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♪ good morning. i'm jane pauley and this is "sunday morning." to begin, a question. how did the mountain lion get to the other side of the road? increasingly, the answer to that question and a plus for all kinds of animals is there is a bridge or tunnel for them to cross safely and uneventfully. this morning we'll tell you about a nationwide effort to build critter crossings. but we have more serious fair to share as well. the internet has forever changed the way we look for love. still, online dating doesn't always lead to happily ever after. along with the dreamers who do anything for love, there are scammers willing to steal their money or do far worse.

cbs news has been investigating this online treachery for months, and this morning from jim axlerod the first in a week-long series of reports. >> reporter: she was looking for love online, but instead found danger lurking. >> i never thought that it could happen to my mom, but it can happen to anybody. >> reporter: how hard was it for you to set up a fake profile? >> it's easy. >> reporter: ahead on "sunday morning." are you doing enough to protect your customers from online romance scammers? our alarming investigation into online romance scams. some 30 years ago, an operation gone wrong robbed the legendary julie andrews of her ability to sing. thankfully, it did nothing to her ability to tell a story. >> reporter: julie andrews and

daughter emma share a special bond. >> people often ask, you know, if you could describe your mom in one word, what would it be? i say resilient. >> my mom said it to me once. you have to go on moaning and groaning, be grateful for what you have. and my god, i am. >> reporter: later on "sunday morning." julie andrews and emma walter hamilton. "cabaret" has returned to broadway yet again. this time with an oscar-winner leading the cast. mo rocca has a front row seat. ♪ >> reporter: when eddie redmayne's emcee welcomes patrons to his berlin nightclub, it's an invitation laced with menace. he is the danger we should be on the lookout for? >> he is those people we meet in life that are funny buffoon-like characters and you suddenly

realize you have been stabbed by them. >> reporter: come back to the "cabaret," old chums, coming up on "sunday morning." ♪ on this weekend before earth day, ben tracy takes a look through the lens of environmental photographer james balog. tracy smith will give us a read on a much talked about novel from doctor and author abraham verghese. plus, passover thoughts from humorist alex edelman. a story from steve hartman, and more. it's a "sunday morning" for the 21st of april, 2024. and we'll be back in a moment. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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all across america, critters are crossing the road, and more and more of them, conor knighton tells us, are doing it in style. >> reporter: interstate 90 is the longest interstate highway in the united states, spanning more than 3,000 miles, it connects seattle in the west to boston in the east. but it also serves as a massive concrete divide. for the animals who live to the north and south of the interstate, this road has

absolutely wrecked their commute. is there a rush hour for the animals? >> yes. they tend to be nocturnal, or crepuscular, sort of at dawn or dusk. >> reporter: pat garvey-darda is a wildlife biologist with the u.s. forest service. brian white works for the washington state department of transportation. together their two organizations teamed up to develop a network of critter crossings in washington. overpasses and underpasses designed to provide safe passage for wildlife. the fact that you have one here and one here, is that because you identified both of those areas as areas that animals are likely to cross? >> yes. >> reporter: the crossing project spans 15 miles of i-90 near the snoqualmie pass in washington. flanked by chunks of what's primarily national forest land. habitat for all sorts much creatures great and small. if they are protected on both sides, why does it matter if they are connected? >> because you lose genetic

variability and gradually you start getting localized extinction and populations get further and further apart and smaller. >> reporter: around the country, most animals see a busy highway and turn around. few may try to cross, but they are at risk of getting run over. a wildlife crossing is supposed to make that process far less treacherous. but there is no guarantee if you build it, they will come. there is a wildlife sign back there. is that helping? the animals look at that and they are like, okay, this is the way to go? miles of fencing funnel animals to crossing points. high concrete walls block headlights and dull traffic noise. >> we want to mimic the habitat on either side, native plants and everything, so that animals sort of don't even see the transition. >> reporter: it worked. in 2023, cameras captured animals using the crossings more than 5,000 times. including mule deer, elk, and coyotes. when this project started, was

there some other example that you were looking at as a success story to model this after? >> well, banff, canada, comes to the top of the list. >> reporter: the section the trans-canada highway that cuts through banff national park used as a model for crossings worldwide. banff's 38 undercrossings and six overcrossings reduced wildlife collisions by 80%. back in the u.s., there are now around 1,500 wildlife crossing structures in 43 states. and wyoming, pronghorn run across highway 191. in florida, panthers and alligators creep under i-75. they can be subtle. motorists may have no idea they are driver over moose in montana or tunnels full of tortoises in utah. but it will be hard to miss this crossing. not far from los angeles, they are building the largest wildlife corridor in the country. >> i really wish it had been the smallest. i could have gotten years of my life back, trying to help raise the money and the public

