How I set up a sting and the cops nicked the scammer

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Hello I'm New here! Joined: 16 May 2016 Posts: 1

Here's the story which the trade paper FT Adviser ran today. http://www.<link snipped to protect people>

Here's the full story!

Scammer Scammed, Biter Bit!

It all started on the morning of Monday 2 February 2015 shortly after 9am. My operations manager C<snipped> who’s also an adviser in my firm received an email purporting to come from a lady client of ours, a retired headmistress, requesting a valuation. I’ll call the client Josie – not her real name. A short while later an identical email came addressed to me. The email address checked out with the one we had on file so we confirmed the balance. In short order a reply came back requesting that we initiate a transfer ‘to secure a vital business deal’. This rung a few alarm bells so we tried contacting Josie. Getting no answer to our calls we left messages on her mobile answering service. In between times we kept the email conversation going with some generic information about timescales and methods of making payment. Then Josie called. She knew nothing of the emails we’d been sent. Checking with her phone company it turned out she’d been sent two emails to her smart phone that morning. Not recognising the sender she’d deleted the first but had opened the second without realising it. Attached to it was a virus which ripped her entire contact list from her phone and allowed the scammers to clone her AOL email account. I’m guessing they went through her contact list, found two email addresses at our domain, checked out our website and seeing we are in financial services, put two and two together to realise she probably had money with us.

We advised Josie to speak to the police immediately and to change her passwords. We also asked if she’d be happy for us to string the scammers along to see if we could get more information on them. She gave us the go ahead and the ‘emailspiel’ started. I call it the ‘emailspiel’ – email play – because the idea behind it was inspired by the Second World War funkspiel (radio play) counterintelligence operation run by the German Abwehr to lure SOE agents into Holland. My idea was to lure the scammers to our office where West Yorkshire CID would stand in for the Gestapo. I also phoned Action Fraud. After wasting the best part of an hour they weren’t interested, assuring me there was no chance of catching them and advised me to discontinue contact. They did however assure me that my information was valuable. Yeah, right.

With the go ahead from Josie our emailspiel commenced, using C<snipped>’s email account for the time being. We emailed the scammers asking ‘Josie’ for the sort code and account number she wanted to use. If nothing else I was determined to get the account frozen. I figure that the more accounts are taken out of use the harder it is for these people to operate. ‘Josie’ replied saying she was out of the country and wanted to use a different account to her normal one – exactly what we’d expected. We noticed that her emailed replies were timed earlier than ours and figured she was in a timezone an hour or two east of GMT – central or Eastern Europe we figured.

At this point C<snipped> was getting nervous with visions of upset mafia hitmen turning up in C<snipped>, so I took over the correspondence. Replying to the email ‘Josie’ had sent me, I played along, wishing her luck with her new business venture and saying I was ‘sorry to see her go’. They were hooked. In came an email asking how fast the funds could be transferred. This email was interesting. Josie’s surname has an ‘I’ in it. The latest email however had a double-I where the single I had previously been. Josie having changed her password, the scammers had lost their cloned AOL account. Hoping we wouldn’t notice they set up a near-identical alternative. We noticed. I replied giving a seven to ten working days timescale for payment and again asked for her bank details. By now it was afternoon. They replied giving account details at a NatWest in Manchester for an accountholder with an Asian name – I’ll call him Mr K. They wanted £29,080 transferring. Straight away we contacted Action Fraud asking that they have NatWest close the account. Action Fraud said they couldn’t help. I’d need to do it myself. I started referring to them as Inaction Fraud. Having a NatWest here in C<snipped> we went into the bank, explained the situation and asked them to contact their internal security people. To our amazement they said that as their internal systems were so slow it would take weeks for the report to get to the right place if it ever got their at all and we’d be better off contacting the branch direct.

I was starting to understand why fraud is such a massive problem and why the scammers so often get away with it.

I wrote to the bank but never had an acknowledgment of any kind, despite several chase letters. Hopefully the account was eventually frozen.

