Targeting the Lonely: Nigerian-based Scammers

02/21/201909/21/2019 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ 1 Comment

pink computer — Cute image, sad stories! https://www.axios.com/scarlet-widow-anatomy-of-a-romance-scam-ring-25b6a993-8478-4e72-912e-d21e5ae4b9b4.html

I know it’s hard to believe that there are so many lonely men and women, especially seniors, who fall for on-line dating site scams and actually send money—millions of dollars annually—to people they think they are in love with, but have never met.
This story from Axios is about “Scarlet Widow” a Nigerian-headquartered fraud network,

Scarlet Widow: Anatomy of a romance-scam ring

A Nigeria-based romance-scam outfit, dubbed Scarlet Widow in a new report, has been bilking lonelyhearts of their savings since 2015.
Why it matters: In the abstract, people often dismiss email scams as a punchline they are somehow above. In truth, they are a billion-dollar crime paradigm preying on the gullible and savvy alike. And romance scams have particularly tragic dimensions.

Apparently the Nigerians are great actors in addition to being clever scammers.

The moniker “Nigerian scam” is more than a nickname. Agari’s research found the Scarlet Widow group, like 90% of email scams, actually does originate in Nigeria.

Go here for more.

But the romance scammers don’t just live in Nigeria.

Black Axe victim — Canadian victim of romance scammers connected to Nigerian Black Axe group. Story at The Globe and Mail https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/shadowy-black-axe-group-leaves-trail-of-tattered-lives/article27244946/

Here is a story by reporter Anna Marie Bolton about one such Nigerian scammer (affiliated with Black Axe) from Canada who had been living in Garland, Texas and was found guilty late last year of cheating older lonely women out of life savings.

Florida Jury Finds Nigerian ‘Axemen’ Guilty of Scamming Elderly Women for Millions

While all eyes are on Florida for the recount of the Senate election, a federal jury in Tampa has found Okechuwku “Desmond” Amadi, a Canadian who had been living in Garland, Texas guilty of conspiracy and money laundering. He was caught operating a complex fraud scheme from Garland, via Florida, Canada and Nigeria, that preyed on elderly and divorced women.
The announcement from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Middle District of Florida came Thursday, stating that Amadi faces 60 years in federal prison.
The feds nabbed Amadi in Sept. 2017 as he returned on a flight to JFK International Airport from Nigeria.

More here.

Be sure to keep an eye on granny! Or grandpa! Or some other lonely family member so that they don’t fall prey to scammers like these!

Foreign Phone Scammer Nabbed after Targeting the Wrong Elderly Couple

02/13/201909/21/2019 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ 2 Comments

This is a funny story that should warm your heart!
If you’ve had grandma or grandpa targeted like this you will be thrilled to see this news!
From NBC News,

Telephone scam artist picked the wrong target — former FBI and CIA director William Webster

A telephone scam artist picked the wrong target — former FBI chief and CIA boss William Webster.

Phone scam artist was Jamaican

Keniel Thomas, 29, from Jamaica, pleaded guilty in October to interstate communication with the intent to extort, federal authorities said.
He was sentenced to 71 months in prison last week by U.S. District Court Judge Beryl A. Howell in Washington, D.C., and will be deported after he has served his term, officials said.
Thomas made his first call to Webster on June 9, 2014, identifying himself as David Morgan. He said that he was the head of the Mega Millions lottery and that Webster was the winner of $15.5 million and a 2014 Mercedes Benz, according to court documents.
Little did Thomas know that he was targeting the man who had served as director of the FBI and then the CIA under Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan.
“It seemed to me that something wasn’t quite right,” Webster, 94, said in an interview Tuesday with “NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt.” “This was pretty obvious to me that there was something fishy about it.”
Thomas told Webster and his wife, Lynda, that they must pay him $50,000 to cover the taxes on the prize, authorities said.
The Websters notified the FBI, and the agency recorded follow-up calls the couple had with Thomas.

This guy was meaner than most…

“He terrified me,” Lynda Webster told NBC News. “He told me that what the sniper’s bullet would do to my head and the blood would go onto my white house.”
The FBI eventually learned Thomas’s identity and arrested him on Dec. 18, 2017, when he landed at JFK International Airport in New York, unaware he was a wanted man.

More here.

What do you do?

I don’t know about you, but I get phone scams on a regular basis. If you are feeling as feisty as the Websters, do some homework and figure out how you can work with the feds to nab a foreign scammer.

At minimum be sure to educate grandma and grandpa about these crooks.

Send News about Frauds and Crooks to the White House

02/10/201909/21/2019 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ 14 Comments

A reader reminded me a few days ago that I needed to encourage you to not hesitate to send news and comments to the Trump White House.

Trump in front of White House — Let the President know what you think! https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/

She wanted to know if I had a line to anyone there and if news that I post here about frauds and crooks ripping off the American taxpayer ever got to the White House.
The answer is—not that I know of!

Make it a centerpiece of any campaign!

As I mentioned in a comment recently, I think that a ticket to electoral success would be available to candidates (Trump too!) if he or she focused on exposing and cleaning-up frauds and crimes against the American people.
Yes, of course, one can daily see that the Dept. of Justice is finding and prosecuting some very large fraud cases involving food stamps, medicare and medicaid, but the big media rarely mentions those stories (is it because many involve ‘new Americans?’).

