario preparing to travel Halfway Around the World to Hong Kong just weeks earlier her mother 64 year old Susanna was arrested with cocaine in the buttons of her clothing she faces the rest of her life Behind Bars when you first heard what your mom was accused of what went through your mind this is a horrible nightmare this can't be true this is just a really really bad dream [Music] I'm ever going to see my mom again [Music] there are two reasons that people really get involved in being a mule these are money and love Jason Eli is an expert on the subject he works for the global initiative against transnational organized crime he's traveled the world studying how drug syndicates work when you look at Susanna Thayer and her profile how does that fit in to what you know about drug mules well in a way she's perfect right she's from a Western Country she's older she's female and she's white so there's this belief that somebody with that type of profile would be less likely to be profiled out by police what can you tell us about the connection between Ethiopia and Hong Kong a lot more cocaine is flowing in that direction than used to flow Hong Kong is a major airport in East Asia and a great connection point the further you get the cocaine away from its production point in Latin America the more you can charge for it for kilo so Africa as a continent is a perfect Transit location it has weekly controlled borders weekly monitored but well-structured ports it has air connections around the world and it has governments that I think could perhaps graciously be called accommodating when it comes to criminal markets foreign has just landed from a 16-hour flight from Canada navigating the busy Hong Kong airport walking the same steps that her mother took just weeks ago for being arrested for drug smuggling her prison visit with her mother won't happen for another two days it gives Angela time to come to this seedy part of town known for its massage parlors sex workers and cheap Street Food Angela is here to meet this man he is a Lifeline to her mother his name is John Witherspoon the 76 year old Australian has lived here for almost four decades he's an advocate for women who've been duped into being drug mules he even investigates and collects evidence for those facing trial Weatherspoon isn't a detective or a lawyer he's a Catholic priest praise to the father and to the son and to the spirit in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit how did it get to be that you as a priest and a prison chaplain became this almost Savior for drug mules in Hong Kong these people are usually vulnerable lonely economically in need easily tricked sort of people and they are targeted unfortunately by the big fish as I call them to bring drugs and we try to help them in 2013 Father John launched a public awareness campaign called No More mules after noticing a surge of foreigners being arrested on drug smuggling charges and then 17 to Kuala Lumpur as a prison chaplain he counseled them but he also traveled to their home countries to spread the message across Africa Asia and South America don't bring drugs to Hong Kong how did you first come to hear about the story of Susanna Thayer I first heard about Suzanna because her daughter Angela contacted me she found my name on the Internet somehow and as soon as I heard about her my heart went out to her I just wanted to try to help Father John our meeting in person Angela hi welcome to Hong Kong thank you good to see you good you could come really good I'm really really glad to be here you look like your mum thank you this is a little Center just here yes Angela come on welcome to the doctor Jesus Center this is Jane you know from telephone I've been expecting you welcome to Hong Kong James a social worker especially looking after prisoners and she's visited your mum already and we're very happy to be able to help help you in your time here in Hong Kong I actually really appreciate more than words can say on how you guys are helping my mother going to visit her when I'm not able to the time I saw her she was relaxed and more calm yeah and I I got her M M Chocolates she loves chocolates and and yeah she told me oh I love Eminem So I think that cheered up a bit a bit she said she felt like Job in the Bible job was a good person but then suddenly lost everything and she felt like that so I said to her yeah but remember job had a happy ending had 10 more children you've got 10 more kids on the way she was smiling a bit at the end has just been moved to a medium security prison called Low Wu conditions are considered good by International standards but still Susanna does not understand Cantonese and is one of just a handful of Western women [Music] today Angela has been waiting for she's finally going to visit her mother [Music] we're about 15 minutes away from from the prison how are you feeling mixed of emotions um I feel like I want to cry because it's also exciting I have no idea when I'll see her again after it oh when I leave this week at the end of this week I get to go home and she won't be able to good luck okay thank you thank you prison rules are strict visitors are only allowed for 15 minutes a day even for family members like Angela who's traveled 13 000 kilometers to see her mom 15 minutes goes awfully fast yeah we're there talking and next thing it's you know nine minutes next thing it's you know a minute and you know 52 seconds and next thing the buzzer's going off every all the other women are going back in and my moments I sat there for a few more seconds um then we had to get up and leave and what was what was the first thing that she said to you I love you I'm sorry I called I cried I couldn't stop crying I was I just wanted to hug her it hurts to see her on that side and there wasn't anything that I could do [Music] that Father John Weatherspoon is a bit of a celebrity in Hong Kong he counsels sex workers [Music] hosts dinners for people with addictions we're on the second floor here okay and his charity called Mercy Hong Kong even provides shelter so these These are women who all lost their job because of covet most of them yes good morning anybody home including these foreign domestic workers who were left jobless when covet hit what's your story quickly why why are you here uh I'm dominating why were you terminated no reason just thrown out yeah but Father John who calls this tiny apartment home has also become an advocate and an investigator for those accused of being drug mules now he's taken on the case of a grandmother from Barry Ontario Susanna Thayer who he believes was duped into bringing a kilo of cocaine into Hong Kong [Music] you're doing all the work that you do as a priest but you're also kind of an investigator a detective come on it's not my job I'm supposed to be just giving a Bibles in prison but if I can do something to help well is it just a feeling that you're having to fill this void because no one's doing well this is it no one else was is doing it it's a job that governments should do but it's very complicated very a bit dangerous in just a few weeks he will travel to eight countries over two months to personally try to prevent