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08-05-2007, 11:01 PM
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Local Police Department
In the US, you do not contact your local police department unless you are an Identity Theft victim. Only then do you fill out a crime report; its number is used when notifying credit card companies, your bank, credit agencies, etc. See Insider Information under 419legal's Identity Fraud link for more details. In large cities, there may be a special fraud unit that deals with identity thieves. Mainly, your local law enforcement agency doesn't get involved with Internet financial crime (i.e. job/lottery/business propsoal scams), unless the scammer shows up at your door after threatening your life. Their primary focus is gang violence, drug deals/meth labs, rape and murder.
__________________________________________________ ____________________________________ Please Note: It's a different story overseas. David Zigler, a junior member, suggests forwarding international e-scams to the Local Provincal or State Police (see Interpol Connection in Reporting Fraud forum.) For those caught up in a South African (SA) fraud scheme, return to 419legal's home-page, scroll down to "Important Contact Information," open this link and click on SAPS Crime Branch or SAPS Crime Intelligence. __________________________________________________ ____________________________________ Since the Patriot Act was signed in 2002, the US Secret Service was moved from the Treasury Department to Homeland Security. After 9/11, the FBI, with Robert Mueller, III in charge, was reorganized. This means counter-terrorism is where government bucks go. All law enforcement agencies are called into play when a threat to public safety rears its ugly head. So, scams and scammers are not a top priority. You can report Advanced Fee Fraud to the Secret Service at United States Secret Service;however, the amount lost needs to be significant. Contact your local field office to find out if you qualify. In addition, the Secret Service says it is not a crime for a stranger to ask for financial assistance. As I mentioned in several Threads, if you wired money to a stranger with a hard luck story, you have no recourse but to swallow the loss and move on. Before you move on, educate yourself by reading How Nigerian 419 Fraud Syndicates Operate in the Information and Education section as well as Be Aware and Beware under the General Scam and Spam Discussions link. The FBI's Internet Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov is an information gathering site. They use e-scam complaints to alert the public. Their most recent alert concerned the Nigeria-based hit man email. I've included a web page titled Organized Crime, African Criminal Enterprises as a reminder that we are not dealing with white-collar criminals, i.e. business executives with attache cases. Click on Federal Bureau of Investigation - Organized Crime - African Criminal Enterprises to read about a billion dollar fraud industry. And be aware these thugs verbally abusive a victim if he or she doesn't net them the profit they expect. Many earn big bucks through financial crimes, some are drug traffickers, while others are killers (check out The Dangers of Nigerian 419 Fraud in the Information and Education section.) It's a scary thought when 419 gangsters have your home address and phone number, especially since Nigerian Criminal Enterprises operate within US borders. You can also forward spam to the Federal Trade Commission, spam@uce.gov. The FTC is an agency that seems the most interested in consumer complaints. They state on their website (Federal Trade Commission - Home) that their database generates cases against people who use spam to spread false or misleading information about their products or services. This includes pyramid schemes, money-making chain letters, credit card scams, credit repair scams, weight-loss plans, fradulent business opportunities and so on. You can find a link, "Consumer Complaint Report to the FTC," on their home-page. Finally, if you are conducting business on ebay or through paypal, forward suspicious emails to spoof@ebay.com or spoof@paypal.com to find out if they are e-scams.
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To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 15 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Internet Fraud Tips at To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 15 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Last edited by S. Tomas : 09-11-2007 at 09:08 PM. Reason: Add a web page 
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