support. >> reporter: beth pratt serves adds regional executive director for the national christmas tree lighting in california. once completed in 2025, "the wall" crossing will stretch for more than 200 feet across ten lanes of the 101 freeway, which can see up to 400,000 vehicles a day. >> i think that's a real miracle that over one of the busiest freeways in the world you are going to be driving under it, a mountain lion, fox might be walking over, or a fence lizard or a ground squirrel may have a family on top. that's a hopeful project. and we owe it to p-22. >> reporter: this p-22. the celebrated mountain lion who roamed around l.a.'s griffith park. when he was younger he made it across two freeways only to end up a lonely hollywood bachelor until his death in 2022. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: but even for the

mountain lions who can find mates, the dates are a little too close to home. biologists worry the small population here could soon go extinct. >> it's almost certain that the cats over here that are breeding are related to each other in some way. >> reporter: and somewhere over there? >> yeah. if you were on tinder and the matches you are getting are family members, icky, yeah. >> reporter: the crossing which is estimated to cost $90 million will expand the dating pool. that's important for all sorts of critters, even ones who aren't as obviously charismatic. back underneath i-90, professor jason irwin and his team of central washington university students are focused on everything from toads to salamanders. >> it's fantastic. it's really been fantastic to work on a project where they appreciate the little guy. >> reporter: there are also human lives at stake. >> there are parts of the country where traffic safety means installing a new crosswalk at a busy intersection.

there are other parts of the country where traffic safety means things like wildlife crossings. >> reporter: last year, transportation secretary pete buttigieg announced a federal grant program awarding a total of $350 million to states looking to build crossings and improve safety. there are approximately 1 million collisions involving large wildlife on america's roads each year resulting in some 200 human deaths. >> if you think about it that way and you think about how many accidents didn't happen, these crossing structures pay for themselves pretty fast. >> reporter: brian white has already seen a reduction in collisions where the crossings have been built. fewer road closures means faster commutes for everyone. >> this is showing the wildlife collisions incidents that we had along the corridor. this is before we started work, before we had the fence up. this is what it looks like now. >> reporter: even though the crossing construction in los angeles hasmento occasional slowdowns and lane closures, pratt says the public has been able to stay focused on the benefits down the road.

>> wildlife crossings are something, it doesn't matter if you're a republican or a democrat or what political affiliation, people really support them. i think there is very few people who don't get upset when they see a dead animal on the side of the road. so i think that this is something that in a time where we agree on very little, we pretty much agree on wildlife crossings. what if there was a cruise that felt like no other? a cruise created by foodies— for foodies. one chef for every 10 guests, every meal prepared to order, and every plate a personal discovery. welcome to the world of oceania cruises, the world's greatest cities and off the beaten path secrets. one memorable bite and toast at a time. it's more than a feeling. it's more than a cruise— it's oceania cruises. ♪ crunchy. ohh ♪ ♪ tasty ♪ ♪ ohh ♪ ♪ sweet or savory ♪ ♪ always satisfying ♪

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power of connection here and in his other calling. >> the got story goes beyond what a forgiving god cares to do. it reconciles families and unburdens them of secrets whose bond is stronger than blood. but in their revealing, as in their keeping, secrets can tear a family apart. >> reporter: these words are from the best-selling book "the covenant of water," and they are as lush and vibrant as the world they describe. >> the book is set between 1900 and 1970 in kerala, a coastal territory in india full of lakes, waterways, lagoons, back waters, and in every generation in this particular family i focus on, one or more members drowns. >> reporter: the drownings are just one of the mysteries in this family's story of a beloved mate rack, decades of enduring

love and tragic deaths sometimes excruciating for him to write about. did it have you in tears? i cried reading it. did you cry writing it? >> no matter how many times, it was tough. it was new. losing somebody. >> reporter: "the covenant of water" is a difficult book to describe in a few words. it's even tougher to sum up the life of the author. abraham verghese was born in ethiopia to indian parents. his mother was a teacher who caught taught her boys early on the value of education. brother george on the right is now a professor at m.i.t. after medical school, dr. verghese took a residency in in johnson city, tennessee, in the '80s, where he found a growing number of people with hiv, which at that point in time was fatal. the experience made him want to tell the world about what he saw and the people he met. >> a lot of their messages were,

you know, don't postpone your dreams. life's too short to postpone the things you want to do. one day, this might transpire. and so all of those things kind of came together at that moment, and i was going to write this book. >> reporter: you had to write the book? >> i had to write the book. >> reporter: in the winter of 1990, he put his medical practice on hold, cashed in his retirement and moved his young family to the university of iowa and their acclaimed writing program. >> i tell you, if you do that, it makes you take yourself seriously as a writer. i could no longer say i am dabbling in this stuff. i was all in. >> reporter: yeah, you committed. >> i was. >> reporter: the resulting book, "my own country," was a sensation. a subsequent novel, 2009's "cutting for stone" spent two years and the bestseller list. his second novel, "the covenant of water," was closest to his heart. inspired by and dedicated to his