What have you got to lose? Five minutes a day!

Click here to Contact the White House. Make it a regular thing! You never know when your comments might break through!
By the way, I notice that the subjects across the top of the site include—economy, national security, budget, immigration and opioid crisis—signifying I assume President Trump’s priorities.

Virginia: Fairfax County PD still looking for more victims of Mumtaz Rauf

01/24/201909/21/2019 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ 2 Comments

Readers may remember that Rauf was initially arrested in December when he was found to be filming, using a pinhole camera, women in dressing rooms in several Northern Virginia malls.

My original post is here. Note his photo then and now!
That post of mine is the most read post so far at my new Frauds and Crooks blog!
And, by the way, I still see no mention of Rauf’s nationality or immigration status. Do you?
From an e-mail alert yesterday to citizens of Northern Virginia. (hat tip: Cathy)

Three new victims (of over 100!) have come forward and police have put out this new appeal in an attempt to find more of the women who can be seen on Rauf’s images.

Detectives from our Major Crimes Bureau have identified three additional victims recorded in dressing rooms over the holidays. Over 100 videos were found on the phone of 39-year-old Mumtaz Rauf. Rauf, of Alexandria, was arrested for unlawful filming of a minor December 24th after officers were called to the Forever 21 clothing store based on a complaint by an observant teenage girl.
Rauf is now facing three new charges for unlawful videotaping, two class one misdemeanors and one felony. This is after detectives were able to identify two adult female victims and one additional female juvenile victim. In all three cases, the victims contacted our Department through our hotline and texting option after believing they may have been recorded in December.

Rauf now (did his attorneys tell him to clean up?)

Rauf was arrested at two this afternoon and taken to the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center where he is being held on $7,000 bond. We are working in close coordination with the Office of the Commonwealth Attorney, and will continue to update them on our investigation.
We are asking for anyone to contact us who was shopping at Forever 21, Gap, H&M, and Old Navy between December 15th and 24th at Fair Lakes Promenade, Fair Oaks Mall, Springfield Town Center, and Tysons Corner Center.
More than 289 community members have reached out to us since we first setup the hotline January 3rd. Detectives still want to speak to anyone who was potentially videotaped. We did have a brief technical glitch with our hotline. If you tried to reach us and were unsuccessful, we ask you please try again as detectives strive to identify all victims in this case.
Phone: 703-246-4600
Text: 703-718-5806
Email: fcpdtaskforce@fairfaxcounty.gov
For ongoing updates, please read our blog and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @FairfaxCountyPD.

Kind of creepy to think about!

Ladies, you need to be as watchful as that first teen was, and check those dressing rooms carefully before you take off your clothes!
I’m only guessing, but I suspect Rauf’s films have been, or would have been, sold.

What can you do? Get this story out widely to alert other women about creepy perverts like Rauf. And, if you live in the area and know which high schools/colleges are nearby, one of my readers suggested that the police announcement should be sent to those schools.

Breaking: Center for Immigration Studies Files Lawsuit Against the Southern Poverty Law Center

01/16/201909/21/2019 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ 14 Comments

Good for CIS!

This should have happened long, long ago!
Here is the Breaking News today! (Hat tip: Joanne)

The Center for Immigration Studies has filed a civil lawsuit under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) against Richard Cohen, President of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) of Montgomery, Ala. The case is filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and seeks damages and an injunction prohibiting Cohen and his colleague, Heidi Beirich, who heads the group’s “hate group” project, from repeating the false claim that the Center is a hate group.

Ms. Beirich says they are working with these businesses to silence those they disagree with!

The case is brought pursuant to the federal RICO statute because Cohen and Beirich have been carrying out their scheme to destroy CIS through the SPLC “enterprise” for two years and will not stop without judicial intervention. “CIS does not hate immigrants or anyone else” said CIS Executive Director Mark Krikorian. “Our purpose is to make the case for a pro-immigrant policy of lower immigration – fewer immigrants but a warmer welcome for those admitted. SPLC attacks us simply because it disagrees with these policy views. SPLC and its leaders have every right to oppose our work on immigration, but they do not have the right to label us a hate group and suggest we are racists. The Center for Immigration Studies is fighting back against the SPLC smear campaign and its attempt to stifle debate through intimidation and name-calling.”

Read it all here.
Readers may remember that last year the SPLC had to pay out nearly $4 million to settle a lawsuit when it listed Maajid Nawaz, a Muslim reformer, on its list of “Anti-Muslim Extremists” (a list that included me!).
I wrote about it at RRW in June of last year.
The SPLC is infamous for its hate lists that include just regular Americans who are outspoken about their views on issues involving immigration.
The obvious goal of the organization is to influence the media (most media is suckered by them!) to write and report critically of the groups and people SPLC wants silenced.
The SPLC rakes in big bucks annually with their hate lists and scare tactics.

2016 Youtube video speaks volumes!

Now watch Richard Cohen and Heidi in action in advance of the November 2016 election of Donald Trump.

Category: Alerts