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Special Report
Guess What, Grandpa?!!
The story of a worldwide criminal enterprise.
It was the voice of my grandson. Speaking in his usual manner, apologizing for sounding so nervous, but explaining that he was on a brief vacation in Panama and had wrecked a rental car and was under arrest in Panama City. He needed help and would repay whatever was involved. A male companion had been injured and hospitalized and…. He had signed a non-disclosure document and I would be bound by it also not to tell anybody, please.
In a moment another voice on the phone, saying he was a bond agent with the U.S. Embassy in Panama and there to get M out of jail and safely home. He gave the name of David Richardson, said the police calculated the damages to a power pole, wires, etc., at around $7,500. I asked for his phone number and he said it could not be called from Maryland, but only from Panama City and that he would stay in touch and call back in half an hour.
He did. This time on my cell phone, the number of which I’d given him. The amount required according to the police would be $3,000, which I could Western Union to Panama City, the recipient to be a Sam Lucas. I went to the bank and to a Western Union office.
Richardson called that afternoon, and said he would check again the next morning when he’d know more about M’s release. I had my cell phone and sure enough, next morning he called. There was some good news. M’s companion was released from the hospital with only a cast on his arm. Well, could I talk to M? No, he was in a holding cell, but had had a good meal and Mr. R would try get him ensconced in the Embassy. One problem: the police said it would be more money; would that be possible? I said it would not be. Richardson did not call again as promised.
Next morning, however, another call, Again on my unlisted private residence phone. A lawyer, he said he was, about to take the case to a judge. What is your phone number? I asked. He gave a number with the prefix of 514 which I subsequently learned is in Canada. I dialed and that professed lawyer answered, explaining that he had a ring-down arrangement from his office in the States. He was still waiting to see the judge.
I heard no more, that is until my daughter, the mother of M, phoned from New Jersey to say she had just talked with M at his apartment in New Jersey and all was well. I was by then convinced. It was a scam. I was out 3 grand, plus another hundred in the Western Union fee.
I also talked to M, who I must insist sounded just like that other M — the non-existent one in Panama City or wherever. A source in the Panamanian Embassy has never heard of a David Richardson.
I called the FBI, explaining the scam and was told the Bureau has no jurisdiction and, from the attitude on the phone, no interest in the case. Ditto the State Department whose embassy name was being used. State suggested a call to Western Union which suggested a call to the Maryland states attorney, which transferred me to a fraud control number which finally suggested a call to… the FBI.
There are several sections under “grandparent scams” on the Internet. The Federal Trade commission says it got 60,000 grandparent complaints last year but says an estimated 20 percent of the scam victims never mention the incident for fear of embarrassment.
Aside from the legal run-around, I have some questions about how the scammers got so much information — names, addresses, phone numbers. (My source in the Panamanian Embassy says they had a rash of similar incidents in late summer.) It is a worldwide criminal enterprise.
I am left to wonder how many grandparents in America know about this. How many keep track of the grandchildren or other family members? And I wonder if any agency aside from the FTC is keeping track — or cares.
About the Author
Reid Collins is a former CBS and CNN news correspondent.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (48) | Leave a comment
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Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 1.16.12 @ 7:33AM
Don't take this the wrong way, but my first call would have been to the State Department and I would have requested they check it out.
Secondly, I would have called the young man's parents to ascertain what they know. Lastly, I would have informed them that because there are so many scams I would need them to wire me $1,000 up front as a source of assurance that they weren't scamsters with the promise I would have wired them $4,000 back after receiving it.
USSAlabama| 1.16.12 @ 11:58AM
Google everything -- put unknown to you phone numbers in, names, etc.
Search: "US Embassy David Richardson" -- that is a good clue.
I am sorry for everyone who gets scammed in any way - but it would be great to get one lesson across to users of newer technology --
Turn to that technology first - google everything.
al222| 1.16.12 @ 8:02AM
A former news correspondent who believes a phone number in Panama can't be called from Maryland? I'd say he got off easy.
mickey_moussaoui| 1.16.12 @ 8:52AM
A former CBS and CNN reporter? This explains alot for me.
Anthony| 1.16.12 @ 12:58PM
My thoughts exactly. Mr. Collins have you perhaps reflected upon other scams you have fallen for during your career at CBS and CNN?
