Scambling: When Losers Become Addicts

While I have no data to support the claim, I suspect that most victims of Sweepstakes fraud get scammed once and that's the end of it. When they realize they haven't won millions, and that a package containing their prize check will never arrive, they stop paying bogus fees.

Sadly, a small group of victims become cash cows who can't stop giving milk. For these individuals the impulse to pay becomes so strong that it morphs into a compulsion I call "Scambling."

Though technically not gambling (gamblers at least have a chance to win, and their behavior is occasionally reinforced by payoffs), the parallels between Scambling and compulsive gambling are striking.

Take, for example, my father's irresistible urge to send cash to the con men, which bears all of the hallmarks of compulsive gambling, namely:

• Large losses
• Denial
• Lack of impulse control
• Overestimation of the odds of winning
• Clandestine activity (secret phone calls, and money transfers on the sly)
• Disregard for the harm losing does themselves and others
• Belief that they'll be vindicated, when they hit the jackpot

To me, nothing comes close to explaining my father's behavior as well as does addiction. What but an addiction would you call it, if a loved one sent money eighty-six times, to twenty-five strangers, in three different countries, with a hundred different phone numbers, and thirty different aliases?

Whatever it is, I sure as hell wouldn't call it a sweepstakes.

Midwesterners Fight Back

As the guardian of a fraud victim, I have grown accustomed - perhaps too accustomed - to being told there is nothing law enforcement officials can do to stop Carribean scammers, because they are operating outside of the U.S.

One state is no longer satisfied with this answer: Minnesota. To see what they are doing and learn more about Jamaican Advance Fee fraud, click here and here.

Evidently, the long arm of the law can stretch, if folks are willing to extend themselves.

Seniors In Their Sights

Although people of all ages are solicited by scammers, perpetrators of Advance Fee fraud are particularly keen on fleecing the elderly.

Though obvious now, I first found this notion ridiculous because, having seen "everything under the sun," senior citizens tend to be wiser than the rest of us.

Upon further reflection, however, targeting elders makes sense because, as a group, they possess more potential vulnerabilities than other demographics. Specifically:

• Declining mental capacity - they sometimes do not reason as well, or think as critically as they used to.
• Respect for authority - unlike Baby Boomers and their successors, older victims are less likely to question authority figures, particularly if they claim to represent government agencies such as the FBI, IRS, or Department of Homeland Security.
• Innocence - having come up in a less cynical age, the elderly are inclined to be more trusting of others than the rest of us.
• Ignorance - lack of awareness, both of the vast array of fraudulent schemes, and the technologies (such as as Caller ID spoofing) criminals use to execute them.
• Loneliness and Depression - isolation can make elders susceptible to scheming flatterers who call them regularly, treat them with respect, and otherwise kill them with kindness.
  
• Financial insecurity - many senior citizens live on a fixed income and have few funds to spare. Afraid of outliving their money, some are tempted seek a big payoff to secure their financial future. 
• Benevolence - elders of modest means may also wish they had more money to help family members or organizations and causes close to their heart. Wanting to do good for others, these older adults are ripe for crooks bent on exploiting their generosity.
  
• Boredom - whether they live in an empty nest or a care facility, many seniors lack stimulation and will take excitement wherever they can find it, particularly if there is an element of chance involved. If you don't believe me, go to the nearest grocery or convenience store and watch them gobble up lottery tickets.

While there is no way of knowing for sure, I suspect that some or all of these weaknesses were exploited by the bastards that brainwashed my Dad, who, as a former salesman, used to be nobody's fool.

Now You See It, Now You Don't

To keep victims paying, Advance Fee fraudsters can get pretty creative.

Knowing that my father had borrowed heavily against his credit card to pay their phony fees, the crooks offered to pay off his balance (over $15,000) in exchange for $500 in cash, a proposition so absurd that even my impaired dad questioned it.

Anticipating pop's skepticism, the scammers cooked up the following charade, to make it look like they were making good on their ridiculous promise:

First, they obtained my dad's credit card number. Surprisingly (or perhaps unsurprisingly, because my father was way over his limit), they did not make unauthorized charges on his account.

Second, they 'paid' my dad's bill by phone using the issuing bank's automated system, which asks for an account number, a routing number, and sometimes a check number. According to law enforcement officials, the withdrawal was made either on a bogus account, or without authorization from a legitimate account, such as the checking account of another scam victim.

Here's where it gets interesting: Transactions are posted to the credit card company's computer almost immediately, sometimes two, or even three days before the check is processed by the bank. This creates the illusion of payment when no money has, in fact, changed hands.

Not that most victims would know it. If the cardholder contacts the provider the day after the scammer 'pays their bill,' they will be told their balance is zero. The con men know the payment is a mirage, and pressure victims to send cash before it evaporates. In short: They use the float - the time it takes the check to bounce - to pick their pocket again.

