Police find British journalist reported missing in Brazil
SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Rio de Janeiro police said on Monday that a British journalist reported missing nearly four months ago had been out of contact with her family voluntarily and the case has been closed.
Charlotte Alice Peet, who had worked as a freelance reporter in Brazil for Al Jazeera and British news outlets, went missing in early February.
She was located in a Sao Paulo hostel, police said on Monday, adding she "expressed her desire not to have contact with her family."
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TV Industry Scam Exposed: Fraudster Reported To FBI & UK Cybercrime Agency After Posing As Well-Known British Producers And Demanding Thousands Of Pounds From Writers
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In all, we are told by Stage 32 that around 100 messages were sent to UK creatives on the platform and about 25 people responded. Working with one writer, Anette Martinsen, we have tracked down what we believe to be the scammer's name, bank details and bank address. This information has been reported by Stage 32 to the FBI and by Martinsen to UK Action Fraud, a national reporting center for fraud and cybercrime that passes reports to the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau, which then decides whether to refer to local police forces for investigation. We are aware of at least one other report of the same scammer to Action Fraud. 'Action Fraud can confirm that it received a report on 30 May 2025 and it is currently being assessed by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) at the City of London Police,' said a spokeswoman. Stage 32 founder Richard Botto told us the scam is a 'copy or extension of the same scam that has infiltrated Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, LinkedIn and X over the last three years.' He said Stage 32 'believes we have identified the perpetrator of this scam and are working with Action Fraud and the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center in an effort to bring them to justice.' How it works Using a VPN to create a Stage 32 account from a foreign IP address, the scammer sets up fake profiles and impersonates producers like Catalyst Global Media's Walls. They then send writers a message like the one in the above image asking if they are interested in submitting material. If they respond saying they are interested, the scammer sends over a set of terms that say, 'Should your project be identified as a strong candidate for development, we will proceed under a formal Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA).' Following the signing of the NDA, the scammer says it requires a 'refundable facilitation fee' of varying amounts between £2,000 and £2,500, which 'serves as a demonstration of mutual commitment to advancing the project into early development and securing access to critical production infrastructure and strategic resources.' The scammer goes on to note that while this fee 'may not be customary in every production arrangement,' 'it is important to clarify that most professional producers and consultants charge substantial fees for their involvement.' 'We fully understand that some creators may be seeking informal feedback or free evaluations,' it adds. 'However, we wish to be transparent: our team invests significant time, resources, and professional leverage into every project we undertake.' We are not aware of anyone who has fallen victim to the scam and Stage 32's Botto told us 'to the best of our knowledge, no one sent this 'producer' any money.' Some writers told us they smelled a rat quickly due to the payment demand and the even stranger stipulation to sign an NDA simply to get a script into development. Others realized that the email address the scammer supplied was different to the company's email address on its website. The scammer pretending to be Walls, for example, was using a Gmail account. 'Most people contacted recognized the scam, notified us, and the offending accounts were deleted and the IP's and emails blocked immediately,' Botto said. Martinsen went along with the scam to see what she could uncover. Having agreed to the scammer's 'terms' and signed a fake NDA, she was asked swiftly to send a £2,000 payment to a person called Agnieszka Falkowska, who banks with Barclays and whose bank address is listed in Peterborough, South England. When Martinsen didn't respond, she was quickly chased up and told that Agnieszka Falkowska works in the accounts department at Catalyst Global Media, although no such person in the Catalyst accounts team exists. At this point, Stage 32 was notified and contacted both the FBI and Action Fraud. We are aware of at least one other person who has also reported the name Agnieszka Falkowska and these same bank details to Action Fraud. Deadline has contacted the Gmail address the person calling themselves Agnieszka Falkowska was using and we have not received a response. Martinsen said 'something didn't feel right' when she was contacted by the scammer via the fake Walls profile on Stage 32 about a comedy script she was developing titled In The Spotlight. 'I talked to my friend Gina Lyons from Gobby Girl Productions who suspected it was a scam too,' Martinsen told Deadline. 'I feel disappointed as you can imagine as it is tough being an older woman in the TV and film industry and I was of course hoping to get In the Spotlight made with a well respected company.' When Deadline contacted Walls last week to tell her she was being impersonated on Stage 32, Walls was mortified. 'I'm devastated to have been caught up in a scam like this and genuinely shocked,' she said. 'Writers are the lifeblood of our industry. It's more important than ever for people to be vigilant.' Another producer who has been impersonated and preferred to remain anonymous queried why these scammers are able to create fake profiles in the first place on platforms like Stage 32, and why they contacted so many writers before being caught. 'There must be a way to check,' said the producer. 'This is appalling. Our own reputations will end up being smeared and tarnished.' Botto said Walls' profile was 'deleted within two minutes, much to her satisfaction.' 'I speak frequently and repeatedly during my monthly Ask Me Anything broadcasts about how to protect yourself in this industry, including not to trust if a 'named producer' is writing to you in broken English or through a suspicious email address,' added Botto. 'As a writer, producer and actor myself who has been targeted by these scammers, I urge everyone to be vigilant and to do your due diligence.' Ellie Peers, General Secretary of the Writers Guild of Great Britain, said the guild's recent Is it a Steal? report, which found that 94% of writers who had paid to have their book published lost money, typically in the thousands, proves that 'there is no shortage of people wanting to exploit writers online.' 'If writers are asked to pay someone for something that they should themselves be paid for, that is always a red flag,' added Peers. 'This also shows the importance of always getting your writing contracts vetted by an expert before signing.' Another writer we spoke with pointed out that scams have become far more sophisticated and hard to spot in the age of AI, with platforms like ChatGPT able to easily replicate documents like contracts and NDAs. Spot the fraud: how to avoid getting conned Be on high alert if anyone is asking for money prior to a meeting and for work you have previously done for free (or have even been paid for in the past). If you haven't heard of them, search LinkedIn and other platforms for the person getting in contact in order to check their credentials. Contact the producers independently if you believe they are being impersonated. Check the email addresses you are being supplied and whether this matches up to the company email address on its website. Share concerns in forums or with industry friends. 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Large majority of Germans want tighter controls on arms exports to Israel
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