Inside the business of selling people their own family photo albums

Aug 31, 2026
Inside the business of selling people their own family photo albums

David Pogue’s sister received an odd email from someone who had their grandmother’s photo album. It exposed him to a world of people buying and selling lost family albums

David Pogue, a longtime tech columnist and correspondent at CBS Sunday Morning, has covered many scams in his time. So when his sister got an email about their grandmother’s old photo album, Pogue was curious

He spoke with “Marketplace” host Kai Ryssdal about his experience, which he wrote about for New York Magazine

“It was from a total stranger, and it sounded like a scam,” Pogue said. “But at the same time the email had a couple of details in it that were correct, so I wrote the guy back.”

After he sent Pogue some photos of his grandmother from the album, the family sent him $150 so he would send it to them. In the process, Pogue explored “this online economy of memorabilia traders.”

Click the audio player above to hear the conversation

• 
  

  Understanding the economic impact of BTS — and its ARMY of fans

  Culture

• 
  

  How BookTok is powering a brick-and-mortar bookstore boom

  Culture

• 
  

  Football is back. So is the turf — and players aren’t happy

  Culture

Source: www.marketplace.org