mother, who died in 2016. >> yeah, the inspiration was very much my mom and the strong women around my mother, such as her mother-in-law and her mother. you know, these were sort of heroic women who lived quiet lives. the world would never know about their heroism, never know how much tragedy they went through tha. >> reporter: their story spans three generations. he used these whiteboards to keep it all straight. how does this help you form the story? >> you know, i think it was really not helpful in the way people imagine where it was like an architectural plan. i think this was me sort of beginning to see the characters, to visualize them for myself. >> reporter: after ten years, he finally got "the covenant of water" published and then a form of literary lightning struck. >> welcome to all the book club members who are watching us on

oprah daily. i'm thrilled for this conversation. >> reporter: oprah called you to give you a heads up that she was choosing your book? >> i hear this beautiful resonate voice, melodious wife saying, hi, this is oprah. i stood up. i have tremendous respect for her. >> reporter: you stood up? >> i stood up. i don't know of anybody else in our culture that has brought more readers to books. >> "the covenant of water" on her list. i made it easier for her and gave her a copy. >> reporter: not only did she choose his book, is she physically handed out copies of it and she plans to make it into a movie. oprah is not the only big fan. it was on former president obama's list of favorite books from 2023. >> i mean, i am incredibly lucky. i don't know that i can point to it being all my skills. certainly not. you need a lot of luck when you produce a book. >> reporter: what do you think your mother would make of all of

this? >> i think my mother would be delighted. our parents are not particularly demon demonstrative in terms of the things they say, but i think she would have been very pleased. >> reporter: if this is his opening his heart to the world, the world has answered in kind. >> lovely to meet you. >> reporter: the book stayed on "the new york times" bestsellers list for 37 weeks. the story inspired by his mother has taken on a life of its own. something even the esteemed doctor finds hard to explain. >> it's amazing. it's a bestseller in italy, south africa, you know, when i hear these things, i don't know what to say. i get these pieces of good news coming to me. for example, "cbs sunday morning" is something to be talking to you. it feels beyond me. >> reporter: what do you mean? >> well, just i, you know, i did

something, but i didn't do the whole thing. >> reporter: it's bigger than you? >> it's bigger than me, yeah. with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, my skin was no longer mine. my active psoriatic arthritis joint symptoms held me back. don't let symptoms define you. emerge as you. with tremfya®, most people saw 90% clearer skin at 4 months and the majority stayed clearer, at 5 years. tremfya® is proven to significantly reduce joint pain, stiffness and swelling. it's just 6 doses a year, after 2 starter doses. serious allergic reactions may occur. tremfya® may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms or if you had a vaccine or plan to. emerge as you. emerge tremfyant®. ask you doctor about tremfya®. ( ♪♪ ) ego, the number one rated brand in cordless outdoor power brings you the select cut mower.

customize the cut with three interchangeable blades. it cuts for over an hour on a single charge. ego - exclusively at lowe's, ace and ego authorized dealers. w figured this is the perfect time for ben tracy's close-up of james balog. one of the preeminent environmental photographers of our time. >> that's it. you got it. >> reporter: if you ever decide to try your hand at climbig a

70-foot-tall wall of ice, it's helpful to have a guide who knows quite a bit about frozen water. >> thanks for taking me ice climbing. >> you are welcome. >> that's harder than it looks. >> no joke, right? >> reporter: what fascinates you about ice? >> it's so weird looking. compared to every other material, you see on the surface of the earth, i feel like i am entering this other realm, other kingdom. >> reporter: we met up with james balog at the ouray ice park in colorado's box canyon. but he has visited some of the most remote and remarkable kingdoms of ice all over the planet, capturing stunning images of these severe and surreal landscapes. as an environmental photographer. >> the big problem with being a photographer is that you have to be there and you have to see something and you have to turn it into something inside that little rectangle. i think of it as an adventure with a purpose.

>> reporter: for decades that purpose has been to document the dramatic climatic changes happening our our warming planet, vanishing ice, rising seas, the floods, the fires, and the toll it's taking on all living things. balog has become one of the foremost chroniclers of human-caused climate change. so many of the things that you have actually documented no longer exist. >> mm-hmm. >> reporter: do you think about that? >> on the ice project, i think about that all the time. i'm stunned by it. >> reporter: you are a bit of a convert. you were a climate change skeptic at one point? >> well, yeah. i just had this reflexive human assumption that our little species wasn't strong enough to change this huge organism called nature with a capital n. then i realized that assumption was wrong and that i needed to somehow express the reality of what was going to on through the

pictures. that's what became the ice project. >> reporter: balog founded the extreme ice survey in 2007. a network of 27 cameras watching over glaciers from antarctica to alaska. iceland to greenland. each providing thousands of images per year that, when combined, reveal how quickly we are reshaping our planet. >> look at that. >> reporter: the 2012 documentary "chasing ice" shows the moment balog's team captured one of the largest ice calving events ever recorded. as a massive piece of ice the size of lower manhattan broke off of the greenland ice sheet. >> when i started the extreme ice survey, climate change was still seen as a pretty abstract thing. it was something that was going to happen 20 or 30 or 50 years from now. and my god, when you start to realize, no, it's happening right now, right in front of us,

