Numb3rs Episode 5.04 Jack of All Trades

Don and his team are called in to help agent Bloom take down a prolific con man who Bloom had been tracking for two years. After using his charm to secure positions in various companies, the con man would hit the companies’ accounts for a small amount to test his system, and then, using the same system, would make a second big score after he disappeared. The con man, who we eventually learn is Kevin Oliver, was so good that the FBI had never been able to get a finger print or photo, but now that he’d set up shop in LA, the FBI was right on his trail.

However, when Charlie, who regains his security clearance in this episode, investigates various patterns he comes to two startling revelations. Kevin had only been focusing his cons on businesses that had an employee with a specific sequence of social security numbers, suggesting that he was looking for a person, not a score. In addition, Charlie concludes that Kevin was not associated with the larger, second scores, suggesting that another person was responsible for them. In the end it’s discovered that Kevin, a foster kid who is only 18, was looking for his birth mother the entire time, and only conning the bare minimum to get by. Bloom was responsible for the second heists, and had committed them to draw more attention to the case, so he could justify continuing the chase. It turns out the first business hit was Bloom’s sister’s, and he became obsessed with bringing down the guy who had stolen from his family.