Kelly Gowe gets a voicemail from a federal agent: “I’m calling in regards to your mother, Laura Kowal, who may have been involved in a fraud scam.” She calls her mom. Laura answers. She is alive. But her voice doesn’t sound right. Scattered. Distant. Like she’s already inside something she doesn’t want to explain.

Then Laura disappears.

What started as online dating becomes something darker: a romance-scam persona, a fake “investment” opportunity, and a slow shift from affection… to instructions… to control. We follow the breadcrumbs—messages, accounts, and a widening trail of movement that takes investigators far from home—leaving Kelly with a timeline full of gaps and a conclusion that doesn’t feel like an answer.

The official conclusion raises new questions… and Kelly believes the truth is darker.

Hosted by Frank Battiston. Produced by Daniel Urdanivia. A PowerTale Podcasts production.

Stay Aware · Stay Present · Stay Safe.

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Follow LURKERS:

Instagram: @thelurkers_podcast

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Website: www.thelurkerspodcast.com

She was 19. He was charming from a distance.

Ashley Wadsworth meets Jack Sepple online, and what starts as attention quickly becomes a relationship built on messages, calls, and promises that feel bigger when you’re young and hopeful. Before long, Ashley leaves Vernon, British Columbia, and moves to Chelmsford, England. Into his orbit, into his control.

But the real story isn’t just “a bad boyfriend.” It’s how fast isolation can happen when love is long-distance… and how quickly the warning signs escalate when the relationship becomes real life.

This episode follows the timeline as Ashley’s world narrows—friends growing worried, family kept at a distance, and the tension behind closed doors turning into something she can’t talk her way out of. And it ends with the moment everyone around her feared: when the person she trusted most became the danger.

Hosted by Frank Battiston. Produced by Daniel Urdanivia. A PowerTale Podcasts production.

Stay Aware · Stay Present · Stay Safe.

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Follow LURKERS:

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YouTube: @TheLurkersPodcast

The call comes out of nowhere.

Your teenage daughter is sobbing, gasping for air, and begging for you. It sounds surgically real. The same breaks in the voice. The same breath between words. The same panic.

And then a man gets on the line.

He says she’s been taken. He says you have minutes. He tells you not to hang up and tells you exactly where to go, what to do, and how fast to move. In the car, your GPS is already pointing toward a bank in your city.

But there’s one problem.

The voice sounds real. But the kidnapping isn’t.

In this episode, we reconstruct how an AI voice scam hijacks a parent’s nervous system, how the pressure is built, how the instructions are delivered, and how fear becomes a weapon. We break down the red flags, what investigators say to do in the first critical seconds, and the simple safeguards families can set before a call like this ever hits their phones.

Hosted by Frank Battiston. Produced by Daniel Urdanivia. A PowerTale Podcasts production.

Stay Aware · Stay Present · Stay Safe.

—

Follow LURKERS:

Instagram: @thelurkers_podcast

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YouTube: @TheLurkersPodcast

Website: www.thelurkerspodcast.com

It’s late 2002. Dial-up internet. A shared family computer in the living room. And a 13-year-old girl in rural Arkansas who just wants more people to talk to after school.

Kacie Woody meets “Scott” and “Dave” online, two names that feel harmless at first. The messages turn constant. The attention turns intimate. And slowly, the boundary between “friend” and “stranger” disappears… without anyone noticing in time.

When Kacie vanishes from her home on a cold, rainy night, investigators seize the computer and follow the trail where it leads: chat logs, usernames, travel records, motel stays, a rented vehicle... then a storage unit in Conway.

This episode reconstructs the timeline step by step, and shows why Kacie’s case became one of the early warnings of a word we all know now… grooming.

Hosted by Frank Battiston. Produced by Daniel Urdanivia. A PowerTale Podcasts production.

Stay Aware · Stay Present · Stay Safe.

—

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Instagram: @thelurkers_podcast

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Website: www.thelurkerspodcast.com

PART 2 OF 2

A dot on a map doesn’t cry. It doesn’t panic. It just… stops.

In Part 2, investigators pull location history from a family safety app, Life360, and the case pivots. A route becomes a record. A stop becomes a timestamp. And a timeline becomes something you can’t argue with.

We follow the coordinates into a field, track the evidence from the road to the courtroom, and unpack how the same tools that can hide a predator online can also become the witness that brings justice.

Hosted by Frank Battiston. Produced by Daniel Urdanivia. A PowerTale Podcasts production.

Stay Aware · Stay Present · Stay Safe.

—

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Instagram: @thelurkers_podcast

TikTok: @thelurkerspodcast

YouTube: @TheLurkersPodcast

PART 1 OF 2

A quiet farm road. A familiar running route. Then she disappears.

In northeast Arkansas, 24-year-old nurse Sydney Sutherland leaves for an afternoon run and vanishes within minutes. Her family, her boyfriend, and an entire community flood the backroads with flashlights and four-wheelers, calling her name into fields that don’t answer. But the usual tools, phone pings, tower data, don’t cooperate out here.

In Part 1, we rebuild Sydney’s last day step by step, and follow the first digital threads: a Snapchat, a phone that goes silent, and a search that starts to narrow around someone whose timeline doesn’t match the road she trusted.

Hosted by Frank Battiston. Produced by Daniel Urdanivia. A PowerTale Podcasts production.

Stay Aware · Stay Present · Stay Safe.

—

Follow LURKERS:

Instagram: @thelurkers_podcast

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YouTube: @TheLurkersPodcast

Website: www.thelurkerspodcast.com

Four people on three continents are coached from chat apps into fake exchanges and “profits” in USDT they can never withdraw. A grandfather in North Carolina, a professional in Los Angeles, a single mother in Sydney, and a victim in Hong Kong follow the same script. Behind those messages is Sara, trafficked to a Myanmar compound and forced to run the chats. We map the playbook from wrong-number openers and LinkedIn mentors to dashboards that show gains and the taxes and fees wall that traps withdrawals.

Hosted by Frank Battiston. Produced by Daniel Urdanivia. A PowerTale Podcasts production.

Stay Aware · Stay Present · Stay Safe.

—

Follow LURKERS:

Instagram: @thelurkers_podcast

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Website: www.thelurkerspodcast.com

Her followers trusted her name. Then her page started selling tickets she never posted. Overnight the grid fills with urgent drops and countdowns; DMs flood with “is this you?” and “where are my seats.” Locked out and stuck in support loops, she watches her brand used against her audience. We trace how the takeover worked, where the money went, and the steps to get her account and followers' trust back.

Hosted by Frank Battiston. Produced by Daniel Urdanivia. A PowerTale Podcasts production.

Stay Aware · Stay Present · Stay Safe.

—

Follow LURKERS:

Instagram: @thelurkers_podcast

TikTok: @thelurkerspodcast

YouTube: @TheLurkersPodcast