it put real marker in time to say, this is now. this is real. >> reporter: and balog is also using his camera to prepare us for what's to come. he shot this series on sea level rise in the chesapeake bay. >> the woman vanessa with her son trey on her back standing in the water, it expresses the idea of sea level that the ocean levels will be different when that little boy is grown up. than they are today, when vanessa is standing in the water and i'm standing in the water with them. i get a little choked up because these historical weights sometimes trigger something in my head. it symbolically evokes this fact that the kids will live in a different world than the parents do. >> reporter: balog has spent the fast four years sorting through and editing nearly 2 million of his photos. he recently delivered many of them to the library of congress where they will join the

permanent collection alongside iconic environmental photographs such as dorothea lange's images from the dust bowl during the great depression. >> very iconic image. >> reporter: micah messenger is a photography curator at the library. >> just photographs are drawing on these points and addressing a lot of the same subject matter that was being addressed by these photographers in the 1930s. >> i'm like, my brain is reeling. when i see dorothea lange pictures up next to one of mine, i'm thinking this is a high honor. i am thrilled to be here. this picture, i have known this since i picked up a camera, and so that my images should be in the same context as iconic pictures like this, it's pretty great. wow. look at this. look at this. >> reporter: his legacy living on here at the library of congress -- >> the memory of what i preserved on that piece of paper will advance into the future.

>> reporter: has added meaning because, as balog has been documenting the fragility of life on our planet, the 71-year-old is also struggling with his own. >> i was diagnosed in midsummer of 2019 with the cancer of the blood, multiple myeloma. it certainly made me feel much more mortal and vulnerable than i ever did before. i'm getting too old for this [ bleep ]. >> reporter: it's made climbing walls of ice more of a struggle. >> i found myself panting way more than i should have. >> reporter: but it also motivates him to keep going while both he and the ice are still here. he hopes his photos are his testament, a record of our past and present and a message for the future. >> i want to be able to say to those people of the distant future, look, not everybody in this time in, you know, 2024,

was terribly conscious or cared about climate change, but i want to be able to say that this mind, these eyes and this heart was paying attention.

♪ ♪ ♪ money makes the world go round ♪ ♪ the sound of money, money, money ♪ that's joel grey and liza minnelli in the classic film version of the musical "cabaret." mo rocca reports the show's back on broadway. it's message still resonating more than half a century on. >> reporter: in 1966, when the musical "cabaret" first appeared on broadway, audiences were

dazzled and disconcerted, but the show's depiction of life in early 1930s berlin. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: joel grey played the emcee of the kit kat club. he would reprise the role in the oscar-winning 1972 film version. welcoming patrons to -- >> leave your troubles outside. >> reporter: an invitation laced with menace, since waiting in the wings is the horror of the nazi third reich. >> the cabaret is a place of hope. i think it's why all these really extraordinary beings descend on it. i know that hope is dashed and broken, destroyed. >> reporter: is "cabaret" a warning? >> for me, it is. it shows the hope, the joy, the aspiration, and shows how progress can be taken from you, and we can regress. >> reporter: in the brand-new

production, renamed cabaret at the kit kat club, opening this weekend on broadway, gayle rankin plays funny flighty live-for-today singer sally bowles. >> life is a -- >> reporter: immortalized -- ♪ cabaret ♪ >> reporter: liza minnelli in the movie. ♪ come to the cabaret ♪ >> i started thinking about liza the other night. stop it! i was, like, i honor you, i honor you, i honor you. i have to go on stage now. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: and the serpentine eddie redmayne seduces the crowd as the emcee. >> every night beneath where you are standing i emerge from down here and that iconic drum roll, i stand in the bottom waiting to be rocketed up to the stage, and feels like going to the guillotine, and then just as it

starts to rise, something euphoric happens. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: both rankin and redmayne have been to the cabaret before. she in a supporting role in the 2014 revival starring alan cumming, redmayne an oscar and tony winner in the 2021 london staging of this new production. but his connection goes back even farther. you had a long-term relationship with this show. how old were you? >> about 14 or 15 years old. i was at school and i was cast a as the emcee. i neverlissed to "cabaret." that was my introduction to it. something in that experience struck me. i don't come from a very theatrical family. my parents were beautifully supportive, but from an early age, oh, this is what i want to do. my parents, like, okay, but we hear all the statistics about actors out of work and this. and i'll never forget, after they came to see my school production of "cabaret," they were like, go for it.

