welcome to "on the money." i'm becky quick. they are an easy way to give a holiday present, but gift cards may be helping to fuel the opioid crisis. an "on the money" investigation. ready to decorate your house? now there's an app for that. get design help and save money without ever leaving home. and meet the 27-year-old man who has visited 193 countries. plugging the leaks in your home you may not even know about. how to save money and stay warm. and king of late night's castle is for sale johnny carson's astounding malibu house "on the money" starts right now. >> announcer: this is "on the money," your money, your life, your future.

now, becky quick >> we begin with gift cards. it's an easy gift to buy at major retailers and to give during the holidays, too, but the plastic currency is being used as part of a massive fraud being fueled by the opioid epidemic in an "on the money" investigation contessa brewer found stores across the country are being targeted easy summon this week's cover story. >> reporter: inside some of the country's biggest retailers there's a shadowy world of commerce, crime and drugs, and at the center gift cards are gift cards currency you can use to pay for drugs >> yes. >> yes, most definitely. >> reporter: by all appearances, these four women could be tidying up what looks like a college dorm room, but this is no university. it's rehab >> that worthlessness, i mean, that guilt and shame that i feel every day. that i chose drugs over my son, every day.

>> reporter: and he's these women aren't students. they're patients, struggling with crippling addiction >> i've definitely stolen. >> reporter: they sat down with us at a drug treatment facility in jacksonville, florida 23-year-old kristen booth's drug of choice, oxycodone and heroin and she's been arrested twice for gift card fraud. >> i would take things off the shelf. i would make sure i left the store so on camera it looked like i purchased the items and come back and go to customer service. >> and some of the biggest national retailers are some of the biggest targets because of relaxed return policies. >> i would go to home depot, lowe's, walmart, stuff like that, take stuff, leave and go to another home depot, take it back and get a gift card. >> reporter: sometimes drug dealers directly accept the cards as payment >> if there's 50 on the gift card, your dealer will want to do $25 and they'll give you product.

>> reporter: but more often, the cards get sold to third parties, corner stores, pawnshops and specialty retailers making it easy to get cash the national retail federation found 57% of companies reported fraudulent gift cards or store credit in at least one location. that's down from two-thirds in previous years >> it's been our experience that they will commit these crimes when they are desperate and need their next fix. >> reporter: we ride along with lieutenant david ballard who's on a task force devoted to retail theft in the memphis area deputies arrive at a jcpenney to arrest an employee for embezzlement involving gift cards. suddenly, they spot a theft in progress at the store and give chase through the mall parking lot. the suspect's cornered and arrested for shoplifting investigators find a slew of gift cards on her front seat. >> would you mind just explaining to me about the gift cards. >> reporter: neither suspect

wanted to talk, and investigators have not linked their alleged crimes to drugs. national retail chains are also grappling with the problem of return fraud and gift card abuse. home depot is recently cracked down with a change in return policy the company tells us it only accepts store credits for its in-store purchases, and we require proof of i.d. when store credits redeemed at checkout because of the increase in return fraud in the end, making it more difficult for addicts to turn cards into cash may be only a temporary obstacle to the next fix. >> when you're suffering from addiction, any length means any length. >> reporter: and the national retail federation estimate stores lose as much has $15 bill -- $15 billion a year in return fraud but it can be very frustrating for law enforcement who are there to assist the stores they say they want to see these

retailers putting a lot more investment into loss prevention, tracking the gift card abuse, the retail return fraud and so far, it looks like it's not a coordinated effort so far. >> is it happening in places in the country where the opioid epidemic at its worst or just across the board >> happening everywhere. i reached out to law enforcement agencies nationwide. every single agency that i spoke to said they think there's a link between a rise in opioid addiction and a rise in retail theft, fraud, and abuse, and every addict i spoke to, every single one nationwide, said, this is a common scheme. everybody knows they can get money by using a scheme like this >> contessa, thank you now, here's a look at what's making news as we head into a new week on the money. good news and bad news after a fed meeting. let's start with the bad news. you better get ready to pay a little more on your credit card interest our your adjustable rate mortgage. there is good news though, too, you might make a little more money from your savings account. as ways widely expect the, the janet yellen led federal reserve raised interest rates for the third time this year, still