I know, now Joe Scarborough will tell Mr. Collins ,
"see, this is how mean conservatives can be".
Mr. Collins did you start on in this piece saying you actually spoke to your grandson, yet was still scammed?
Did you ever speak to Mary Mapes, per chance during your tenure at CBS?
Anthony| 1.16.12 @ 2:40PM
Dear Mr. Collins, my name is Albert Gore, Jr. I am being held without bail by that mean right wing sheriff Aparo for allegedly having fondled a masseuse in a hotel room. Can you believe that??
This right wing Nazi will not allow me to make or receive any phone calls, so I am emailing you from my jail cell, thanks to a fellow inmate.
Please send me $2,000 for my bail. To show that this is not a scam, I am forwarding to you $5,000 worth of carbon credits for you to use to offset the money until I can pay you back.
Thanks, your pal Al Gore Jr.
P.S. If you will also lend me first class airfare away from this hick town, I will send you an autographed copy of "An Inconvenient Truth", along with my favorite doctored photos of drowning polar bears.
Nunya| 1.16.12 @ 2:46PM
LOL!
Thanks for the laugh. :-)
Occam's Tool| 1.17.12 @ 6:51PM
Well, Liberal Collins, now you know why Conservatives believe 99% of foreign countries are scum and why 85% of Americans don't have passports. The fact that your networks supported those scumbag countries against the US is why the karmic implications are so amusing.
Me, the only non-first world country I would visit would be Guatemala, but only because I have rich friends there. Other than that, I would visit Canada, Israel, and Australia. And that's it.
And, I would check data like this on the INTERNET, moron. Another thing to do before you started wiring would have been to call you daughter FIRST, ding-a-ling.
As I have said before, journos are VERY low on the IQ list in college.
I'm sorry if I have no sympathy for you. Both my kids were adopted from overseas, and I am aware of the Liberal establishment's view on these adoptions other than for Angelina Jolie and Madonna---UNICEF opposes them.
Jimmy| 1.16.12 @ 8:55AM
Amen to the previous comments. ALWAYS do some checking when someone asks you to send money via Western Union!
Colin | 1.16.12 @ 9:23AM
Reid opens with the statement that "it was the voice of my grandson." Really? Well, if it indeed, WAS his voice, I wonder if grandson might have been in on this scam? Or not?? Maybe??? I'm confused. Perhaps it's just me, but you'd think granddad might recognize the timber of his own flesh and blood. Either that, or maybe Rich Little has a 1-800 service going on the side.
Hey, it's a living.
But to more practical issues, why didn't Reid call the boy's mother (first) to see if she'd heard anything from him? Or even try reaching the kid at his home? A couple of quick phone calls might have been a first good step. And number two, calling the feds after the *horse (*money) had already left the barn is kind of like calling the salesman you bought that '85 Yugo from after it broke down on the freeway ten minutes after signing on the dotted line. See, this is today's federal government (Obama Light/version 3.0) in full view. Unless it's a U.N. parking ticket needing a fast fix, some U.S. citizen caught hanging a Tea Party flag on his garage, or something the Norton 1-800 India Help Line should deal with, your just another SOL American, trying to get by in Barry's New Obamaville.
I realize stuff can happen to anyone at any time. But you'd think someone who's business card said "journalist" might have done a little "journalism" himself before going Western Union with the cash. It's unfortunate, but not too bright. Then again, Reid's resume does say CBS and CNN.
Those outfits aren't exactly well known for hiring the Columbo types.
MikeBee| 1.16.12 @ 7:09PM
Colin,
Most grandparent scams are implemented by their heirs, seeking some cash now, not by outside-of-the-family entities.
With God all things r possible| 1.16.12 @ 9:13PM
The voice of his grandson is too strange. I would ask the FBI or a private investigator to check if anything is going on with his grandson--drug trafficking, extortion, or whatever. It could be family pain now, sure, but it might be death later if his grandkid is mixed up with this crowd.
Stormy| 1.16.12 @ 9:46AM
It is true that elderly people often fall for such scams. You read about it all of the time. But, the confusing matter in this story is how they duplicated the grandson's voice so convincingly, and how did the scamers get so much personal information? The answers to these questions would be of greater value to readers in avoiding such scams.