>> reporter: you may have noticed the three of us are surrounded on all sides by seats. >> you feel different. shake us up and take us to a different world. sort of let us forget where we are and who we are. >> reporter: in a radical reimagining of the august wilson theater, designer a tom scott ripped out the old stage and added seating to create a nightclub in the round. this is wild. this correspondent can attest, it's a very big deal. >> this can only happen if you are witnessing other audience members going through the same thing as you, same feelings that you are. the more we do that, the better. >> reporter: we were there when the cast saw the reconfigured theater for the first time. >> i can literally touch people. this is fantastic. we can come in, say hi. we can talk, walk amongst everyone. >> reporter: even getting to your seat in this production is

an experience. >> this is what we are calling a vault bar. >> reporter: rather than enter through the theater's front doors, denizens of this kit kat club walk in through the side for a show before the show. >> you get taken into those cavernous bars and you pass performers, musicians, with the idea being that once you enter the theater, the space we're in now, the theater proper, you have genuinely left all your troubles outside. you are in weimer, germany. >> they are lulling you into a feeling that makes you understand just how evil the evil is. >> reporter: lulling, boom. >> yeah. >> reporter: wow. two-time tony winner bebe neuwirth plays fraulein schneider, the gentile owner of a boarding who falls in love with a jewish man. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: and then faces a terrible decision. ♪ ♪

>> there is darkness and there is light in everything, and in this show there is light and there is horror as well. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: why does "cabaret" keep coming back? >> the first answer is the music. because it's just glorious. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: that glorious score by john kander and fred ebb. >> it's also sadly timeless because it is also a story about encroaching evil and what do we do in the face of it. do we recognize it? do we acknowledge it? do we fight it? eve >> reporter: even in the happiest moments it's there. >> you can feel it just beyond the theater's doors. just outside, there are r rumblings. >> reporter: the musical "cabaret" turns 58 this year.

♪ ♪ >> reporter: original emcee joel grey recently visited the theater to celebrate his 92nd birthday and confer his blessing on eddie redmayne, gayle rankin, and the rest of the company. they hope to welcome many more patrons to their club. >> oh, my gosh, wait until my mom and dad come over. they are so excited. my dad saying, i spoke to, you know, i hate the fact that you are over in new york and i could be there every night. he said that. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> we are here to serve you in!

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we've had word of a sad passing. former "sunday morning" producer jim houtrides died friday. jim spent 34 years at cbs news, nearly all of them at "sunday morning." reporting on everything from 9/11 -- >> the big man can't walk over the little man. >> to maytag workers in west virginia who fought back after lsing their jobs, and won. he won emmy awards for both those stories. two of eight in all. in a note he sent upon his retirement, jim wrote, i have

had more fun than i ever thought a job could offer. not bad for a greek kid who couldn't speak a word of english when he started school. not bad at all, jim. his wife, maureen, died in 2021. jim will be remembered by his son evan, his two beloved grandchildren, as well as all who knew him. jim houtrides was 88. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪

for months now our cbs news investigative unit has been exploring the dark, dangerous side of online dating. the results of their exhaustive inquiry will air all this week starting now. here's correspondent jim axlerod. >> she had all these buckets full in her life. my mom did. but there was this one bucket that was missing, and that was a male relationship. >> reporter: three years after kelly gowe's father died from cancer, her mother, 57-year-old laura kowal, a retired hospital executive, decided she was ready to start dating again.

>> my mom was actually very specific about wanting to do online dating. it allowed her the opportunity to are more control of what she was looking for in somebody. it felt safer. >> reporter: after going online, laura found what she thought was true love on match.com. she fell hard for a man named frank, a self-described swedish businessman, his profile included this stolen photo. october 4th, 2018, she meets frank. >> mm-hmm. >> reporter: over email. smart, shrewd, savvy woman, 12 days later telling someone she never met, you have my heart forever. >> really my mom felt the emotions of feeling loved and having companionship just through email. i know there is a lot of people out there saying, how could that happen? >> reporter: that's right. this lonely hearted retiree who

sought safety as she started dating fell for a man she never met face to face, which is why in the summer of 2021, kelly was relieved laura's online romance seems to have run its course. >> i am calling in regards to your mother, laura kowal. >> reporter: until she received an alarming call from a federal agent. >> who may have been involved in a fraud scam as a victim. >> i called my mom and i immediately knew there was something legitimate to this. >> reporter: what are you thinking? >> i knew it had to do with frank. >> reporter: kelly rushed to her mom's home in galena, illinois. calling the police when she found the house empty -- >> just laying on the couch when i got here. >> reporter: except for her mom's dog, effie, who never left her side. she started looking for clues,

sifting through bank records, and discovering her mom had wired frank about $1.5 million. just about everything she had. >> i think as i went through and started uncovering this, i just became really sick at just the depths of all of it. >> reporter: and the last year, 2023, our best estimate is losses in the range of $1.3 billion related to romance scams alone. and that represents an increase from about 500 million in 2019. >> reporter: he runs the consumer protection branch at the department of justice, which investigates online romance scams. it's been a rapid rate of increase, but we believe that it's also substantially underaccounting the problem. >> reporter: undercounted people are rapt in shame and embarrassment, so they may not actually go to law enforcement and report it? >> that's right. they may be embarrassed that