Such are the lengths these Carribean dirtbags will go, to lend credibility to a scheme that any kid who's been offered a shiny new penny in exchange for a dirty old quarter, can see through.

White Knight, Black Heart

Perpetrators of Advance Fee fraud are so contemptuous of victims that they will rip them off coming and going.

By "coming and going" I mean that, after swindling them, the crooks try to extract even more cash from their quarry by riding to their rescue. Which is to say: Jamaican scammers try to get even more money from victims, by pretending to help them recover the money they stole.

All for a fee, of course, payable in advance, in cash.

This con - commonly known as a Recovery scam or "reloading" - was run repeatedly on my father. Though the approach was basically the same each time, my dad's would-be rescuers varied, and included fictitious characters such as

• Internal investigators from Publisher's Clearing House, and Wachovia Bank
• FBI and IRS agents
• Officials from the FTC
• Representatives of bogus watchdog and anti-fraud organizations
• Goodhearted colleagues of "the bad guys"

With heroes like this, who needs villains?

Caller ID Spoofing: Putting The Phony In Telephony

Thanks to the Internet, word continues to spread that unsolicited calls from area code 876 (Jamaica) are suspicious and likely fraudulent. In response to this growing awareness, perpetrators of Advance Fee fraud are starting to hide the origin of their phone calls.

Because most recipients are leery of anonymous calls, the camouflage of choice for overseas con artists are fake domestic phone numbers, which can easily be substituted for international digits using VOIP (internet-based phone) technology. This deliberate falsification of phone numbers is known as Caller ID Spoofing ("spoofing" for short) and has become even easier, thanks to services like Telespoof, SpoofCard, and PhoneGangster.

In some cases, the fake number is just a diversion. In other instances, bogus numbers are part of a larger scheme to make the target believe that the crooks are calling from a legitimate entity (such as a bank or government agency like the IRS), or a specific locale.

A classic example of Caller ID Spoofing is the Gold Rush Sweepstakes, a phony enterprise for which scammers provide a number with a 702 (Las Vegas) area code. Unbeknownst to many victims, dials to these numbers are being rerouted to Jamaica by call forwarding services.

In another popular ruse - known as a Recovery Scam - the perpetrator spoofs past victims with a 202 (Washington D.C.) area code, to convince them they are FBI agents out to help them recover their lost money. In some cases, this is done to keep the victim from telling friends or family members that they have been scammed. In other instances, the would-be Fed tries to get the victim to pay a fee in advance, for his assistance.

The bottom line is: Anybody can make it look like they are calling from anywhere.

Helpful as it can sometimes be, don't be fooled by Caller ID.

The 411 on Area Code 876

If you've ever made an international phone call, you know that other countries have numbering systems that differ from those used in the U.S. and Canada.

Most of them, that is.

For reasons I have yet to discover, another nation shares the same ten-digit format, as the aforementioned countries: Jamaica, whose area code is 876.

Unless you have offshore acquaintances, don't drop your guard and pick up the phone if you get an 876 call, as it is almost certainly a scam. And for heaven's sake don't return the call, because all it will bring you is grief - that, and costly international phone charges, which apply regardless of how many minutes you have on your calling plan.

Cash Is King In The Land of Scam

In the land of Advance Fee scams, cash is king, because it has three distinct advantages over other forms of payment.

Speed: Unlike checks - which may take a couple of days to clear the bank - cash can be transmitted instantly around the globe thanks to modern information technology.

Anonymity: It is difficult if not impossible to trace electronic money transfers to the true recipient.

Irreversibility: Unlike a check, cash cannot be canceled after it is issued; neither can it be reversed, like charges on a credit card.

Given the prospect of immediate, anonymous, and guaranteed payment, it is easy to see why perpetrators of Advance Fee scams insist that victims send funds via wire services like Western Union, MoneyGram, and prepaid cash cards like GreenDot.

For the aforementioned reasons and others, cash truly is the currency of the realm, in Scam Land.

Advance Fee Fraud: Funny Money Held Hostage

For those not familiar with the term, Advance Fee fraud is a scheme in which con artists try to extract cash from prospective victims by demanding that they pay up-front fees to receive a sum greater - usually much greater - than the fee itself.

This sum comes in a variety of forms, including "found" money (such as unclaimed inheritances) and non-cash items such as luxury cars (Merecedes are a popular choice). More often than not, however, the alleged sum is a substantial prize ($3.5 million, in my elderly father's case).

There is no prize, of course, as legitimate sweepstakes and lotteries do not require winners to pay a fee in advance, to claim their award.