Dai Alanye | 1.16.12 @ 9:50AM
Received a phonecall a few months back from Thomas Harrigan of the DEA, badge #849361, who needed to talk to my wife. No, he couldn’t explain to me -- it was a confidential matter.
Any contact with a government agency can be threatening, but I advised my wife, in the hospital at the time, it was probably an attempt to pin something on one of her doctors regarding improper prescription of narcotics, and I suggested she simply give them the facts.
But no. My wife, Harrigan explained to her, was in big trouble, as was her drug provider, RightSource. She must immediately fork over $1800 -- within the hour -- or face the possibility of jail. He had an arrest order from the Secretary of State. (I dunno, possibly the Attorney General was busy, and the federal courts tied up.) But since she was in hospital he reduced it to $900, and told her that once they had successfully prosecuted RightSource the money would be returned. He also made it easy by letting her deposit the money locally rather than go to a DEA office. Decent fellow.
She referred the matter to me. Had to be a scam, of course, but having run into previous government errors -- a mistaken tax lien on our property, for instance -- I checked with our lawyer just to be certain. Obtaining his confirmation, I set about playing Mr Harrigan, phone 240-949-2585, posing as a thoroughly cowed doofus. His English, by the way, was perfect except for a curiously staccato delivery. His male phone-receptionist, however, had a slight Latino accent.
Again being helpful, Harrigan arranged for me to go to a local location, a grocery store with a Western Union terminal, where I was to pay the nine-hundred dollars plus a ninety dollar fee via an International Money Transfer, then call him with the confirmation number. Payment was to be made to Logan Rodriguez, the attorney handling the RightSource case, at 33 Kennedy Avenue in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Harrigan failed to clarify whether Rodriguez was on vacation or overseas following a foreign lead.
He insisted I take a cell phone with me, apparently so he could monitor my movements at all times. “But I don’t have a cell,” I pleaded, so he let me off.
After a suitable period I called Harrigan with the ten-digit confirmation number, but he insisted it couldn’t be correct. Not too surprising, for I had pulled it out of the air. He demanded I read from the receipt.
“Receipt? What receipt.”
“You didn’t get a receipt!” Since I was a doofus he had to let it pass. But after checking, he informed me the payment hadn’t come through.
I assured him I’d done everything correctly, but no go. I would have to call Western Union, he told me, and straighten out the matter. Sensing a growing suspicion, I now sang the Harrigan song to him: “H-A, double R-I, G-A-N spells Harrigan.” I hadn’t reached the second A before the line went dead.
So what’s with all the scams?
First, of course, Americans are rich -- and Nigerians, South Africans, Dominicans and what-have-you need our money worse than we do.
Second, email and cell phones make long-distance fraud convenient and relatively safe. Our law enforcement agencies don’t so much as bother to take reports on these scams.
Third, Americans are used to honesty. We’re trusting souls, and when someone contacts us on an emergency matter we tend to believe him. Not so in other countries, where the first response will be skepticism.
This one was easy to deal with. But think of the call when your son or daughter vacationing in Westofnowherestan has been hit by a car and taken to a clinic, and the doctors need five-thousand dollars or they won’t operate!
How clearly will you be thinking when that call comes through?
Realist| 1.16.12 @ 10:08AM
The when you get that call, you call someone who KNOWS where your kid is. If they actually ARE in Westofnowherestan, then you call the State Department. You DON'T just start sending money. Even if it's true, that's a stupid idea.
As far as the DEA scam, it wouldn't have made it past the first phone call with anyone who had his head on straight. Really? The DEA would just CALL you on the phone and demand you pay a fine? REALLY? In the land of due process, you'd just pay a criminal fine on a confidential matter without thinking about it?
Stammon| 1.16.12 @ 9:07PM
I had a renter who told me the FBI had been to my house seeking info on another friend and his importation of (legal) chemicals from China. I marched into the house and to his discomfiture called the FBI right away. The agent told me that they had no file on any one of us, didn't enforce this kind of thing, and it would've been Federal Marshalls anyway. The renter insisted. I called the other friend, he said he had just confronted my renter about $800 that was owed him, and had told the renter that he was going to contact me. End of it all; Renter moves out (after 6 years) that week, friend apologizes for using my name, and I learned that there is NEVER any reason to NOT call the authorities. Ever.
