As Hit Network radio host Kate Langbroek and her family are packing and getting ready to live in Italy for a year, her alter-ego, Barb, is featuring in 4 episodes of ‘Scamming the Scammer’ on PodcastOne.

Every year, millions of eager lovebirds take to the web in the pursuit of love.
 
Hopeful suitors, often elderly singletons, widows and divorcees with little understanding of the treacherous online world, are swept off their feet with beguiling declarations of love from cunning online scammers.
 
These skilled and callous criminals build the trust and affection of their unsuspecting prey, promising a lifetime of love and companionship, before requesting confidential personal and financial information, and taking innocent people for all they’re worth.
 
In 2014,  Kate first assumed the character of Barb, a late-fifties widow with a longing for love, in a grand scheme to seek revenge and scam the scammer right back.
 
She says  “It started about four and a half years ago when I saw this broken-hearted woman on Dr Phil talking about how she’d been scammed out of thousands of dollars by her online boyfriend. I wanted to give these scammers a taste of their own medicine, and that’s when I had the idea of Barb. She is a real minx and is always one step ahead, so we have a lot of fun”.
 
Since assuming the character, thousands of Australians have listened with bated breath as Barb takes these heartless criminals on a wild goose chase, wasting weeks of their time, as they do to so many others.
 
Kate says “Over the years, I’ve been inundated with letters from distraught online daters who have been scammed out of thousands of dollars which has inspired me to keep Barb’s work going.”
 
After many years of Scamming the Scammer on radio, Kate is launching the ‘Scamming the Scammer’ podcast on PodcastOne, where once again, Barb will out-play these conmen and seek retribution for
all those who have been left broken hearted by online predators.
 
“The Scamming the Scammer podcast is a bit different because we also speak with the innocent victims, hear their stories and share in their heartache. I hope the podcast continues to educate people about the importance of protecting their privacy and financial security online.”
 
Over 4 episodes, Kate brings Barb back to life to out-play online conmen and seek retribution for all those who have been left broken hearted by these online scammers.

‘Scamming the Scammer’ is available to download for free via Apple Podcasts and on the PodcastOne app and website from 22 January.