大象传媒

One baffling online scam 鈥� involving a 拢138 dehumidifier 鈥� and a humiliated 大象传媒 producer who will not rest until she has a return address for it.

January 2024. Polly Weston鈥檚 toddler has a terrible cough, no one in the house is getting any sleep, and, as is traditional for Bristol Victorian Terraces, her house has a lot of damp patches. So she decides to invest in a dehumidifier.

A very convincing review online, by a real consumer journalist called Luke Edwards, recommends one company.

The company's sleek website reads 鈥淒ewett UK 鈥� Better Air, Better Life.鈥�

Sold. She orders one for 拢138鈥� Then it begins.

Luke, it turns out, had his identity stolen. Day after day he receives the same desperate phone calls from people across Britain who have fallen victim to his 鈥渂yline鈥�. The story is always the same. Once the dehumidifier arrives, it doesn鈥檛 work, and you can鈥檛 return it 鈥� Dewett will not give you a return address. It's come from China, they say, and there is no point in you sending it back. The email exchanges become increasingly wild.

But what starts out as the story of one 大象传媒 producer, on a vendetta to find a return address (and to prove, despite being duped, she鈥檚 still a good journalist)鈥� will take us to corners of the world we never could have predicted. It might just end in us accidentally blowing the lid on something much, much bigger...

Produced and presented by Polly Weston
A 大象传媒 Audio Bristol production