Journalist enquiry

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Hello I'm New here! Joined: 10 Jul 2018 Posts: 1

Hi,

I was a member of this forum and an avid scambaiter many years ago. I'm really glad to see it is still active.

I now help edit a political blog - I won't mention which one here for security reasons but am happy to disclose it in PMs.

A story broke yesterday about a Florida gubernatorial candidate's campaign getting scammed for $120,000 by what appears to be a 419 scam. Here's previously published coverage: http://www.jacksonville.com/news/20180709/international-scam-bilks-mayor-lenny-currys-committee-for-120000

I'd like to follow up this story but with more information about how the scam MIGHT have taken place. Is this a known type of scam? Does it have a name? Why the use of a intermediary in Wyoming? Do you think the previous story sounds all wrong - if so, how?

I'm really just looking for speculation from experts here, and I will make it clear it is speculation. Happy to credit any individual or 419 Eater (or not credit anyone to keep things private - you can choose).

Thanks for your help in advance,

Journalist

PS I draw on things I learned from being a scambaiter every day in my current work. It was an invaluable internship for me!

Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2018 11:53 am

Looks like a mixture of hacking, phishing and impersonation to me - not the type of thing we deal with here.

Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2018 12:21 pm

Agreed. This looks like spear phishing and an attempt to shift "blame" towards Nigeria.

This was concerning:

Quote:

It turns out, investigators found, a phone scammer duped Robinson into believing he was Curry’s fundraiser, Kevin Hofmann of Tallahassee. Robinson didn’t realize the ruse until the real Hofmann called Robinson while he was on the phone with the impersonator. The scammer told Robinson to send money to places that all appear to be residential addresses.

“Robinson had a hard time in distinguishing who was the real Kevin Hofmann,” police wrote. “Robinson does not have caller ID to identify phone numbers.”

Having, both, listened to West Africans on the phone and spoken with native Floridians, there is no way to confuse the two accents. None.

Quote:

Why the use of a intermediary in Wyoming?

That's how money laundering works.

Moved to Misc. Scams as this isn't advance fee fraud.