Occam's Tool| 1.17.12 @ 6:54PM
The first thing you do is contact the DEA if it is a phone situation. They don't like impersonators at the DEA, and they ARE a branch of government with roughneck enforcers who break down walls.
Realist| 1.16.12 @ 10:00AM
I'm not sure what all this personal information the scammer was supposed to have know is? I don't think he needed much at all, other than the recipient's phone number. EVERYTHING else could have been either guessed or taken from what the author said on the phone. It's not magic. He didn't even need to know you weren't a grandparent (he would have just claimed a wrong number called, and moved to the next one on the list). "Hello, Grandpa?" "John, is that YOU?" Now he knows you are a grandparent of someone named John. "I'm in Panama with my best friend and we got in a car accident. He's in the hospital. We need help!" "Well first, is bobby OK?" Now he knows everything he needs to know, and you don't even consider that he knew NONE of it when he called. This is a simple scam perpetrated against gullible people who are easily taken in. Don't ascribe more to it than it needs.
Dai Alanye | 1.16.12 @ 10:16AM
Realist is mistaken. As my experience shows, these people do have inside info, and are somewhat sophisticated. "Harrigan" had apparently obtained records from RightSource, including dates of transactions. He didn't know, however, that the Ohio Secretary of State has nothing to do with issuing arrest orders.
Gullibility of the targets obviously helps. By selecting older people the scammers gain a couple of advantages -- not only are the elderly more likely to be mentally slowed but they were raised in more honest times, so are likely to take what they are told at face value.
Curtis Rasmussen| 1.16.12 @ 2:02PM
Against all logic we become more trusting of strangers as we age. That's why scammers like to prey on the elderly and will continue to do so in perpetuity. The times in which you grew up have little to do with it.
Dave Williams| 1.16.12 @ 6:26PM
Well, SOME of we do....as for me, I live more and more by the motto "A stranger is just someone who doesn't know your weak points yet." Good walls make good neighbors...
Stammon| 1.16.12 @ 9:11PM
I try to get them to come over to my farm. "I've lot's of cash here in $100 bills". I'm a great shot, got 25 guns, three big dogs, and a wife that can back me up with a riot shotgun. Please-please-please, oh just please come on by.
rightasrain| 1.16.12 @ 11:04AM
My mother was scammed out of $7500 in the same way. I don't know how the scammers select the victims but the victims provide most of the information. In my mother's case, a young man called and said "this is your grandson." When she asked which one, he said he was sad that she didn't recognize his voice. At that she started naming names and he had all the info he needed. The fake grandson begged her not to tell his parents he was in trouble and that he would pay her back. I still am incredulous that my mother fell for this without at least checking with one of her children first, especially considering that it takes a fair amount of effort to wire money (to add insult to injury, she actually wired 2 sums and almost fell for it a third time). But these scammers play on grandparents' sympathies and to a certain extent their vanity that the grandchild came to them and not his parents.
Ed| 1.16.12 @ 11:33AM
These scammers are predators and sociopaths and unfortunately, are getting more sophisticated. As was noted above, they prey on the better angels of our nature. It is possible that the scammers used a voice synthesizer to replicate the grandson's voice. These are expensive, but criminal cartels have access to front-line intelligence equipment. One security technique, used by the military when they rescue downed pilots, is to ask a very personal question that only the person involved would know. The Air Force and Navy keeps these questions on file just in case.
rightasrain| 1.16.12 @ 11:50AM
I think these scammers rely on the fact that many grandparents don't actually talk to their young adult grandchildren very often and once the scammer starts telling his tale of woe, the grandparent concentrates on the story not the voice. My mother still swears the scammer sounded exactly like her grandson. After she realized she was scammed and started telling her story to her friends, several said the same thing had been attempted on them a few years ago. One did question the scammers voice but he said he sounded funny because he was nervous, on a bad cell phone and calling from Mexico City.They obviously have the scam well rehearsed.
tsd| 1.16.12 @ 11:58AM
There are a thousand ways we are being scammed everyday and no real way to get justice.... welcome to the new world order!
