From the Desk of Kristen Justis, Director of Marketing and Client Relations
DANGERS OF ONLINE DATING FOR ALL GENERATIONS
PART ONE – THE WIDOW
A sixty-year old widow, a fifty-five year old divorcee, a professional woman in her mid-thirties or a twenty-three year old Army soldier, these are just some of the individuals Lauth Investigation International, Inc., a private investigation firm, have helped while being scammed through online dating. Scammers do not discriminate, they throw out a line and see who bites. Hence the name Catfish Scams. Over the next few articles, I will discuss each of these Catfish scams.
The Sixty Year Old Widow
A wonderful forty-year marriage, three children, a mortgage paid off and ready for retirement, then the life altering death of Jane’s husband occurs. Jane deals with the loneliness and grief of losing her life partner. A year later, she decides to join an online dating site to find a companion to spend time and share her life. She is matched with several gentlemen; however, one pursues her in the charming, exciting way she was hoping for.
Jane and the new guy, Joe, begin talking via e-mail. He tells her all about his life and the exciting traveling he has done. They have so much in common, she can’t believe how much she enjoys communicating with him. The communication then moves to phone calls and text messaging. They laugh, he compliments her, they have late night talks. The excitement of this new relationship begins to mount.
Two weeks into the relationship, Joe tells Jane he received a contract for work and he will be leaving in a couple of days to Malaysia. He is unsure how long he will be there. Jane requests to meet him in person prior to him leaving. Joe states he has too much to do before he leaves so he is unable to meet her. This makes sense to Jane, so she doesn’t push the issue.
After months of talking every day, Joe tells Jane he owes money to a hospital for some medical expenses and he cannot get to his money because he must be present at his bank to withdrawal money. Of course, his bank is in the United States. He even showed her a screenshot of his bank account with $2.8 Million. The hospital is holding his passport so he is unable to come home to her. He suggests she sends him the money to cover the debt so he can come home. Jane sends him the money.
Next, Joe asks for more money because now he owes money to his attorney in Malaysia. The attorney is now holding his passport until the debt is paid. Jane has to refinance her paid off house to pull money out, but she does it so Joe can come home to her.
Once the attorney is paid off, Joe needs further money as he now owes money to his landlord, who again is holding his passport as collateral. Jane, once again, sends him the money. Now, Joe claims he cannot come home because his visa has since expired and he has to pay fines before he is allowed to leave Malaysia.
A year and $100,000 sent, Jane begins to question Joe about his history. He explains there is lot he can’t share over the phone or text messaging and he will tell her everything when he returns to the States. She questions his accent because he is supposed to be American. He explains this away stating his father was in the military and he lived overseas in different countries throughout his childhood; therefore, he has a mix of accents. Jane asked him on numerous occasions to send her pictures of him. He claims he does not have a phone that takes pictures.
Once Jane looked past her emotions, she hired Lauth Investigations International, Inc. to investigate Joe. Private Investigators found no one exists under the name, birth date and addresses Joe provided to Jane. The bank account he provided was on a fake site. After much investigations, Lauth Investigations was able to link Joe to a scam stemming from Nigeria.
The catfishing scam out of Nigeria is a well-organized group of criminals, men and women, who troll online dating sites in the United States. They are trained to know the region around their victim to convince them they are from the area. The have training on how to connect with the victim and make them fall in love. Once they know the victim is hooked, they pull the line to get them to send money. The requests begin as a small amount and continues to grow over time with more requests for money.
The Nigerian criminal organization operates out of several different internet cafes, use a multitude of computers and phones, maintain various false identities and fake photos, and have fake websites. They utilize all the fraudulent documentation to scam individuals out of millions of dollars a year. Therefore, once the scam is discovered, the money is gone and unrecoverable.
Watch out for your loved ones and yourself for any suspicious relationships formed through an online dating service. Unless you meet the person face to face, do not fall prey to the eloquent words they are able to write or say over the phone. Never send money to someone you do not know personally. If you have any questions about someone you have met, spend your money hiring a private investigator. It’s better to be safe than sorry and broke.
Lauth Investigations International is a private investigation firm. We are constantly questioned about what our background searches can provide that a personal background search cannot. All I can say, it’s all in the details. You pay for what you get. If you want all detailed, accurate information, you will pay for a Private Investigation Background Search. If you want high level information, you will conduct your own Personal Background Search.
Personal Background Search
With the internet, so much information is at our fingertips, but are we getting the most up to date information? A personal background search will bring up the following information:
Employment history. The search will bring up employment records; however, it may only bring up the last couple of positions held. It will not give details of all the employment information for the individuals.
Academic and/or professional qualifications. The search will provide education information and any certifications. High level information will only be received.
Criminal Records. The search will show all arrests and convictions.
