Scammers are swiping billions from Americans every year. Worse, most crooks are getting away with it

Lerner · Jul 7, 2024

Scammers are swiping billions from Americans every year. Worse, most crooks are getting away with it

https://www.yahoo.com/news/scammers-swiping-billions-americans-every-040329024.html

The scammers are winning.
“We are at a crisis level in fraud in society,”

Sophisticated overseas criminals are stealing tens of billions of dollars from Americans every year, a crime wave projected to get worse as the U.S. population ages and technology like AI makes it easier than ever to perpetrate fraud and get away with it.

Internet and telephone scams have grown “exponentially,” overwhelming police and prosecutors who catch and convict relatively few of the perpetrators, said Kathy Stokes, director of fraud prevention at AARP’s Fraud Watch Network.

Lerner · Jul 7, 2024

Arrest warrant issued in scam that targeted Georgia couple's life savings.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/arrest-warrant-issued-scam-targeted-193030543.html

DULUTH, Ga. - A Gwinnett County couple got bilked out of $49,000, a lifetime of savings. But according to the police, it only took 19 minutes to steal it. Chase Bank closed the case saying there was nothing they could do to help them. Gwinnett County police, though, did not walk away. An arrest warrant gives the retired couple hope they can get answers and money reimbursed.

Gloria Moss recalled that February day when she received two text messages.

"They were from Chase's fraud department, that my husband's debit card had been compromised," she told us when we first met her and her husband Gary. "I know not to click the links, so I called the number."

Gloria Moss chatted with a woman, ultimately not from the bank, never offering passwords or personal information, she said. She believed she was canceling her card. In ways still unclear, she was being ripped off. But everywhere the Mosses turned for help, doors closed. A complaint to Chase Bank - case closed. A complaint to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau - case closed. When we talked to the Buford couple in April, they were exasperated.

"Nobody is helping us. Nobody cares." Gloria said.

Chase wrote that Ms. Moss either "authorized" the transaction or she benefited from the theft, but they didn't say which was the case. But, the bank left the door open a little.

She says a Chase case agent said if she could prove through phone records she didn't play a role in losing her money, they'd hear her out. But that was harder than it sounded.

"The problem was, I couldn't prove it because I couldn't get a subpoena," she said.

So in April, Gloria went to the Gwinnett County courthouse asking how to get this subpoena for her own phone records. But she discovered her February case still wasn't assigned to a detective. She got lucky. An assistant district attorney walked by, overheard her story.

A detective soon took the case, did a forensic look at her phone records, and found an easy-to-follow path to a woman in Cypress, Texas, more than 700 miles away. On May 20, Gwinnett County issued an arrest warrant for Audrey Michelle Townsend for felony theft for stealing $49,000.
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Mac Juli · Jul 7, 2024

There is a scammer running succesfully for the President's office. What do you expect?!

SteveFoerster · Jul 7, 2024

Somewhat relatedly, whoever you are, go see a movie called "Thelma" that's in theaters now. It's the story of a 93 year old woman (played to perfection by 94 year old June Squibb) who gets scammed, and the lengths she'll go to get her money back. It is both laugh-out-loud funny and incredibly poignant.

Bill Huffman · Jul 7, 2024

I've mentioned this before on this forum, my brother did some scamming. I don't know how much. All that I really know is this article about him. It says that he was working for some folks that scammed him. One of his daughters told me they got all of his savings. She was taken aback to learn that I knew about her father's scamming antics. He was just trying to get the original scammers to return his probably meager savings by working for them. What an idiot.

https://www.ksl.com/article/46533355/charges-utah-man-convinced-missouri-woman-she-won-sweepstakes-had-her-send-money-for-fees

I guess I should mention that I never liked him. His wife was a sweetheart but after she passed away he apparently really went off the rails.

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Scammers are swiping billions from Americans every year. Worse, most crooks are getting away with it

Lerner Well-Known Member

Lerner Well-Known Member

Mac Juli Well-Known Member

SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

Bill Huffman Well-Known Member

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Scammers are swiping billions from Americans every year. Worse, most crooks are getting away with it

Lerner Well-Known Member

Lerner Well-Known Member

Mac Juli Well-Known Member

SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

Bill Huffman Well-Known Member

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