Anthony| 1.16.12 @ 3:17PM
Good for you tsd, you've figured out the Democrat Party. Spread the word.
DonDuke| 1.16.12 @ 12:05PM
Sorry, but this isn't any different than the email that asks you to wire money somewhere. This guy (if this story is true) got what he deserved for being such a rube. It's beyond me why he didn't call "M"'s parents first. This whole thing doesn't add up... frankly, I think this whole thing is bogus and untrue.
Jay D. Homnick| 1.16.12 @ 12:07PM
Down here in South Florida, I met a war hero, a survivor of both Pearl Harbor and D-Day, who was taken by this scam. The "granddaughter" who called him from Europe begged him not to tell Mom who would "kill" her if she found out how she messed up.
If they really get the voice right by hacking cellphones and learning voice patterns, I can see how this would be devastatingly effective. If a professional broadcaster tells us it was his grandson's usual voice, I think we should take this very seriously indeed.
KyMouse| 1.16.12 @ 12:25PM
Snopes.com has a page on "Family Member Impersonation Scams." They recommend, among other things, phoning another relative to check out the "grandson's" story.
An elderly woman I know received one of those calls last year, supposedly from "your favorite grandson." He gave her a story about being in a car wreck in Florida.
When she asked him "which grandson did you say you are?" he hung up. She has several.
J. Moses Browning| 1.16.12 @ 3:32PM
[sound of baitcasting reel as the big fish takes the hook]
I betcha the writer learned about reporting at the feet of Dan Rather hisownself.
Nina| 1.16.12 @ 3:45PM
Sadly, my 89 yo father in law was getting ready to write a check to a woman who had called him saying she needed money to...not sure what she told him. Good thing his daughter caught him. But she was told the same thing when she called the police, can't do anything about it. I figured maybe at the least put it in the paper that a scam is going around....
I'm a grandmother and I certainly would be making the necessary calls to make sure it was legit, especially coming from "out of the country"! Probably would have called the Panama Police station first to see if there really was a so and so in jail...and not a number given to me by the callers....
Sorry you got duped but maybe you deserved to? Today, we all need to be a bit skeptical of phone calls in the night.....
John Navratil| 1.16.12 @ 3:51PM
The variety of scams is almost infinite but they almost aways seem to involve Western Union (your cash is gone) or some form of cashier's check - it's fake, but it will take a couple of weeks for you to know.
If any form of urgency is involved ("I just moved out of town and don't have a bank account yet, but I'm sending you a cashier's check TODAY", "I'm deploying to Afghanistan on Tuesday and either sell my car today or incur big shipping expenses - that's which I'm selling so cheap", "If I don't get this money today, I'll be put in jail") one should be extremely suspicious. If the deal can't wait until tomorrow it is quite probable that it isn't there today.
If you are selling something and don't know the buyer, accept CASH. If someone sends you a check, wait for it to clear (even that could cost you). If you are suspicious, or just wish to be a bit more careful, agree to meet somewhere like the Commercial check-out counter at the Home Depot, not behind the clock tower at midnight.
The more you are knocked back on your heels by some concocted story, ask yourself how gullible your feel today. Strange events are rare and we are not conditioned to pause and reflect. That's why these scams work.
Kingofthenet| 1.16.12 @ 5:25PM
Not to worry Mr. Collins, I just received word from my Nigerian friend and there will be a sum in the amount of 6.3 Million USD's available to me soon, all I need from you is to pay the Solicitor to release these funds, and pay taxes, 5,000 US should be adequate.
oldfart| 1.16.12 @ 7:30PM
I received a similiar e-mail from a person with a muslim structured name. I told him I would send him the money when he stated eating pork.
He actually e-mailed me and said 'what does that have to do with anyting?" I told him I had traced his IP address and had some 'friends' coming over to 'talk' to him.
He fell for my scam - never heard from him again. LOL
Occam's Tool| 1.17.12 @ 6:56PM
King: you forgot to ask for his bank account and SS numbers---obviously, you have never been targeted with such a scam.
Still funny---unlike most of your stuff.
