Feds: Most Web Scams Originate in U.S.

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Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2007 1:45 am

I found this a bit interesting...

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2007/04/us_scams.html

Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2007 1:56 am

Quote:

But in 2006, the Secret Service says, of the criminals who could be traced, 61 percent were working within the United States. Only 6 percent were based in Nigeria.

I think this is the key phrase. Also, the article doesn't seem to acknowledge that many 419 scammers based in Africa have associates and/or mule scam victims in other countries, including the US. I have to wonder how many of the "criminals" traced in the US were actually mules.

Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2007 1:56 am

"But in 2006, the Secret Service says, of the criminals who could be traced, 61 percent were working within the United States. Only 6 percent were based in Nigeria." from that link.

Not really odd, they are probably only counting the ones that they investigate, which is probably only small part of the ones that get reported.
And of course, no one outside of the US uses addresses like gmail.com or yahoo.com or some other such. Or from another country than where they are? Wink

Let's see, .ru, .fr, .cn, and three or four others I 'rarely' use Wink

Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2007 3:51 am

Pay attention,

Quote:

seeking held in transferring a huge sum of money to the United States.

the article was written by a mugu, you can tell by the perfect spelling. Laughing

Always,
B. A. Ware

Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2007 3:52 am

If you have watched any of the recent 'documentaries' on this subject you'd realize just how little the main stream populace knows about this subject.. Rolling Eyes

Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2007 7:51 am

That weird because 99% of the time when I trace an IP, it's originating from Africa. Obviously that's just me and not a proper statistic...but how can an overwhelming majority of scammers be in America, yet I never hear from them? Or is it just the US mugus that get caught?

Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2007 8:28 am

As well as the 419 e-mails, I get far more spam for phising websites, dubious viagra substitutes, fake stock recommendations and the like. Whilst you can't really bait them, I guess they're technically internet scams.

Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2007 1:37 pm

Yeah, I think the key phrase here is probably

Quote:

of the criminals who could be traced

.

Translation: People we actually thought we had a snowball's chance in hell of arresting and bothered to look for in the first place.

Unless you've got compelling evidence someone involved in your scam is actually sitting in the States (or whatever jurisdiction might apply) and committing a felony, such as counterfeiting, or you've lost six figures plus, my experience talking to victims indicates the authorities are probably going to tell you not to even bother filing a report. Or the report won't go any further than your local police department, who are likely going to shrug and file it away.

The fact that it's a quote from the Secret Service seems to indicate they're talking largely about the actual counterfeiting or mailing of counterfeit checks. It seems like it's pretty rare for the check to actually be mailed directly from Nigeria, though I've had one or two done that way. The SS is looking for people committing felonies in their jurisdiction or in a cooperative jurisdiction (counterfeiting, mail fraud by sending counterfeit checks, etc.), not so much the lovely Christian missionaries who need you to adopt their Hungarian Poodle Who Can't Stand The Heat or the Loaded Widow Dying Of Nasal Cancer and so on.

Most of the time, those scammers are going to stick to fooling you into sending some money by WU and will be operating entirely within a jurisdiction where they have zero chance of being arrested, which is a whole other ball o' wax. They wouldn' t so much fall into that category of "traceable crime".

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