As for the so-called fees, the variations are endless. Some of the more common ones are:

• Domestic or foreign taxes
• Stamp fees or taxes
  
• Customs duties
• Package delivery charges
• Processing fees
• Handling fees
• Import and export surcharges
• Storage charges
  

Thankfully, most people are smart enough not to fall for such schemes, and those who do usually have the good sense to quit after being burned once. Unfortunately, a lucrative minority pay multiple fees, because they fail to realize that their phony winnings are a permanent hostage, never to be released.

Birth of a Blog: My Dad's Story

For over a year and a half, my elderly father has been preyed upon by a ring of Jamaican con artists.

Their game is Advance Fee fraud (in the form of a Sweepstakes scam), wherein a large sum of money is promised in exchange for prepayment of certain fees, such as taxes and customs duties. It is all a hoax, of course, because no legitimate sweepstakes requires winners to pay to claim their prize.

If a target cooperates, the fees multiply and escalate, often in creative ways (the scammers have variously impersonated officials from Publisher's Clearing House, Federal Express, the IRS, FBI, and even the Department of Homeland Security). Naturally, the hoaxers demand payment in cash so they receive the funds immediately and there is no trail leading back to them.

I first became aware of my father's involvement in 2008 when he announced he was driving to the airport to meet a man who was going to deliver his winnings in a sweepstakes. Smelling a rat, I queried my dad and learned he had wired money to Jamaica to "release his prize." His unwillingness to disclose the sum sent a chill down my spine.

I told him it was clearly a scam, and tried unsuccessfully to talk him out of going to the airport. I then offered to tag along, but he refused to let me accompany him.

Naturally Mr. Prize Money was a no-show, although my father would later claim he had met him at Customs where his winnings were being "held up." I checked out his story with local officials, and they confirmed that no such thing ever happened.

Troubled by my father's credulity, I tried to convince him it was all a ripoff. I downloaded reams of evidence from the web, including warnings from federal agencies and testimonials from other victims. I even had the bunko specialist from the local police department talk to my dad in person. At the end of their meeting my father admitted that he had been duped, and thanked the detective for setting him straight.

Within twenty-four hours, he was sending money to the con men again.

Thus began my campaign to protect my parents against further loss, an undertaking that has pitted me against my dad, who in league with his controllers has been a formidable adversary.

Afraid of being overheard on the land line at home, my father started talking to the crooks in secret on his cell phone up to thirty times a day, and in one billing period his Verizon tab was over $2100. After I insisted on changing his mobile number, he promptly made it all for naught by making an outbound call to the criminals, revealing his new digits.

When changing my dad's cell number failed, I confiscated his mobile phone and swapped it for a model with restricted calling capabilities. The same day he responded by purchasing a prepaid unit at a local convenience store. When the prepaid phone proved to be a hassle, he ditched it and started calling his Jamaican masters from home, using international calling cards to keep overseas dials from showing up on his bill.

Then there were the money transfers: Although it took almost four months, I was finally able to persuade Western Union and MoneyGram to stop wiring funds for my father. It wasn't easy, though. Before they stopped, I had to monitor local outlets (such as grocery stores and Wal-Mart) for activity, often on a daily basis. I also circulated flyers warning WU and MG agents that my dad was being defrauded, begging them not send any cash on his behalf. While only one store had the guts to deny him service, all helped me by providing photocopies of my father's money transfers, which later proved useful.

Once blocked by the wire services, my father started sending envelopes stuffed with cash via UPS and FedEx. When I shut that down, he began sending money by Express Mail.

After exhausting every other option, our family was forced to take legal action and petitioned the court to appoint me conservator of my father's estate, because my dad would not grant me Power of Attorney. Luckily, the judge found sufficient cause to issue temporary letters of conservatorship until a hearing could be held to determine whether or not my dad was cognitively impaired.

After a series of delays there was finally a hearing, and the evidence compelled the judge to rule in our favor, and two months later I began serving as my dad's representative in matters involving money.

Since then I have been unraveling the knot of my father's expenditures. My parents' losses, I have discovered, are close to six figures. Furthermore, I've learned that, after emptying their joint checking and savings accounts, my dad borrowed money against the house and his credit cards to pay the con men's phony fees, which by my reckoning total over eighty installments. Thankfully my folks still have their home, and sufficient resources left to weather this financial storm.

As for my journey to conservatorship: To paraphrase the rock band The Grateful Dead, "what a long, strange trip it's been."

Along the way I have met bank officials, police detectives, fraud specialists, and FBI and Secret Service agents. I have talked to the Toronto police department, as well as the Federal Trade Commission and Attorney General's office. I have also spoken with people throughout the country who have been baited by the crooks with my dad's money. I even attended a meeting of Gam-Anon, a support group for family and friends of compulsive gamblers.

It has been an educational experience, and I am publishing this blog to share what I have learned, that others might not succumb to the scum who ripped off my father.