Overseas thieves difficult to prosecute
Once you give your money to someone you meet online, it is most likely lost.
Whatever good or necessary things you planned to do with it will become radically more difficult.
The thieves who get it will use it on whatever they want. Drugs, weapons, human trafficking and more can all be funded by your dollars once you send it to the unknown person texting you.
That’s what one Gilmer County couple learned after sending $23,000 to a man claiming to be from Bank OZK tech support.
The man, identifying himself as “Sebastian Wolf,” contacted a local couple and asked them to send money using Cash App and Western Union.
The couple called the Gilmer County Sheriff’s Office (GCSO) Wednesday, May 13.
When he arrived, Deputy Scott Camp talked with the couple and got their story, according to the GCSO incident report.
The couple had fallen victim to a similar scam before, losing $23,000. Bank OZK reimbursed them for their loss. Western Union didn’t reimburse the couple for about $1,077.
Documentation from Western Union revealed that the money taken from this scam attempt had been sent to a man in Pakistan named “Owais Mujahid.”
This Arabic name translates to “Little Wolf Who Engages in Jihad.”
This time, the couple lost about $20,000. It’s not clear yet who the money has gone to this time. On Cash App, the scammer provided the name, “Bruce B.”
Camp advised the couple to change their phone number and only give their number to trusted family and friends.
Because the funds were transferred overseas to Pakistan, it’s likely that the thieves won’t be prosecuted, Camp said.
Pakistan has no extradition policy with the United States.
To many criminals in the developing world, scamming Americans is a road to receiving incredible wealth.
The average person in Pakistan earns $1,478 yearly, according to the World Bank. For the criminals in this scam, just one successful fraud was enough to make more money than 13 years of work.
According to the Pew Research Foundation, one in five Americans has lost money to online scams.
If someone online asks you to send money, they are almost certainly attempting to rob you.
Sometimes they claim to be your bank. Sometimes they claim to be in love with you. Sometimes they claim to have blackmail information on you. Sometimes they claim your money is threatened if you leave it where it is. Sometimes they claim to be from the authorities. Sometimes they claim there’s an urgent opportunity that could make you rich.
All these things are lies. If you don’t know the person contacting you and they ask you to send you money with a banking app, it’s almost certainly a scam.