they have been victimized in this way. they may be afraid to tell their friends or family. >> they come from all walks of life. it's all ages. >> reporter: all education levels? >> yes. doctors and lawyers to ditch diggers. >> reporter: even thretired u.s postal inspector natalie reda saw this many times, it never failed to stun her how the heart overruled the head. >> when you are signing up, there are banners and warning signs that say, don't ever send money to somebody you don't know. >> ron wants your money. don't send it. the person pretending to be ron is a scammer. >> people run through stop sign? >> yeah. >> reporter: as laura drew closer to frank, her family grew suspicious, and for good reason. as federal agents would eventually discover, frank's photos were of an unsuspecting chilean doctor and his emails would be traced not to sweden, but here to ghana.

>> you need to be very good in building the trust. >> reporter: we spoke to a former scammer kwo called himself emmanuel. >> you need to establish trust and you need to exploit their hope. >> that is it. so when we are able to do that, then we start extracting money from them. >> reporter: ghana and nearby nigeria are home to thousands of scammers operating with impunity. they are called yahoo boys by religious leaders who seem to condone their crimes. >> many yahoo boys, yahoo girls, yahoo man, yahoo woman, are going to make heaven. >> reporter: emmanuel described sophisticated teams with specialists who could impersonate accents and har nis technology to mask their location. how hard was it for you to set up a fake profile on the sites like match.com? >> it's easy. >> reporter: in a 2019 lawsuit, the federal trade commission alleged that as many as 25 to

30% of match.com members who register each day were using match.com to perpetrate scams. 25 to 30%. match group told us in a statement, we believe the ftc allegations have no merit. >> mr. kim, how are you? >> how are you? >> reporter: good, jim axlerod from cbs news. after six months of asking match.com's parent company to discuss this, we finally approached bernard kim, the ceo of match group, the largest online dating company-which operates apps including hinge, ok cupid and tinder. >> we have been talking to scammers and they say they are having absolutely no problem setting up fake profiles. >> we are working really hard every single day to make sure people are authentic. >> reporter: i was talking to the head of match.com, the man who runs it, and he said to me, making sure people don't get

scammed, that's our top priority. >> i think maybe he is not aware of what is really going on on match.com. maybe he thinks he has that security on match.com burke we are around it. >> reporter: it's easy to get around it? >> so easy to go around it. >> reporter: match group says it spends $125 million annually on trust and safety. prosecutors pursue cases against the scammers when they can find them. in laura kowal's case, they traced some of the money she sent to scammers to three people in chicago who have been charged with wire fraud. including this woman, an american military veteran and pstal worker, jennifer gosha. >> i thought we were in a relationship and i thought we were going to build together and have a life together. and it turned out that wasn't the case. >> reporter: she pleaded not guilty and said she is not a criminal, but a victim who was coerced into helping lawyer's

scammers, saying the nigerian co-conspirator she was dating used her to help launder money scammed from others. do you ever think to yourself, i played a part in someone's life being ruined? >> i have thought that many, many times. and i didn't play a part in it knowingly. >> reporter: if convicted, she could face up to 30 years in prison. she claims she didn't make a single penny from any alleged scam. >> i am not someone who decides at 52 years old, after all i accomplished in my life, now i am going to become a criminal mastermind. >> reporter: kelly spent weeks reading hundreds of emails between her mother and frank as she untangled their relationship, and just like jennifer gosha's claims about the man she was dating, frank had started teaching laura how

to help him move money. it's a harrowing new twist to online romance scams. laura kowal was now an accomplice,k becoming what law enforcement calls a money mule. >> they go and they open bank accounts at financial institutions. most of the time the wire transfers into the bank accounts are the proceeds from other romance victims. >> reporter: james barnacle, the head. financial crimes division of the fbi, says this is next-level victim exploitation. >> they are committing a crime at that point. so they have opened a bank account illegally under false pretenses. that's bank fraud. >> reporter: laura went so far as to set up fake dating profiles that ensnared more victims. >> there were some emails she said i'm not comfortable doing this, saying she is uneasy about this. it just really saddens me it got to that point that ultimately she was participating in illegal behaviors.