Financial Standing. The search will bring up any liens, judgments, bank accounts and property ownership.
The information obtained will be high level and up to the person’s own ability to read the results. In order to get deeper levels, the user has to continue to pay the further in depth they go.
Private Investigations Background Search
Unlike a personal background search conducted by a novice user, a private investigations background search is not just putting a name in a database and seeing what comes up. Private Investigators have access to several databases which will show a variety of information.
Employment history. The search will bring up employment records including all positions held, any discrepancies on a resume, the salaries affiliated with the positions and any other information a potential employer would need to know.
Academic and/or professional qualifications. The search will show all academic history and certifications even if the individual did not complete the program.
Criminal Records. The search will provide a detailed outline of all criminal activity from speeding warnings/tickets and arrests up to convictions and jail time served.
Financial Standing. The search will show all liens, judgments, bank accounts, property ownership, previous ownership of properties, dates properties sold, NSF checks and bankruptcies.
Along with the typical information received through a personal background search, private investigation background searches also include:
Worker’s Compensation Claims an individual has filed. Determining the character of an individual is just as important as their criminal history. For employment purposes, an individual who files numerous compensation claims reveals a dishonest, fraudulent individual.
Ascertain causes of accidents or any criminal activity. DMV reports will show accident information; however, they do not show all causes of the accidents. The in depth reports by private investigators show the reasoning behind accidents and if there was criminal activity involved in the accident as well.
In depth analysis of all findings in the research. Any individual can pull information; however, it’s how the information is analyzed and interpreted that makes it helpful.
Information on employers, business partners, and personal partners.
The process of performing background checks is and should be more in depth than just putting in a name in a database. To ensure the most updated accurate information is received, a private investigation background check is the direction to take. The analysis and time put in from a private investigator along with their ability to understand the findings places the outcome far more beneficial. The personal background checks are general and only provide high level information. Without the knowledge needed to understand the reports, the information does not provide the detail generally needed.
Background checks can be used for all kinds of reasons. If you are looking into a potential business partner, potential employee, potential life partner, a detailed background check with concise analysis can provide you the information needed to make informed decisions. Do not rely on just an internet search without the knowledge to know what information is in front of you.
The time has come, once again, for the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. While we all look forward to this time of year, criminals especially do as well. They rely on us being excited, relaxed and distracted. In an effort to keep our information safe, we must be overly aware during this time of year.
Traveling
During the holidays, traveling increases by 54%. That’s a lot of empty homes waiting for criminals to do their work. Here are just a few tips to keep your home safe while traveling:
Only tell one close family member or friend that you are traveling out of town. This one person should be the one to check on your home while you are away. Having them enter your home one or two times daily would be ideal. Although they are busy as well, this will make it look like someone is there frequently.
Do not post on social media your travel schedule. Although you think only friends and family can see this information, you are incorrect. You can take pictures and still update on the fun your having, just do it responsibly. No one needs to know you are half way across the country.
Put your lights on timers, inside and out. If your lights are popping on and off throughout the day, anyone watching your house will tend to believe someone is home. You can get the timers from any home improvement store and they do not take long to install.
A small final tip from my parents! Turn off your main water line before leaving. You do not want to come back to a flooded, moldy home due to a small hole in a water line. Trust me, it was not fun! Once you return from traveling, you just want to be in your own bed. If this water line break occurs, you will be back in a hotel for weeks.
Wallet and Identity
I group the wallet and identity together as the items utilized to steal your identity are generally located in your wallet. Here are just a few suggestions for keeping your information safe while you are enjoying the shopping frenzy:
Pay with cash as often as you can. We’ve all seen the security issues with credit card machines. This can happen at any retail store. Avoid giving your card information out and pay with cash. If you do not want to carry cash, get gift cards with cash and use the gift cards instead of using your debit/credit card.
If paying with cash, ensure you place your cash close to your person when out shopping. Put the cash in the pockets of your jeans or in a place where you would notice or feel someone trying to take the cash from you. Do not place it in your purse on a cart where you would turn your attention away, for even a second. All it takes is a second to turn your head away and your purse is gone.
Along with the cash, put all identification (driver’s license, social security card, credit cards) information in your pockets as well. Always make sure your information is close enough so you will know if someone is trying to get to these items.
When pulling out your cash to pay, do not pull out the large stack of bills and count it out in an obvious manner. You may not realize how closely people are watching you, but criminals are watching every move as this is their job.
As you are buying your items, try to condense the amounts of packages you are carrying. Any bags that can be combined, do so. The more you are carrying, the more vulnerable you appear.
When you take your items to your car to drop them off and start off again, we all do it, make sure you cover the items with either a blanket or a screen. Do not leave anything out in the open in your vehicle.