Controse| 1.16.12 @ 5:45PM
Anybody still wondering how it could come to pass that the MSM fell for big grin, smooth talk Obama, or whoever he is, so completely? A gullible journalist is a danger to our well being.
rightasrain| 1.16.12 @ 6:07PM
As someone whose mother fell for the same scam, I have a little more compassion. Collins wasn't so much a gullible journalist as he was a loving grandparent. Althought these scammers who prey on the elderly deserve a special place in hell, it is somewhat refreshing to know that in this cynical world of ours, sometimes there are well-meaning people who will come to your rescue, no questions asked.
johnfromjersey| 1.16.12 @ 6:50PM
Sooner or later, we the people are going to take matters like this into our own hands. The career politicians, who write the laws, always put in loopholes, so they, and now the crooks can take advantage of them. I say we fight back. If someone did this to a member of my family, Id spend the rest of my life, if necessary, to find and punish the cockroach who did it, and believe me, when I found them, they'd wish they only got a prison sentence.
The Bruce| 1.16.12 @ 7:33PM
Maybe these scammers work for Obama's campaign fund-raising arm.
POST American| 1.16.12 @ 8:48PM
---------------------FINAL WORD-----------------------
--For a moment we thought you might
actually be dealing with centuries on,
USURY driven, EUGENICS mongering
capstone Globalism.
ALAS
Frog in Fatigues| 1.16.12 @ 9:47PM
I once had the pleasure of having a Western Union scammer arrested, sent to jail and deported but not before he gave me my money back. I had known the guy for one year as he was one of the moderators on a law enforcement forum I was a member of. The guy was a frog living in Maine with his American wife and was supposed to be a deputy for the local PD of a small town. As an assistant marksmanship instructor for a SWAT unit I was working for, I sent him a shoulder patch of that unit, so I knew there was a name and an address, besides the guy was posting pictures of him by the local LE compound or at the steering wheel of a police cruiser with the coat of arms of that small Maine town and I knew he was somehow involved with police work. The guy was a smooth talker and we really were on a first name basis, I described to him what my job was, how interesting and demanding it could be, as my unit has a lot of expertise in police sniping and long range shooting, being both a military and a LE unit. Then came the bait: If I could take a 2 week leave and was offered a cheap roundtrip airfare to Boston (where I would be picked up and driven to Rumford ME) how much would I charge for a 2 week workshop with a dozen students? I replied that I would do it for free as a courtesy to fellow officers but that I expressed doubts about the choice of a foreign instructor (and a french, of all people!) in a field where domestic experts amount by the thousands. He told me the unit I work with is recognized in certain circles as among the very best in his line of work (true) that it works in very unusual and non conformist ways (true) and that it would be refreshing to have an instructor with a mindset and a syllabus that would somehow differ from the worn out cliches of Gy Sgt Leath Herneck USMC and its Marksmanship Unit, plus domestic instructors were outrageously expensive, besides he would stick around as both a student and a translator (I didn't tell him about my having spent a few years in the US with short stints in Ft Benning and Aberdeen Proving Grounds as that was none of its business, but with hindsight may be I should have as it would have discouraged him to proceed with his scam) and so I mailed him the schedule and the requirements in hardware for the planned workshop. I asked my Chief if everything was OK with him and he didn't see any problem with that trip except that he couldn't figure why my students wouldn't rather hire a seasoned ex Royal Marine sniper if they were so interested in the european culture without having to deal with the language barrier. I asked the guy on the phone a list of the students names along with their pictures as I would need to memorize them and he told me he didn't know them all but had a few acquaintances among them and he quickly gave me three full names that I somehow managed to keep in memory. I also told him this would be serious business and no friggin' keg party and that I expected everybody to show up from Day One with a decent .308 heavy barreled scoped rifle and 800 rounds of match grade ammo of the same lot for the complete duration of the 10 day scheduled course. I would also be shooting along so I could set a standard and check the conditions and why not? also have a little fun as I REALLY love shooting. Then it dawned on me that I would never be able to travel with my rifle and 800 rounds of ammo and bring my personal stuff along too, I would grossly exceed the allowed luggage weight and I would also have to deal with a truckload of red tape, courtesy of 9-11. No problem said the guy, I could buy you the ammo so it will be from the same lot and don't you ever try to bring a rifle to the US these days unless you don't mind being fingerprinted and harrassed in Boston Airport and risk having your precious rifle lost forever. No, he had a better idea: he would arrange a deal with a friend of his who was a pawnshop