>> i love you, you honey. >> reporter: with her mom still missing, kelly found one more clue. a haunting note. >> kelly, you have kept me going this long. i love you. you are right in your adjustment of me. i have been living a double life this past year. it has left me broke and broken. yes, it involves frank. i tried to stop this many times, but i knew i would end up dead. >> reporter: two days after she disappeared, laura was found dead in the mississippi river, almost 250 miles from her home. kelly has spent the last three years desperately trying to find out just what happened to her mother. retracing the last hours of laura's life from illinois to iowa to missouri. >> my heart is just extremely heavy that she died this way and

this is where she was found. >> reporter: laura's death was ruled a drowning, not a suicide. kelly thinks about her mom's last note and believes she was killed. she drives the miles between her mom's home and where laura was found hoping to solve the mystery. >> i never thought that this could happen to her, but i'm sitting here today as proof that this could happen to anybody. >> reporter: the criminals who did this to your mom, we're sitting here because of them. >> i have so much anger towards them. because i look at my life now and my mom is missing out on all of that. they took so much away from me. they took everything away from her. my family will never get that

time back.

the love between mother and child knows no bounds, and if you need proof, here is our steve hartman. >> reporter: a lot of kids in america want to run a lemonade stand, but not many feel like they have to. 7-year-old emouree johnson started her business a few weeks ago after a terrible nightmare morning. >> i woke up with the worst news of my life. >> reporter: emouree's mother, karli, died unexpectedly at the age of 29. she was a single mom and emouree's everything. >> go see mommy. >> reporter: she couldn't understand first time she went to the cemetery with her grandmother jennifer j everyone else got giant granite headstones, but her mom just

this tiny metal one. >> did that bother you? >> yeah. >> reporter: why? >> because it felt like she was being left out. >> reporter: her grandma tried to explain how they couldn't afford a headstone right now. >> she had tears in her eyes. >> reporter: she did the only thing she could think of to raise money? >> yes. >> a lemonade stand. >> reporter: a lemonade stand. to pay for her mother's headstone. at first she didn't make mention of her cause. >> >> thank you. >> reporter: word got out. before long, emouree says it seemed like everyone in scottsboro, alabama, was thirsty for lemonade. the price was a dollar, but she says people liked it so much, they often paid more. >> thank you. the most that we got from one cup of lemonade was 300 bucks. >> reporter: for lemonade? >> yeah, for one cup. >> reporter: whoa! so far, emouree's lemonade stand has raised more than $15,000,

which will all go into savings because a monument company is now donating the headstone. but more importantly, emouree has taken that lemon life handed her and squeezed out hope. >> her comment was when all these people came, she couldn't believe so many cared for her and loved her mommy. >> reporter: they always say it takes a village to raise a child, but sometimes it also takes a village to mourn a mom. folks around here take that role seriously. offering emouree comfort by the cupful, and all the love she can drink. >> thank you. >> you're welcome. salonpas lidocaine flex. a super thin, flexible patch with maximum otc strength lidocaine that contours to the body to relieve pain right where it hurts. and did we mention, it really, really sticks? salonpas, it's good medicine. here at once upon a farm, we chose the

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♪ ♪ ♪ what's holding my soul together ♪ ♪ it's "sunday morning" on cbs and here again is jane pauley. >> that's the legendary julie andrews in "victor/victoria" back in 1982. all these years later, at age 88, she is neither lost track of where she came from nor where she is going. ♪ a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down ♪ ♪ >> reporter: "mary poppins" was julie andrews's first film. the second, "the sound of music" ♪ the hills are alive with the

sound of music ♪ >> reporter: if she had never made another movie, she might still be one of hollywood's most endearing and beloved stars. ♪ blue satin sashes ♪ >> reporter: and generation after generation, would still be singing along. ♪ that melt into spring ♪ ♪ these are a few of my favorite things ♪ >> reporter: though that was just the beginning of a career literally in its eighth decade, it's very good place to start. because now julie andrews is a writer of children's books with co-author and daughter emma walter hamilton. their latest is a story of the theater from the perspective of a duck. >> mr. and mrs. puddleduck were expecting their first clutch of eggs. >> reporter: waiting in the wings your latest book is a true story?

>> yes. >> some years ago here at bay street theater in sag harbor we happened to notice that a pair of ducks were nesting in a planter in our courtyard out front. >> soon an altogether different sound filled the air. a pleasant melodious one coming from inside the building. >> ducks in the book, theatrical ducks, very much so. >> one of them is. >> mr. puddleduck in our version of the story sneaks into the theater. >> reporter: waiting in the wings is at the 35th book by this prolific partnership. a collaboration that has given julie andrews a new voice. 30 years ago, a surgical procedure went horribly wrong, destroyed her famous soprano and took her identity. >> one day i was benoeng my fate and missing very much the fact that i couldn't sing because the surgery went awry and took away my ability do what i loved to

do, and so i was bemoaning my fate to emma. s she said, mom, just found another way of sharing your voice. and i tell you, it hit me so hard what she said, and i have never really bemoaned it since. >> reporter: sounding a lot like a younger julie andrews -- >> when the lord closes a door, somebody opens a window. >> reporter: and there are some other intriguing parallels. both maria and mary poppins must win over skeptical children. they are all about fun, but not all about fun. they are sly teachers. they are optimists. >> yes, they are. >> reporter: but they recognize that children have real problems. >> you are absolutely right. and i think we talk -- >> we don't talk down to kids. we try to bring them up so that

you don't conned send in any way. >> reporter: she loved books since she was a child. though born in 1935, her childhood memories include air raid silence and running for cover during the blitz, the german bombing of london during world war ii. her parents had already split up. it was her stepfather who discovered her voice. a 9-year-old soprano with an astonishing four-octave range. and little julie became part of her parents' musical act on the vaudeville circuit. before long she was supporting the family. you were paying the mortgage? >> yes, i was, eventually. >> reporter: as a teenager? >> yes. >> reporter: the family mortgage? >> we needed cash dreadfully.

