Spam, Scams and Sucker Lists

[Photo of FBI Seal from wikipedia]

As you may know, we are a father and son family law and criminal defense law firm located in Augusta, Georgia.  I was also a federal prosecutor, here in Augusta, for over 20 years.  But that doesn't prevent us, at the Goolsby Law Firm, LLC, from receiving almost daily scam emails from con artists around the world claiming that they want to send us a lot of money!  Of course, the criminals are really just wanting to obtain their victims' bank account information!

How should we all react to such scams?  Frankly, even though I once prosecuted telemarketing fraud and other fraudulent schemes, I don't know!  But I do know that it is probably best to NEVER reply to any of these bogus email solicitations, because, once you do, you probably will be automatically adding your email address to what is called, in the con artists' "trade," a "sucker list." 

In other words, such con artists will often focus even more on folks who have ever replied or otherwise given any encouragement at all to their fraudulent entreaties.  They will also often sell, or trade, their "sucker lists" of potential victims with other con artists, which will make it even more likely that you will get even more spam/scam offers in the future!

So, maybe I DO know the best solution to the problem of how to deal with fraudulent emails.  In my opinion, while I would like to reply to such emails, "tell them off," and threaten to inform my friends at the F.B.I., I believe the best response, in most cases, is simply to press "delete!"

Haven't you received such fraudulent emails?  What do you think?

Beware of the Latest Scam!

Have you seen the news reports today about the latest telephone scam which targets the elderly? In this latest scam, the con artists, who often target the elderly, (as we have discussed before in this blog), will call and pretend to be a family member who has had an emergency. The con artists will then reportedly claim their credit cards don't work and urge the targeted victim to wire money to help them. Sadly, while this scam may succeed only a small percentage of the time, the con artists still hope to defraud a small number of victims out of thousands of dollars.
Here's hoping that these con artists will make a mistake by contacting a savvy elderly person who will contact the authorities and "make their day" by getting them locked up in time for Christmas!

Telemarketing Fraud and Elderly Crime Victims

One of the saddest, more deplorable white collar crimes in the United States today, (and one which is surpassed in terms of rapid growth only by identity theft), is telemarketing fraud. Of course, not all telemarketers are criminals! Most are honest citizens. But telemarketing fraud costs its victims, who are often elderly and poor, millions of dollars each year. According to the National Consumer League, the average loss to each victim is nearly $3,000.00.

As a former federal prosecutor in Augusta, Georgia, I prosecuted one telemarketer who utilized one of the most common telemarketing fraud schemes: the lottery prize scam. Telemarketing fraud has its own lexicon or terminology. This con artist had obtained a "sucker list," which is a target list of potential elderly victims, called "marks," including their addresses and telephone numbers. He also opened a "boiler room" in Augusta, Georgia, containing alot of telephones. He then began recruiting employee-callers at local bars, who were then instructed to call and make a pitch to the targeted victims. The pitch consisted of informing them that they had won a (non-existent) lottery prize and had only to pay (bogus) taxes in order to receive their prize winnings. I learned from this case that, as in most telemarketing faurd schemes, this con artist had deliberately set up shop here in Augusta, while most of the targeted victims lived in Oregon and northern California. The con artists realize that they have a better chance of getting away with their crimes if they are located far away, geographically, from their victims.

Fortunately, this case has a happy ending. This con artist made the mistake of calling one dear 83 year old woman who smelled a rat from the beginning. She convinced the con artist to call back--after she had wisely alerted law enforcement officers, who were prepared to record and trace the call. The F.B.I. in Augusta, Georgia was then alerted and they did a fine job of catching our con artist before he could leave town, and before he could get away with any of the targeted victims' money! This telemarketer was sentenced to a lengthy sentence in federal prison!