owner and he would call me later. Sure enough, the next day he called me with excitement in his voice, he could get a Remington 700 Police (not my favorite iron but still OK) fully loaded with Leupold Mk4 scope and McMillan A5 stock, all barely used for about $1,000. I was hesitant: I didn't need a new rifle, my austrian rifle worked perfectly, thank you and as for bringing a firearm to France, just forget it. The customs would just confiscate it without the paperwork that I had no intention to deal with in the US. No problem: he would need that rifle as he had none and he would be shooting it while I taught and watched, and he would buy it from me at the same price when I would go back to France. That seemed a fair deal but I had to purchase the rifle, how would I do it from France? I didn't want to send my credit card numbers on the Internet and the pawnshop only wanted cash anyway according to the guy. So I wired him the money through Western Union. The french Post Office hosts Western Union and the lady at the desk was waaay smarter than me: "This is a lot of money!" "Well, sure it is!" "Do you know the beneficiary? Do you trust him?" "Well I've known him for quite some time." "Did you actually meet him?" "No, but I talked to him, I know where he works, I know where he lives, why?" "You just have to understand that once your money is gone, there's no way to get it back with W.U." It is when I left the Post Office that I noticed the first discrepancy: the money had to be wired to another address in Maine, about 15 miles from Rumford. Then the guy phoned me to give me my flight schedule with AA, I was to depart one month later, and I still didn't have my students list and Ididn't know where the course would take place in Maine (a look at the Rumford area via Google Earth showed me no suitable 1,000 yd facility). Finally the course would be set up in York County where I could spot a few suitable places but no permanent setting, I was starting to feel uneasy because in my corner of the world you book LE shooting ranges one full year ahead. I knew the US were a lot more efficient but not THAT much. And I still didn't have the list or a picture of my rifle. Then I was tired of not being mailed my airplane ticket, and after hours of phone conversation with obnoxious clerks at AA in Charles de Gaulle Airport, I realized that there was no flight schedule. My calls to the guy on his cell phone were unanswered and he quit showing up on the forum. I stopped acting as a dummy but I was devastated. Not for long because I never let go. I had a few good cards in my deck: in the beginning of our relationship, the Rat had given me its real name and address so he could receive the shoulder patch, I knew he had a wife and a baby. What he didn't know was that I could survive in the US without his help. So I checked his name with intelius.com, found it and after a Paypal secured fee (a real bargain) I knew everything about him, including his wife background and a home phone number. So I called him from a secured unlisted number and confronted him, catching him off guard. I didn't let him talk, I gave him a 48 hour deadline to wire me my money back or else. The fact that I could get a phone number that was actually his wife's should have warned him that he was not fully out of my reach but the Rat was dumb and he didn't take the deadline seriously. In the meantime I had managed to retrieve the three names he had given me under the pressure of urgency. That was a long shot, but sure enough, they belonged to cops from the Rumford PD (!) which has a website. The Rat had given me real names, thinking that I wouldn't be able to check with their proud owners. Charles "Chuck" B. couldn't be reached, but Jeffrey "Jeff" H. was available and understood every word I had to say despite my uncommon french accent that makes me sound irish at times. He told me the Rat was not a deputy but just a good friend of every cop at the PD, he would show up at weird hours, bring a six pack or a bag of doughnuts and shoot the bull with the guys. He was not known to have a steady job, just part time shifts in various pawn shops and claimed to have been a gendarme in France before moving to the US. I explained to Jeff how I had been stiffed by the Rat and how this could be bad PR for the department and he didn't like at all the idea of the Rat claiming to be a deputy. However Jeff too was a lot smarter than me, he didn't want to make a decision before checking my credentials, and so a senior officer of the unit sent him in a hurry all the data he needed to know about me from a government e-mail address and that was it.
The next morning, Jeff showed up at the Rat's house, told him it was unlawful to impersonate a LE member, that he was about to be charged with wire fraud (a crime if the fraud is made across a state's border) and that he wanted to see some ID. He also told him he could disregard the wire fraud if the Rat wired me my money back (including the W.U. fee) ASAP. The Rat went to W.U. in a hurry with Jeff holding him by the arm, and he wired me all that he owed me. Unfortunately for him, Jeff discovered that the Rat had no Green Card, that he had overstayed a tourist visa for 3 years and that he had no other DL than his international DL from France. The ICE came to hold the Rat in confinement for 3 months, then they deported him.