eventually, when i was about 15, i went out on my own all around england, around and around and around. >> reporter: with the responsibility that your family needed a roof over their head? >> yes. >> reporter: you had a job to do it? >> i was part of the family trying to do it. but eventually it was just me because my stepfather was an alcoholic, sadly. >> reporter: all that work, and all that training, very serious training, you weren't reaching for the stars? >> no. in fact, doubting that i ever would. i mean, i was doing it because it helped and i to. in my teens, i would think, what is all this for? where is it going to lead? suddenly, the world broke open. >> reporter: at 19, she was cast as the lead in a broadway show. a ten-year veteran of the stage and a trained vocalist, but she was not quite ready. >> i didn't have acting lessons or anything like that. i picked it up and learned. people are very kind.

you know, they don't hurt puppies, actually, if you know what i'm saying. and i was a puppy, and i didn't know what the heck i was doing. but i learned. and i was grateful for all of the teaching that i got. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: still, a newcomer at 20, she created the role of eliza doolittle, opposite veteran rex harrison in lerner and lowe's 1956 smash hit ""my fair lady" ". the following year she starred in a cbs production of rodgers and hammerstein's "cinderella" on television. 100 million americans saw julie andrews for the first time. ♪ in shortness ♪ >> reporter: in 1960, she was in "camelot." when walt disney was in the audience one night, he saw his

mary poppins. ♪ chim chiminey, chim chiminey, chim chim cher-ee ♪ ♪ >> reporter: it was an academy award-winning performance. >> julie andrews! >> reporter: in her very first motion picture. >> it's lovely. i know you americans are famously, your hospitality, this is really ridiculous. >> reporter: she still radiates grace and gratitude, but in the very british tradition of getting on with things. >> i just feel most of my life i have been so very, very fortunate to have the identity of a singing voice, to have the opportunities to learn about how to be on stage or film or whatever. >> reporter: you were very fortunate and you were also very unfortunate in some ways. growing up in the war with alcoholic parents and being put to work at very young age and

being robbed of a childhood. >> feeling needed and vital and valuable, too, yeah. >> her mantra has always been, are we lucky or what? i think whether or not it's true, it is the thing that got you through. ♪ perhaps i had a wicked child ♪ >> reporter: when maria in "the sound of music" has fallen in love and he is in love and it's -- she sings the song that includes the line -- ♪ so somewhere in my youth ♪ >> reporter: in my youth and childhood. ♪ i must have done something good ♪ >> reporter: i must have done something good. >> somebody must have, because i got so damn fortunate. are we lucky? or what? >> yeah. ♪ ♪

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tomorrow is passover. the day commemorating the exodus of jews held as slaves in egypt. sadly, these many centuries later the middle east seems as conflicted as ever with death, famine, and tragedy once again common occurrences. but in the spirit of the holiday, thoughts this morning from humanist alex edelman. >> one of the cruelest things about the passover seder is that it opens with the sentence let all who are hungry come and eat. a seder is not a meal. it's it's a regimen. it's a later kmcomponent of it. seders have 15 phases. the meal is phase 11. the opening lining should be, let all who are hungry wait a hot second. imagine three quarters of the way through harry potter the kid hadn't gotten to magic school yet. jesus' last supper was a seder, which i get.

by the end of seder i am willing to die for the since of all mankind. there are unpleasant starters at a seder. seders have a plate, a seder plate, to remind you of the food you could be eating but aren't. lettuce for a salad that's not there, a bone to represent the meat you would kill for, parsley, a dip in saltwater which represents the tears of your ancestors who thousands of years ago also said when can we eat? and there is bread. well, there is an oppression cracker, matza, because halfway through the seder someone hides it. no food. an egg to remind you of the circle of life. some families use an elton john song. because we can't eat, we eat wine on empty stomachs, which means your uncle will be bringing up politics. what are we doing while not eating? tell the story. passover is celebrated by jewss and madonna. it has resonance beyond the

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i'm jane pauley. please join us when our trumpet sounds again next "sunday morning." ♪ . i'm margaret brennan. in wa i'm margaret brennan in washington. this week on "face the nation," the house passes a massive aid package, with funding for ukraine. widening the divide in the repu