historically low at 1.5% and another three hikes are expected for next year, all a sign for a stronger economy that can hopefully withstand higher rates. the dow closed at a record high after the fed announced the rate hike the nasdaq closed higher as well, though the s&p fell. stocks continued to climb later in the week. the mouse house is getting bigger disney announcing a deal to buy many of the assets of 21st century fox for more than $52 billion in stock that includes fox movie studios, some television, and international assets, but it does not include fox news, fox-owned television stations, or some other cable promotes the deal is subject to regulators' approval here and in europe. up next, we're "on the money. does your living room need a professional helper? now you can hire an online interior designer for a flat fee that probably won't break your budget. and later, we'll take you inside the incredible beach front mansion that johnny carson came home to after every tont

tonight show it's for sale in case you're interested right now, a look at how the stock market ended the week. ♪

>> announcer: this week, online -- if you are looking to redecorate your living room but the idea of hiring an interior designer is too expensive, there is another option. havenly connects you online with designers with finding you more than finding furniture how did you come up this idea? >> i used to live in new york city and had all this like tiny furniture in the kind of studio apartments. >> easy to furnish. >> easy to furnish. >> yeah. >> and then i moved out to denver, colorado and bought a four bedroom house and had all this tiny furniture. i was working all the time and honestly it was like i couldn't figure out how to get it together and constantly bombarded with these beautiful

images from pinterest and felt -- >> people who have time to pull these together >> it felt like there was an opportunity missing. i was willing to spend a few thousand dollars at that moment in time but no one was getting me to the product that would really work for me >> how does it work? you've got a $79 mini-package and a full package for $150. which seems incredibly reasonably priced. how does it actually work, and what do you get for that >> yeah. you go online and take a style survey we use that to match you up with a couple of our designers. pick the one you like the most work with them all online. exchange photos and video online and go back and forth with some imagery. >> things that i've pulled from pinterest and say i like this, these are my types of styles for these things. >> exactly. >> how do you match designers with styles, whatever i send in to say these are the types of things we like >> we test and train our designers and screen them. 6% of people that apply to become a designer become one at havenly.

you match into the style we test you. if you say you're a mid-accept -- mid-century modern designer, we test you for that style to make sure your a right fit for the user as well >> i would imagine that this is something that's probably popular when i think about how many people sit around and watch hgtv and remodeling things. >> right. >> and a million show that show you how to do things with your home. >> been like a secular trend basically at an earlier age and a lower demographic segment we're seeing people be very, very interested in home design i mean, it's your home >> who are your customers, first of all are these people in the midwest, on the coast how old are they >> most of our customers are under the age of 45. just because there's an online element so some of them are sort of tecklenbuh adopters people on the coast, living in an apartment like myself and that's how we started and we've sort expanded into the middle of the country as we've gotten more and more home owners that live in suburbs and other areas. >> they give me the idea, your designers. how do you implement that and

where do i get all that have >> buy it all online from us. >> right. >> something like 600 vendors so people you would know like west elm or wayfair and trade vendors and local artisanal vendors as well. >> lee, i want though thank you very much for your time today. love the idea. >> thanks so much for having me. >> up next, we're "on the money" this 27-year-old has traveled to every country in the world how he did it and what he learned along the way. and later, winter is coming. we've got the best tips and tricks to winterize your home and save some cold hard cash we know life can be hectic.

that's why at xfinity we've been working hard to simplify your experiences with us. now with instant text and email updates you'll always be up to date. you can easily add premium channels so you don't miss your favorite show. and with just a single word, find all the answers you're looking for. because getting what you need should be simple, fast, and easy. download the xfinity my account app or go online today.

when someone says they want to see the world, they usually have a few countries on their bucket list but to actually visit every single country in the world is a huge undertaking, one that very few people ever accomplish sal lovallo is one of them, having recently visited his 193rd country last month and thanks for being here. >> so happy to be here. >> are you really just 27? >> i am. just turned in september. >> now in the world did you knock off all these countries at this young age >> it was actually a real long process. took over ten years and i was traveling a lot for school and work i work in economic development and identity so i was doing a lot of travel for research and work and while work i was staying at a lot of spg and marriott hotels building a lot of points up so when i went on my own trip i could go stay at the hotels for free. >> what was the point that you realized, you know what, i could hit every single country where were you in your country