However they failed to notify the french police of his flight schedule and despite many helpful calls from various well connected friends, I couldn't be at the airport in time to welcome him. The Rat will never be allowed to go back to the US again and see his child grow, his wife is devastated but she doesn't intend to move to France, her life and her job are in Maine. Maybe its just as well, they deserve a better father and husband and I had to at least try to stop that guy from ruining other people's lives. He's probably still in France, cheating, stealing and scamming and I would advise him to never cross my path again. Me? Still doing what I do best and nothing else. Keeps me busy.
Dai Alanye | 1.17.12 @ 5:43PM
A good story, though would have been much easier to read had some paragraphs been introduced.
Frog in Fatigues| 1.17.12 @ 6:46PM
Thank You Lady Dai, I'm not much of a writer and I have to get used to the format of that tiny Leave A Comment window (I guess there must be a way to enlarge it.)
The funny thing that I forgot to mention was that the Chief allowed me to "borrow" about one hundred human sized police targets with various depictions of villains, muggers, hostage takers that were tightly rolled inside a 3' cardboard tube.
I gave them back to him right after I understood there would be no course. He laughed very hard and gave me a good ribbing for being so naive but he had the kindness and decency to keep the story for himself and not make me the laughingstock of the unit.
As for the Rat's wife and little son, will you believe it, although I consider myself to be quite tough and stubborn, I still have a feeling of guilt for having ruined their lives at that time, although I just couldn't know the Rat was an illegal alien in a state that has no patience with that kind of individuals.
I wish I could have broken half the bones of his body and then told him :"Now be good with your wife, raise your child, and keep a straight path." He might have changed forever, and that would have been it.
Love your blog, you have a lot of taste.
Bonsoir.
J.
Andnier| 1.17.12 @ 1:23AM
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Sally | 1.17.12 @ 7:13PM
Hey Frog! You gotta be Inspectuer Clouseau: Dai ain't no lady! You french dudes are so funny!
Frog in Fatigues| 1.18.12 @ 7:38AM
Well Sally, glad to entertain you with my clumsiness. I still thank Dai and I stand my ground: Dai is gifted and has a lot of taste and would probably never has been as gullible as I was. About the Western Union scam, would you Americans accept to have your ID on file (along with the IRS being notified) every time you receive cash through WU? Because that's what happens in France, our IRS is so intrusive and overbearing that it would never be possible to receive funds anonymously without our Big Brother government knowing about it. Maybe WU should be very strict in enforcing positive identification of senders and recipients. This is no bureaucratic harassment, any bank will ask for your ID whenever you want to cash a check.
Karl | 1.19.12 @ 6:04PM
I got an e-mail once, purportedly from a friend who was stranded in England after a car accident. She needed money for hospital bills, her flight home, and so the hotel would release her stuff to her. I was suspicious, because she hadn't had time to get to England and into that kind of trouble since I'd last seen her. But I also asked some specific questions, including "Shall I call Ann for help?" * Of the two people in her life named Ann, neither one is remotely able to offer any kind of assistance, and we both knew that. The person sending the e-mails obviously didn't.
I recommend that people work out with their close friends and relatives some sort of pass phrase or recognition code that would be used to prove the provenance of an e-mail or any other communication. I had to stop and think about what sort of thing only my friend would know, and that a scammer wouldn't. If you work this out in advance, it will save time and be easier to remember when the unexpected emergency communication arrives at three in the morning.
(* This wasn't one single e-mail -- we had a nice exchange going. In the first e-mail, the "from" field was spoofed. You can type anything you want into that field. My response wound up going to the address in the "reply-to" field, which was almost the same address as my friend. The only difference was the letter "i" in the middle of the user ID. For example, instead of "johnsmith@fmail.com" the "reply-to" field was "johnismith@fmail.com". Since most people don't know how to look for the "reply-to" field, and the rest will see what they expect to see, this ruse often goes completely undetected.)