To keep the scammers warm we faked up a ‘sold’ contract note and told them the deal had been done. They thanked us politely. The next day they emailed C<snipped> again ‘to confirm the process of the sales today’. I replied saying C<snipped> was in Australia on holiday for six weeks and saying it would take 10 days for the payment to clear. Fast forward six days and on 9th February they emailed again asking for an ‘ongoing sales update’. I sent a one-liner saying we were waiting for the product provider to pay out. 13th February. They emailed saying they’d waited 9 days. Correct! We kept them hanging on. 16th February. A terse email arrived complaining that no funds had been deposited yet. I replied saying the provider had paid us owing to the anti-money laundering regulations preventing them paying it to a third-party account. I offered to deliver the cash to the M<snipped> contact or, alternatively, they could collect it from us. They came back asking us to pay the funds over to Mr K by bank transfer but I replied pleading the anti-money laundering regulations and suggesting they send their friend to pick up the cash. Back they came again asking that just £5000 be transferred – not the £29,080 they’d originally requested – and telling me to keep £500 for my trouble. Nice try! We stonewalled citing the anti-money laundering regulations and again asked them to ‘pick up the cash’ but to give me a couple of days’ notice.

They bit. On Tuesday 17th February they confirmed Mr K would pick up the cash. They asked where we could “hook up”. I suggested an M<snipped>service station. I wanted to keep it away from the office in case of any rough stuff, plus I figured that a service station would be easy for the police to seal off. Visions of scammers legging it cross-country over snow covered P<snipped> hills…

While all this was going on I was talking to the local CID – or trying to. My calls were going unreturned and nobody appeared to be taking it seriously. I needed to play for time while the cops got organised. Or at least got interested. It wasn’t looking good for organising something on the motorway. My next ploy was straight from Sun Tzu. Inventing a new staff member ‘David <snipped>’ we told the scammers that “Mr <snipped> has had to fly out to Brussels on urgent business”, putting off the collection to the following Monday. Back came a stroppy email complaining about the delay. ‘David’ replied saying they’d need to pick the funds up from the office. We offered a 4pm appointment for Friday 20th February. They took the bait and emailed a scanned driver’s license to satisfy our demands for ID evidence. The collection was to be made by a Ugandan lady I’ll call Mrs N from our office at 4pm Friday 20th February 2015. The meeting was on. The only problem was that with less than 24 hours to go I still had no real interest from the police.

Thursday evening 19th February. I finished my regular BBC spot and called into the main K<snipped> police station in E<snipped>. Explaining the situation the CID got interested at last. I drove back to C<snipped> to meet two detective constables and to give a witness statement. That was as much as they could do. They were off the next day. I’d need to go through it all again with two different officers the next day. Great.

Friday 20th February. A detective called. This guy at least was on the ball. I told them to keep the uniforms away from the office in case it was being watched. We agreed that they’d come in around 3pm to be in place before Mrs N arrived. Plain clothes officers would be in the street. We sat drinking coffee and chatting, me and the two detectives, waiting for 4pm to arrive. The game plan was that once Mrs N rang our doorbell the cops would hide in the back room in earshot while I engaged her in conversation to see what her story was. My PA, T<snipped>, was to go in the back room with them just in case it got rough. There was a lot of joking around. I could tell from their faces that they though it would be a no-show. Then one said “What if they do turn up and they’re carrying a sawn-off?” It had occurred to me that things might get heavy. Supposedly one woman would be coming alone but who was to say there wouldn’t be some heavies with her? By my desk I had an old gas-lift leg from a broken office swivel chair. Fifteen inches long, steel, an inch and a half in diameter and weighing a full kilo, at the first sign of any kind of weapon I had every intention of connecting it with the offender’s head. They wouldn’t have got up again.

At 4pm my phone rang. Mrs N was in the street and looking for our office. Toni and the cops scrambled into the back room. On our cameras I could see Mrs N was alone. I buzzed her in and asked her to sit in my office. I asked how she knew Josie. Through her brother supposedly. He and Josie were going into the art business. They were in New York buying stock. Except that I knew Josie was at home in H<snipped>.

The cops had heard enough. In they came and made the arrest. A plain clothes female officer was let in from the street and we gave her the back room to search Mrs N. She was very cool and claimed to be an innocent dupe who’d been set up by her brother. Maybe she was.

The latest is that she probably won’t be prosecuted. Her brother is still wanted as is Mr K. We did all we could but it was an uphill struggle from start to finish. At the end of it all I have no faith in the banks or Action Fraud and not much more in the police.

But we did our bit. And we got one. And it was bloody good fun!

Snipper - bware419ers

Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2016 7:13 pm

Welcome to Eater! This sounds interesting, but not what this site is about. We bait scammers who have no real information about us.

Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2016 7:27 pm

Quote:

Scammer Scammed

Hmmmm. Scamming implies stealing.

Quote:

My idea was to lure the scammers to our office

Quote:

Action Fraud...advised me to discontinue contact.