>> i took off what i thought would be six months of work and that ended up being a year and i had been to six countries and do one more year of not work, i need to make it a goal and achieve something so that was december last year i said let's go, let's finish and 2017 was the year that i finished >> what were your last 33 countries or so? which were the ones that you hadn't gotten to >> what's crazy because it was never a goal to go all of them i never did it strategically. >> had ones that were next door. >> my final four countries were on four different continents i had to go to the pacific and africa to the congo and middle east for yemen and then to malta for the finale so it was all over for the final. >> wow how did you possibly afford doing that, i get the marriott rewards points, spg, but what about just the travel and the plane tickets. >> yes a lot of it was for work and school and that was nice and the companies enabled me to do that and then it's just saving and being smart about the way you're spending i went to international boarding schools so i stayed with friends in something like 75 countries,

so grateful that i'm able to have those contacts, but, yeah, just slowly but surely, i don't know. >> having traveled everywhere, where are the places you want to go back to >> i've been living in the united arab emirates for six years in abu dhabi i really love it i think that's the best and most interesting place in the world there's so much to learn while there. i go every year to tanzania and own a small there and love to go back my mother is german and my father italian so i'm always going to those two places. 50 countries which i've been to twice which might be more impressive than going to all 193. >> now that you've done that, what's the next item on your bucket list? >> settle down, be a normal guy. i think i'll work in emerging market finance in either new york or london, want to get an apartment and a girlfriend, maybe a dog, just be, you know, settle down and be normal. >> love it. >> have you been to all 50 states >> 45 states. >> there's your next bucket list we have a project for you. >> thank you >> sal, it's great to meet you >> wonderful to meet you as

well winter just around the corner and lower temperatures means higher heating bills having an energy efficient home can be a simple way to help homeowners stay on budget. joining us right now with some tips on how to make your home more efficient is "better homes and garden" magazine director amy brightfield. >> thanks very having me >> some of these tips are no-cost tips what are ways that i can spend without spending money >> for example, unplug all gadgets when you're not there. >> coffee-maker. >> coffee-maker. >> my computers. >> tv. >> unplug my tv? >> it would take me an hour and a half to walk around the house. >> put everything in an energy strip and turn that off. >> okay, that makes sense. >> do that or do key ones or if you can't do it every day do it when you're not there for the weekend or when you're going to be gone for a whole day on saturday or sunday. >> makes sense if i have a power strip. i saw that we showed do your laundry in cold water. >> today, most detergents are really strong and good and do as much laundry in cold water so then the water heater isn't

fired up maybe don't do sheets and towels in the cold water but can you do most everything in cold water and it really saves a tremendous amount of energy with the water heater. >> how much on average are we talking about heat escaping from a house? >> it depends on like the cracks and crevices, the space around the door and windows it can add up to as much as a nine square foot hole loss of heat. >> what? >> if you go around the house, want to go around your house and check under doors, around windows and seal everything up with weather stripping which is pretty inexpensive and easy or with calking and make sure that all of that is sealed up. >> i'm just thinking what have my grandpa used to say we're not paying to heat neighborhood he was right. >> exactly everything can escape so make sure it's all sealed up. >> we use these things to keep the heat in. >> yes. >> you also suggest lowering the temperature on your water heater why and what does that mean? >> well, we're at about 110 to 120. most people have it cranked up to 140. >> are you kidding >> still comfortable at 110 to

120. the water heater takes a tremendous amount of water so keep it at 1910 to 120. and you'll still be great and comfortable. >> and i'll still have plenty of hot water when all the kids want to take a shower at the same time >> and lower the risk of burning yourself. >> when it comes it things like light bulbs and windows, what do we want to do? >> you want to make sure that you have double paned windows and make sure you have ones that are energy star and some of them have a coating on it to keep the heat in. so you want to trade out incandescent lightbulbs for fluorescent lightbulbs they cost about $1 more but they last ten times longer and can reduce your energy by 75%. >> i hate the white lights of the fluorescent ones are they getting better? >> they are getting better. >> it looks like a hospital. >> maybe don't do it in every single place but in some specific, even if you change out some of them, can you -- you'll be reducing your energy output. >> all right amy, thanks so much for joining us today. >> thanks for having me. >> great to see you. >> up next "on the money," a look at the news for the week

ahead. and johnny carson guarded his privacy while he was the host of "the tonight show. we'll take you beyond the gates and into his malibu palace it's on the market right now, but there is one little catch.

