Never Saw Me Coming: How I Outsmarted the FBI and the Entire Banking System—And Pocketed $40 Million
by Tanya Smith
Publication Date: Aug 13, 2024
List Price: $32.00
Format: Hardcover, 432 pages
Classification: Nonfiction
ISBN13: 9780316569163
Imprint: Little, Brown and Company
Publisher: Hachette Book Group
Parent Company: Lagardère Group
Description of Never Saw Me Coming: How I Outsmarted the FBI and the Entire Banking System—And Pocketed $40 Million by Tanya Smith
“What Does It Take to Become a Prodigy Scam Artist?” — The New York Times (Aug. 28, 2024)
Never Saw Me Coming is a riveting true story about an unsuspecting woman who creates an ingeniously clever white-collar scheme that manipulates the Federal banking system out of millions—only to eventually lose everything that is most important to her.
In this remarkable memoir, Tanya Smith shares her deeply personal story of how she went from being a precocious young girl to becoming a money-grabbing, computer-savvy wiz. What starts as a keen interest in technology and innocently acquiring phone numbers of celebrities like Michael Jackson, escalates to her successfully stealing and depositing $5,000 into her grandmother’s bank account. By the time she turns 18, the risk-taker has confiscated millions in cash.
The FBI quickly catches on and brings Smith in for questioning, demanding to know who she’s working for. “These are not the kind of crimes Black people are smart enough to commit,” they tell her—words that severely offend Smith by implying intelligence is determined by race. Motivated to prove the FBI wrong, she continues her exploits, eventually stealing $40 million, along with securing diamonds, gold bars, and other commodities. Her high-flying lifestyle, however, attracts dangerous people, including those who aim to kill her.
Despite law enforcement’s relentless pursuit, ultimately dubbing Smith “one of the single biggest threats to the entire United States banking system,” she receives an outrageously long prison sentence—the longest for a white-collar offense. Nevertheless, she mounts her own brilliant defense and eventually secures her release.
Complete with unexpected twists and turns, Never Saw Me Coming is a gripping caper that serves as a powerful reminder never to underestimate a woman.