US based operation?

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Hello I'm New here! Joined: 03 Jul 2011 Posts: 3

how likely is it that one of thes scammers is in this country? My wife's nephew was told by an FBI agent that the guy scamming his dad and mom are in the US I say nay,nay but have you ever heard of a USbased operation?

Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2011 7:19 am

There are lads everywhere. Big nests of em in Canada and elsewhere. There's no reason why they shouldn't be in the US. I'd be more interested in why the Fibbies think the lad is in the US.

Master Baiter Joined: 30 Jan 2010 Posts: 182

Hi Uncle Remus.
A quick answer to your question "Yes".
I have had a few scam mails that trace back to the US.
They are worldwide and come in all shapes and sizes.
Scamming is not just a Nigerian thing.

PG

Baiting Guru Joined: 10 Oct 2003 Posts: 4747

The main justification for safe baiting is mugus are everywhere. Never underestimate a mugu or his friends.

Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2011 10:42 pm

My three piggies below were for a lad based in NYC but apparently had contacts in West Africa. They sometimes work in operations that cross borders.

Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2011 12:40 am

What kind of scam was it that the FBI would get involved? Normally law enforcement doesn't get involved unless it's a doozy of a scam.

Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2011 3:54 am

An e-mail scammer can operate out of anywhere.

While the practice might be really popular in western Africa, I would guess that the odds of 419 lads operating in the USA are about 100%. They operate in Canada all the time.

NOTE: If US scammers are anything like Canadian ones (and I'm sure they are), they are likely to be connected with organized crime. Electronic fraud is a well-known sideline for the Russian & Ukranian mobs in my area, several Asian gangs are involved in it, and word is a couple of criminal biker gangs (no names needed) have tried their hands at it. And all of those bastards are well and truly dangerous. Hence the "bait safe" rule.

The FBI thing is intriguing. While they do investigate white collar fraud, they usually deal with bigger fish than a 419er, which they'd usually refer to local police. Law enforcers generally don't give out details of their suspects to members of the public, either. They didn't contact your wife's nephew by e-mail by any chance, did they?

Master of Master Baiters Joined: 26 Sep 2008 Posts: 689

It's also possible the "FBI agent" is a scammer .... we do come across them very often.

Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2011 7:18 am

Yes it is possible the lad was from the US.
It also seems there's plenty of them in the UK.

But one gotta remember lads can be found everywhere, in all shapes and colors.

Baiting Guru Joined: 10 Oct 2003 Posts: 4747

A point of clarification, some of the idiotic nitwits we bait aren’t members of small groups.

Some may be, but others part of major crime syndicates.

The following is gives a limited view of these gangs. Its limited because its main focus is on only one countries where they operate.

http://www.afp.gov.au/~/media/afp/pdf/a/africa.ashx

Why hasn’t LE gotten more involved? Considering the true size of the problem they probably should, but, this is not the “cause of the ,moment”.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 03 Jul 2011 Posts: 3

The nephew only asked an FBIguy he knew for information. He is going to contact the local LE's
These lads have threatened physical violance.
I think it started as a check scam on the 'phone.
the lads have used many name George Washington, TJ
It has been going on for years. My brother in law lost his business and these guys showed up soon afterwaed offering hope. They once were wealthy but now are on welfare the son/nephew thinkswhat they get from SS goes to these a holes. they claim to be Jamacain

Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2011 1:07 pm

There are definitely groups of Jamaican scammers operating in the US, and while they may be Jamaica-based, they usually have US connections. They are most frequently associated with lottery scams, but they have evolved and gotten involved in other types. They tend to be a bit more organized, and are more likely to research and specifically target victims. For example, when they are running lottery scams, they have been known to actually pay someone to go to local casinos and gather information on the heavy gamblers, so they know who to target. They tend to work by phone rather than email. They are often aggressive, and once they get hold of a paying victim, they can be relentless. I remember a case a while ago in which family members finally cut off an elderly victim's phone service, and the scammers tracked down a neighbor's phone number, and demanded they get the victim and put him on the phone. Threats of violence are NOT uncommon with Jamaican scammers.

Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2011 2:55 am

I have a lad (or at least the WU pickup) running out of Alabama, 36426. I thought about calling the local Police office there and bust this lad. But I hear so many stories of police refusing to work with baiters.

Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2011 3:08 am

There are lots of WU pickups in the US. The majority of them are not lads, but are victims of job scams or romance scams who think they are picking up the money for a legitimate reason.

Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2011 3:46 am

Since this is a third person talking for their son, I am curious to know how and who he talked to from the FBI. As you can read from various posts here, lads like to imitate LE. If an FBI man was indeed contacted and looked "all this stuff" up for your son, then he should have gone a little further. Something lacking here. Not sure if real LE was contacted. Might be a lad. Defintiely something to be looked into by local LE, face to face, no email, if there is threat of harm. No joke. That's why safe baiting is paramount!

Something's not right.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 03 Jul 2011 Posts: 3

As I understand it the FBI guy is known by the son personally

Master of Master Baiters Joined: 26 Sep 2008 Posts: 689

caveatscammer wrote:

I have a lad (or at least the WU pickup) running out of Alabama, 36426. I thought about calling the local Police office there and bust this lad. But I hear so many stories of police refusing to work with baiters.

There used to be a member of this group who was a retired LEO living in Alabama. Anyone got his contact still?

Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2011 12:42 pm

dwatina wrote:

What kind of scam was it that the FBI would get involved? Normally law enforcement doesn't get involved unless it's a doozy of a scam.

Not true. LE will act if the suspects are located locally.

The main reason why LE doesn't or can't do anything about a 419 scam is because the suspect is in West Africa. However, if fraud was committed and there are leads the suspects are local, LE will investigate.

Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2011 8:30 pm

That's true what Ghost said, to a large extent.

It's not that the police don't care about 419, it's that they have many more rules and regulations than we do when combatting it. On our end, it looks kind of easy: It's definitely a scam and that guy is definitely a scammer, here's the e-mail proof, so go arrest him. But it's not that simple.

Law enforcers not only need hard unbiased evidence, they need to collect it within several well-defined parameters in order for said evidence to be accepted by a court. It would be easy if they were allowed to monitor a lad's e-mail account(s), bank account(s) and phone number(s) 24/7, but they're not. Then there's the fact that many victims and unwitting accomplices are hard to find and often uncooperative for many reasons. On top of that, professional scam artists are very wise in the ways of avoiding detection and capture. It's not impossible to find someone over the internet, but it can be extremely difficult if that person doesn't want to be found.

I won't even get started on the tactics of defence lawyers.

Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2011 3:58 pm

Quote:

I have a lad (or at least the WU pickup) running out of Alabama, 36426.

ROFL. Brewton, Alabama?? Population 5,500 where everyone knows everyone else's business. City is 11 square miles:lol: Laughing

I would suspect someone driving from another Alabama location to a small store in Brewton, but would not think it is a Brewton resident.