Quote:

At this point CXXX was getting nervous with visions of upset mafia hitmen turning up in CXXX, so I took over the correspondence.

Quote:

I wanted to keep it away from the office in case of any rough stuff

Quote:

My PA, TXXX, was to go in the back room with them just in case it got rough.

Quote:

Then one said “What if they do turn up and they’re carrying a sawn-off?” It had occurred to me that things might get heavy. Supposedly one woman would be coming alone but who was to say there wouldn’t be some heavies with her? By my desk I had an old gas-lift leg from a broken office swivel chair. Fifteen inches long, steel, an inch and a half in diameter and weighing a full kilo, at the first sign of any kind of weapon I had every intention of connecting it with the offender’s head. They wouldn’t have got up again.

Maybe you have no concern over the safety of yourself or your employees (your insurance carrier must have a heyday), but we do. I snipped multiple parts of your post and the link. It's not the smartest thing to go on the internet and let people who can phish/hack phones and email accounts know who the hell you are and where you live and work.

This is exactly why we preach safety here. It's also why banks take our reports seriously.

ETA: If I were your employee, putting my life in danger would have cost you. But that's just me.

Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2016 7:40 pm

If I were one of the OP's clients I would be looking for a new financial adviser - one who had a modicum of commonsense.

Baiting Guru Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 12237

B8er wrote:

modicum

I'm impressed.

Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2016 11:08 pm

TBirdNeil Wrote:

Quote:

My next ploy was straight from Sun Tzu

Sun Tzu Wrote(or at least I think he wrote this but University was a lot of beers ago):

Quote:

Supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting and to have David fly to Brussels on urgent business.

Wow that takes me back…

Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2016 11:09 pm

When the mob comes knocking, always be prepared...

Baiting Guru Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 12237

oscarpiles wrote:

Sun Tzu Wrote(or at least I think he wrote this but University was a lot of beers ago):

Sun Tzu wrote:

Supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting and to have David fly to Brussels on urgent business.

100% true, he also wrote...

Dead Chinese guy wrote:

Don't eat yellow snow.

I love that guy.

Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2016 2:32 am

oscarpiles wrote:

Sun Tzu Wrote(or at least I think he wrote this but University was a lot of beers ago):

Quote:

Supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting and to have David fly to Brussels on urgent business.

That is the peaceful Canadian translation of his work, what he actually wrote was

"最高法院的出色之處在於用一個舊氣抬腿打破了敵人的腦袋"

which translates as

"Supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's head with an old gas-lift leg"

Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2016 11:21 pm

Gas lift leg vs eighteen 00 buckshot pellets at 1400 feet per second. If you can win that one, the worlds cricket teams will beat down your door before angry lads could.

Back in the real world, this is the worst idea I've read about in a long time.

Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2016 12:32 am

No training required.

Baiting Guru Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 12237

OK, I'm dumb. What is a "gas lift leg"? Google led me to a bunch of furniture stuff.

Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2016 12:59 am

^Tis a Relative of "The One Cheek Sneak" but much more betterer because it involves Kung Fu Fighting:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TgoF-ccdGM

Baiting Guru Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 12237

^ Copy. Is that a Can specific thing? I've never heard it before.

Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2016 1:13 am

My guess is it's the gas cylinder used to lift a chair.

Baiting Guru Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 12237

^ I also read that those gadgets can explode into your posterior. The things you learn...

Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2016 1:32 am

Armageddon!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTrOb8zyrZk

Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2016 3:10 am

Pastor Frank wrote:

those gadgets can explode into your posterior.

Apparently, an office chair related incident is why Slightly walks the way he does.

Baiting Guru Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 12237

^ Too soon.

Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2016 9:27 am

^ that's the thing. It's a gas pressure strut like a big car boot lid lifter. They're quite meaty but not an ideal weapon to use from a seated position.

Baiting Guru Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 12237

Nailgunner wrote:

car boot

I looked that up and translated for our 'mericn speaking friends.

Google Translate: car boot = trunk

It all makes sense now.

Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2016 9:57 am

Ouch....

Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2016 12:12 pm

Hey, no fair, you started postwhoring while I was at work. You bastards! Sad

Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2016 1:22 pm

^ blame the OP. I would usually have locked this but this much ridicule in one spot is actually quite entertaining.

Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2016 2:01 pm

We haven't had a thread as funny as this since Courageous Lord Redbreast's outburst of self-important flatulence and ludicrous posturing.

TBirdNeil is a worthy successor, even if a high-tech chair leg isn't on a par with hands so lethal they have to be registered as deadly weapons.

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