drug mules from coming I'm looking at all these little stickers on your map and it's painting a pretty pretty big picture you've got ahead yes um since 2015 I've used my annual holiday to go to other countries to visit families of people in prison to help stop drug meals coming to Hong Kong to meet with authorities there and it's been very blessed one of the country's Father John will visit is Ethiopia his plan is to try to investigate who gave Susanna that suitcase filled with drug stuffed buttons what do you think the odds are of ever finding the people who set up Susanna good question um maybe not big odds but there's a lot of leads if those leads can prove that Susanna Thayer didn't know she was smuggling drugs Hong Kong lawyer Michael Arthur says that could be enough to get her case dropped what sorts of arguments do you have to make to the courts here to say that this woman should be shown some leniency because she didn't know if the prosecution must prove knowledge all right if you don't know that you've got the drugs then you you can't be knowingly in possession if you are the victim of a scam then you don't know you're an unwitting drug mule originally from New Zealand Arthur has worked in Hong Kong for more than 30 years as both a prosecutor and a defense lawyer he has personally defended more than a dozen cases similar to Susanna's he says in each of his cases the accused was acquitted but there were hurdles the most difficult thing is persuading the court to allow evidence that these scams go on not simply that she was the victim of a scam are you saying that the courts here are not sort of open to accepting evidence that shows that these these scammers are legitimate crime syndicates they're very resistant to that that's why Michael Arthur says it's so important to present evidence that proves Susanna was an unwitting victim any correspondence she had with the scammers the gifts she received from the scammers and if she can't prove her innocence what's she looking at for time well she's looking at serious jail time I've got a case nearly three kilograms of ketamine and that's going to attract the sentence in the region of 23 years so for some of these people with these big sentences if you're a 70 year old person and you get a sentence like that then it's a death sentence doesn't it coming up if you're lost and it's just devastating facing a bleak Life Behind Bars [Music] [Music] Angela Thayer has flown from Canada to Hong Kong to see her mother in prison today will be her second 15-minute visit on the drive to low Wu prison Angela gets a phone call so basically I can't see my mom the rest of the week seven days and I I leave so I can't see her all right thank you bye what happened covid what someone has coveted in the prison my mom was close contact so now she's in quarantine so it means I can't see her the rest of this week I mean you've traveled so far for 15 minutes [Music] I think I feel lost and it just feels like everything's just a big barrier to see my mom it's just devastating [Music] because it hurts so much I just want to go home to my family here I just want to hold them because I can't hold my mom [Music] Angela makes the long plane trip back to Canada she flew 13 000 kilometers for 15 minutes with her mother and now the only way she can stay in touch is through letters Susanna writes daily the pain in here is so real I don't know how one could hurt as much as I am right now being innocent in jail why would someone do this to me she describes herself shared with 15 other women tells her family how much she misses them and begs them to forgive her I hope you can forgive me for being so foolish Susanna gets one 10-minute phone call a month Angela recorded this call she and her brother received just before Christmas I just love you guys I love you too I'm missing you guys so much it's unbelievable you don't know how much I miss you I just want you to know that I love you so much Mom I love every single one of my family and I want to wish you a Merry Christmas Merry Christmas [Music] okay and happy New Year I want you guys to know that I am asleep this is a rude awakening [Music] I love you mom I want you to know that I love you all With My Heart full okay [Music] so we'll be going to the hotel where Susanna was staying Catholic priest John Witherspoon has arrived in Ethiopia and he's teamed up with investigative journalist Samuel getachu how long do they keep the CCTV they told me they keep it for about a year the duo is on the hunt for proof that Suzanne smuggling drugs into Hong Kong [Music] the key evidence they need is surveillance video at the hotel where Susanna stayed can you remember her yes what can you remember about her she will come to customer Father John finds a camera shy waiter in the hotel's Lobby who remembers seeing Susanna for the three weeks she was there she's the writer she's in writing yeah yeah then Father John tracks down a manager if we could get the CCTV that surveillance video could identify just who delivered the drug-filled suitcase and clothing if you're agreeable maybe we don't need the police permission if you're agreeable to help us [Music] the manager refused to hand over the video Father John even went to the local police station to try to get help but it was futile and so he left Ethiopia empty-handed W5 picked up his fight for the surveillance video after four months of emails to police Consular officials in Canada and Ethiopia even a local lawyer a breakthrough police finally agreed to help get the video they even went to the hotel with a letter from the police commissioner but it was too late the hotel manager claims that vital piece of evidence was deleted three weeks earlier hi Mom hello hi back in Canada Angela is on the phone with her mom both know it could be years before Susanna's case even gets to trial I love you Mommy I just want you to know that I love you and I miss you so much we just 10 minutes to speak each month connection issues can be frustrating Mom hello Mama I can't hear you in the prison telephone room there's a clock that lets Susanna know when time is running out I don't really want you guys to know what it's really like I have an idea what it's like Alexis [Music] and being able to see my family again that's very hard and I love everyone I even love those who love for me [Music] I've got 27 seconds left but stay healthy stay strong okay same with you Mom I love you stay on stay on the line and say you love me until you have to go love you I just lost her [Music] W5 has done a number of Investigations into romance scans to watch them go to our website w5.ctvnews.ca [Music] foreign

Channel: Official W5

Views: 2,988,153

Keywords: W5, documentary, investigation, dating scams, dating scams documentary, online dating, prison in hong kong, hidden drugs at airport, finding hidden drugs, drug trafficking bust, drug trafficking airport, documentary w5, ctv w5, w5 2023 episodes, romance scam, romance scams 2023, romance scams, romance scams documentary, dating scam, drug mules caught at airport, romance scammers

Id: ZVww72qbKy0

Length: 44min 38sec (2678 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 05 2023