Being scammed for €1,900 inspired stand-up Sjoerd Scott's law thesis and comedy career
Sjoerd Scott was busy rewriting his rejected thesis on financial crimes during the coronavirus pandemic when he was ironically swindled out of 1,900 euros during a phone call with a scammer posing as a Dutch Supreme Court official. Instead of quitting, the Sint Maarten-born law student channeled that frustration into a final, successful thesis on the lack of resources for fraud victims. He would soon trade in courthouses and conference rooms for the local comedy clubs where he started to hone a stand-up career built on turning personal pain into viral comedy.
The irony of the situation was the ultimate punchline for a man who had spent significant time scrutinizing the very tactics used against him. "I studied scammers for three years and I couldn’t tell when I’m talking to one," Scott shared during an episode of the Dam Yankee podcast with host Zack Newmark. "If I can’t even identify a scammer, I should not be doing this shit."
Scott wound up in his Leiden law program after an initial attempt to pursue comedy while growing up in the Caribbean , a performance which he called a "disaster." At 16, he entered an island-wide competition in Sint Maarten and "bombed like a motherfucker" in front of 2,000 people gathered in the back of a casino. His mother listened to his rehearsal, telling him to "just do accents," and he took her advice even though he was incapable of impersonating people.
The set was so quiet he "could hear the slot machines go off in the background." The only other sound was his mother's lone laugh emerging from the audience. "It was the worst thing ever," he remembered.
So he put comedy on the back burner, and moved with his mother to the Netherlands to pursue a law degree, but academic life was daunting. "I was a terrible student because I didn't know anything about the law," Scott admitted. While other students cruised through their courses, he felt he was "giving 110 percent just spending all day being like, 'What the fuck is a human rights?'"
That was shortly before Hurricane Irma wreaked havoc on Sint Maarten, leaving his home country destroyed, and his family unreachable for months. Despondent over his struggles in class, he again turned to his mother, questioning whether he should continue his quest for a law degree or return to the Caribbean. His mother saying it was fine by her if he moved back was just the push Scott needed to stay in the Netherlands.
After all, the last thing he wanted to be was one of those kids "that goes away to college, and then they fuck up, and then they come back." He imagined his friends, family, classmates, and former colleagues all saying, "Look who came crawling back." Instead, he found a vital mentor in a lecturer named Guido, who happened to have "a son named 'Sjoerd'" and "a dog named 'Scott.'" Guido’s support helped Scott persevere when he "wanted to run home with my tail between my legs and just call it a day."
It certainly would not be the last time Scott stared down adversity. He fell for the telephone confidence scam a short time later, losing all of his savings when his girlfriend at the time had left town for just a day or two. "I picked up that phone, and they said they were from 'the Supreme Court of the Netherlands' and that they had coke and blood in my car, and I don't even have a license."
Under pressure, Scott followed instructions to share his screen and transfer his funds to what he was told was a secure account. I'm doing all of this. I'm falling for the scam. I'm listening to everything they're telling me. Tell me to go on this website, type this in. Can you share your screen? "Do this and that. They said, 'Don't worry if you put your money here, we're going to have a lady come tomorrow. She's going to give you the new code so that you could access it.' They had an entire plan."
When he sought help, the police were blunt. The officer simply said, "Yeah, that was pretty stupid of you," Scott remembered. The aftermath was devastating for a student living on a budget. "I sent this guy 1,900 euros," Scott recalled. "I literally have two euros left in my account."
Rather than letting the loss derail him, Scott scrapped his previous drafts and "wrote my whole thesis about how I got scammed" and the lack of systemic support for victims. It was the "fourth attempt" that finally resonated with his instructors.
The irony of the scam provided Scott with more than just a passing grade; it gave him a definitive career epiphany. He admitted that after three years of specialized study, he was still defenseless against the caller’s tactics. This humiliation was the final sign he needed to pivot away from a legal career, because identifying humor comes much more naturally to Scott than ferreting out criminals or writing legal briefs.
Despite his self-described status as a "terrible student," Scott’s time in law school deeply informed his comedic process. He credits his legal education with teaching him "how to structure things, how to build arguments, [and] how to debate." While his teachers often pushed him to "be more serious" and "focus on substance" in his presentations, Scott eventually used those analytical skills to refine his stage presence by adding more meat to his material.
"I think I've always been like that. I'm a positive person but I have to learn the hard way a bit sometimes." Ultimately, Scott's struggles helped him find his true comedic voice. Even as a kid watching comedians online, Scott said it once dawned on him, "I would love to be able to tell stories in a positive way about pain."
His final thesis succeeded because it moved away from dry theory and leaned into the raw, personal reality of being a victim without options to recover the money he lost. This shift from a struggling student to a rising star was driven by his ability to look internally during the pandemic and embrace his natural positivity, building an audience by posting sketch comedy bits on social media in 2020 and 2021, while working out bits for his stand-up sets.
Scott has since opened for international icons like Hannibal Buress, Neema Naz, and Jimmy O. Yang. His €1,900 mistake has become the defining moment of a career that has become more successful each of the past five years.
Listen to this entire episode of Dam Yankee on all major podcast platforms, or watch the full videos on YouTube. Scott shares more information on his performances and schedule on his TikTok and Instagram accounts. He organizes an English-language comedy showcase every Friday at Clink in Amsterdam-Noord. New episodes of the podcast Sjoerd Scott co-hosts with Daniel Yazbek, In The Background, will also be released soon.
