Michelle Acker pleaded guilty this week to a six-year wire fraud that drained more than $670,000 from an elderly woman and her friend. The mechanism was a voice on the phone, an emergency that never ended, and an insurance agent who never existed.
Stefano Zanetti ran the money end of a grandparent scam from an oceanfront house in Panama while retirees in Pittsburgh handed cash to strangers at their front doors. In May 2026, a U.S. federal judge gave him 188 months.
By Mark Tell · Jul 4
Daily at 6AM Eastern
See the pitch they're running today.
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The MarkTell Daily
Tomorrow's pitch, decoded today.
Financial crime intelligence. The patterns, the tells, the playbook. Daily at 6AM before anyone asks you for money.
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