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Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast

The Fake Secret Agent - The Robert Hendy-Freegard Story

19 Feb 2026

Transcription

Chapter 1: Who is Robert Hendy-Freegard and what are his initial scams?

0.031 - 19.422 Ray William Johnson

So this loser pretends to be a secret agent so that he can seduce women and scam them out of money. So the guy's name is Freegard and Freegard is 22 when all this starts and he's living in England and he works as a bartender at a local bar. But here's the thing about Freegard.

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He's also a con artist and a really good one. And one day around 1993, he gets the opportunity to pull a crazy scheme because he's at work that day and he meets a customer, this guy, John. And John is a student at a nearby university. So Freegard strikes up a conversation with John and because he's a con man, he starts lying to him.

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He tells him this bullshit story about how he's a super secret special agent for MI5, which is like the British version of the FBI. And that he's on a mission to investigate some students at the university who are suspected to be terrorists. And John not only believes him, but he really wants to help. Now, Freegard also ends up meeting two of John's friends at the bar.

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And at some point, Freegard tells John that his cover has been blown and that they're all in danger and that they should all flee immediately or they'll all be killed. And so the four of them leave on this cross-country trip. This is an actual picture of the four of them.

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And a few days into this trip, Free Guard tells them that a terrorist organization is tracking them and that they have to keep moving to protect their lives and the lives of their families. And they have to stay off the grid in order to avoid being tracked, so they aren't allowed to contact any of their outside friends or family. And these guys actually listen to him and they believe him.

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So after traveling around for a while, they find an apartment in Sheffield, England that they can rent and stay in. And Freegard is still hyping them up and he's telling them they're in danger and he convinces them to change their appearances. He makes them cut their hair and dye their hair. He also makes them change their names.

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Then he tells them that they all have to find jobs because, you know, someone's got to pay the rent around here. And when they do get jobs and get paid, he collects all of their salaries.

Chapter 2: How did Freegard manipulate his first victims?

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I guess because, you know, he's the secret agent, so he needs to handle the money. And this weird arrangement goes on for several months. Then, one day, Freegard will just randomly tell them, Oh no, our location has been compromised! And he'll force them to abandon their jobs and move to another city. And there, in the new city, they'll have to get a whole new apartment and whole new jobs.

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And a few months later, he'll do the same thing. And he'll force them to move to another new city. And then he'll do it again and again. And this cycle goes on for about five years. And so it's now 1998. And these three still believe that he's an MI5 agent and that they're being hunted by terrorists.

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And around this point, Freegard tells them that MI5 is now requiring payment for their protection, and he tells them they must raise a large amount of money, which they don't have. So he convinces them to start asking their parents for money. And shockingly, this actually works.

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These three start hitting up their parents and asking them for money, and they're able to collect around a total of 500,000 pounds. or about 650,000 US dollars. And now it's around this time that John, he starts figuring out that he's being lied to, and that Freegard isn't really an MI5 agent, he's just a liar. So John ends up leaving the group. But the other two women, they don't.

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They are still very much on board. And Freegard ends up getting into a relationship with one of these women, and he gets her pregnant. Twice. Anyway, so now we're in 2001, 2002, and this weird con has been going on for nearly 10 years. And they've been living off that money they got from their parents for a long while now. But eventually, that money runs out.

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So now, Freegard has got to start searching for new victims. And so some time passes, and at this point in the story, they've all relocated to West London. And there, Freegard himself actually gets a job as a car salesman at a local car dealership. And he uses this job to meet other women.

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And he'll tell them the same old thing, that he's a super secret special MI5 agent, and then he'll smash with them, and then he'll steal from them. Now, one of these women he meets is this woman, Elizabeth. And Elizabeth is 22, and she's newly married. She's just six months into her marriage.

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But pretty quickly, Freegard and Elizabeth, they start talking, and then they start flirting, and soon they start smashing. And of course, Freegard starts telling her that he's an MI5 agent on a super secret special mission, and she believes him.

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He then convinces her that because she's with him, she's now in danger, and a terrorist organization is after her, and that she must cut off all contact with her family and her friends, including her husband. And, of course, she does. Afterwards, he convinces her that they need to get married.

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