The Conversation - Holding power and government to account

Dear Reader,

I think of my mom a lot. She’s 94 now − living by herself, driving, and beating me at Boggle, Scrabble and, our favorite, Rummikub. 

Yet she − like so many other older people − is susceptible to fraudsters scamming her out of her hard-earned savings. 

It happens. All the time. And the criminals are getting more clever at tapping into these fears to steal millions by using one of America’s favorite presents: gift cards.

The Conversation recently exposed this new form of fraud that people everywhere urgently need to know about to ensure they and their loved ones don’t fall victim. Too many people already have. 

This is the kind of investigation that is sorely needed − into practices and scams that affect ordinary Americans every day. 

And no one but The Conversation could do this: A fraud and forensic accounting professor who is a former top financial regulator teamed up with a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter to tell the story of an 83-year-old victim and used it to go deep into the dark web, criminal techniques and industry lobbying that has blocked effective regulation and lawmaking.

My mother was grateful to read it. Readers wrote in about experiences similar to the victim’s − and advice on how to avoid being taken. We had more than 70 news outlets republish the story, which we gave to them for free, from the Grand Rapids Press in Michigan and The Pueblo Chieftain in Colorado to The Apopka Voice in Florida.

These are news outlets that no longer have the resources to be a watchdog: They don’t have expert journalists on staff to dig deep into a story like this, and nobody pairs journalists with the deep knowledge of academic experts like we do. That is why we do it − and give away our content for free to anyone who wants to use it. 

Will you support this important mission and work of our nonprofit newsroom? Pairing researchers with journalists is a powerful way of exposing wrongdoing so our world can be a better place. And so that you and yours can be safer.

Please partner with us today. [And you’ll get a couple of e-books as a thank you. Major donors who donate $1,000 or more will get a paper book, a compilation of our best articles on the future of work.]

Investigations are only a small part of what we do at The Conversation to bring context and the knowledge of experts to the public, but they are a new initiative that we are particularly proud of – and which we couldn’t do without the support of our generous partners.

With gratitude,

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