♪ here are the stories coming up that may impact your money this week. on tuesday we'll be getting a barometer of the housing market with new home starts wednesday marks the 100th

anniversary of the national hockey league. then on thursday we'll be getting the third and final reading for the third quarter gdp, and it's the winter solstice that is the shortest day of the year so you know it gets brighter and brighter from there. it's also national re-gifting day. you know you're not going to love everything that you get this holiday is so you might as well put it to good use. then on friday we'll see how many durable goods were sold in the month of november. as host of "the tonight show," johnny carson was the king of late night for 30 years. of course, the king needed a castle, and he found it right on the ocean in malibu. the mansion is again up for sale, and our robert frank got the full tour. >> reporter: there is no strip of sand in all of california that attracts the ultra rich and super famous like malibu and there's no better example of the allure than the flip top trophy house with a power to seduce the king of late night tv johnny carson after just one visit. >> do we know anything about how he found this place?

>> he came to a party and walked in and said, how much? and they said, it's not for sale and he said, how much? and he wrote an offer that they couldn't refuse. >> reporter: that offer was a reported $9.5 million. more than three decades later, the late night tv icon's compound is owned by a hollywood power couple couple looking to sell it for $81.5 million. when you roll up this hideaway's lush drive you will see what made this talk show host pull out his checkbook and turn it into his full-time residence for 20 years. >> there are trees growing in this living room. >> there really are. it's an indoor arboretum. >> reporter: every inch of the 7,000 square foot mansion is drenched in sunlight thanks to the 30-foot high wall of window and massive glass ceilings with a giant gilded sun sculpture at its center outside is where johnny soaked in his success, with a waterfall that flows into a swimming pool

carved into a rock terrace and a pond where even the fish date back to the carson years the four-acre estate continues across the street to a separate plot of land where the tv star could host visitors in a two-bedroom guest house. enjoy a workout in the open-air gym or just relax in the luxurious home spa but one of the talk show king's most beloved spots on the secluded property is right here on the tennis lover's private championship court extravagant gift paid for by his bosses at the network. >> we're at johnny's court that nbc gave him in appreciation, and we are sitting on the center court bench that johnny sat on and wimbledon gave it to him as a gift. >> reporter: it's all enough to make you want to channel mr. carson and make these owners an offer they can't refuse that malibu estate is listed by its current owners hollywood

producer sid and his wife carolyn. they bought it in 2007 for a reported $46 million now on the market for a little over $81 million >> i have so many questions on this if he bought this back in 1987 at $9.7 million, what does that work out in terms of prices? >> terms of dollar amount, it would be about double, but real estate in malibu, they have had two deals just this year for over $85 million. >> so this is a bargain. >> this is actually a bargain. it's a great spot. your neighbors include barbra streisand, julia roberts, martin sheen. i mean, this is, in my view, the best part of malibu because it's so private. >> he was a private person, too. >> he was very private in fact, that giant house which is about 11,000 square foot, when johnny owned it, it only had one bedroom, because he didn't like guests he didn't want visitors. so the visitors, if you came to see johnny, would stay by the

tennis court across the street >> get out, you're not welcome. >> across the street. >> come for dinner and please leave. >> now it has more bedrooms. >> they have configure it had to be like a normal house there's multiple bedrooms and they will have guests. >> that's amazing. >> it's really a throwback to another era of television, of real estate, but great real estate never goes out of style that location is one of the best in all of california. >> robert, thanks so much. >> thank you >> great to see you. >> you too. >> folks that, the show for today. i'm becky quick. thanks so much for joining us. next week, holiday wines yeah, just saying those words puts a smile on my face. guess what we get to go for a taste test next week. make sure you keep it here each week we're "on the money. have a great one and we'll see you next weekend

welcome to options action special coverage of the gop tax plan you're looking at a live shot of capitol hill where the final version of the bill was released moments ago. we are awaiting those details and it was tax hopes that fueled the rally today. all major industries today closing at record highs. the dow surging more than 140 points the traders standing by to break down the market moves. tim seymour stuck around but let's get to elon with what is in that bill apparently we're having some difficulty with elon -- >> reporter: is now public >> there we go >> reporter: melissa, as you said, that bill