The holidays are fun and happy time of the year. Do not let criminals make this time stressful for you. Small adjustments can keep your home, wallet and identity safe. Always be aware of your surroundings, trust your gut, and keep your personal information personal.
Lauth Investigations International is a private investigation firm. We consistently work with people whose identity has been compromised. The one minute it took a criminal to steal their information created months of stress for these individuals to recover. Do not let this happen to you.
Private investigators help with a myriad of corporate issues: from helping employers discover employee theft, to helping attorneys gather information for a case, there is very rarely a time where conflict arises in a professional situation when a private investigator would not be helpful, if not necessary. Once someone decides to hire a private investigator for their corporate needs, the next question becomes who to hire. A quick internet search will show that there are a lot of options when it comes to hiring an investigator, from different specialities to different geographic locations.
In this blog post we discuss why it’s important to consider geographic location specifically as one of the most important factors when choosing a private investigator, and why it is advised to find a local private investigator instead of going with a national firm.
Sensitive Information:
The vast majority of the time, private investigators deal with sensitive, confidential information that is relatively urgent in nature. Because of this, clients of a P.I. tend to take comfort in having an investigator that they can meet with in person and speak to concerning the sensitive details of a case. They also demand someone who delivers fast results after conducting an investigation. A lot of clients appreciate simply being able to call a local number or even stop by the investigator’s office if something is bothering them. A local P.I. is the obvious choice for anyone feeling insecure or vulnerable in a case requiring a P.I. because of the added comfort it brings.
Intricate Knowledge of Local Laws:
Oftentimes investigation cases deal with matters of the law, which is another reason why it is recommended to go with a local investigator. If you are dealing with a case that includes issues of local or state law, it will be far easier to work with someone who has experience strictly in the region you are dealing with and knows the laws inherently without having to charge you for research time. Especially in legal cases, a local P.I. is an asset that can also act as a resource for understanding local laws and practices for fraud and evasion situations.
Avoiding Middle Men:
Oftentimes, national or online private investigators will receive your case and then farm it out to a local P.I. anyway. By hiring locally, you are essentially just cutting out the middle-man and going directly to the local P.I., and this way you get to choose which P.I. will handle your situation instead of leaving it to the firm to assign it to someone, and you will save money by cutting out the larger firm that will take a percentage of the profits.
Knowledge of Local Logistics and Local Sources:
If you hire a local private investigator for a local case, you’re going to find someone who deals exclusively with the area you are in. This means that the P.I.’s network will be refined to this area and that he or she will have access to local logistics and sources that a national P.I. won’t have. P.I.’s often need to use numbers with local area codes to make phone calls, they need to set up meeting places in local areas, and they need to be on site for almost the entirety of the investigation. This all requires access to people, places, and information that local P.I.’s will have.
Familiarity With the Area:
Not only will a local investigator have better access to resources, but an investigator looking into a case in his or her own area will have the benefit of knowing the context in which the case is unfolding and being familiar with any important locations or cultural specificities relevant to the case. The simple fact that your P.I. will be familiar in working in your area will make the case easier to solve, make the process easier and faster, and help you to get things resolved sooner.
Supporting Local Businesses:
We are living in a time where going local is a good idea simply for the sake of going local. Supporting your local businesses is good for your city, good for the overall economy, and good for your peace of mind. Globalization opens doors for many people, but it closes doors to local businesses in the process, and this is leading to a lot of vulnerability for industries like private investigation. If you have a local private investigator who will get the job done effectively, don’t hesitate to give them business.
Large private investigative firms can give you the feeling of security, but in reality your case will simply be treated more slowly and in a less personal manner. Not only that, but you will end up paying for the extra travel and research expenses that will go into solving your case. For all of these reasons, going local for your investigation needs makes sense from a practical, emotional, and financial standpoint.
We expose more of ourselves on a daily basis than at any other time in history. Most people have some form of social media an enterprising sleuth could build a profile based off of just by pressing the “older posts” button. There’s been a lot of news about wiretaps lately, but something under most people’s radar are the Smart TV’s and toys that have been listening to their owner’s conversations.
While it’s scary enough to consider how many things in your home could be listening in on you this very moment, what’s even more concerning is how quickly you can lose control of these devices and extorted to get them back. And it’s not just individuals having their devices and data taken from them, it’s also hit schools, hospital and private businesses hard over the last year.
One of the most common forms of extortion today is the use of “ransomware” to lock people or companies out of their electronics and data. Ransomware is a term for a particular kind of hacking that’s been on the rise as internet reliance has increased. Victims of ransomware typically receive a message on their device’s display saying something to the effect of “pay us this money and we’ll give you back your data.”
In an interview with CNN, South Carolina public school administrator Charles Huck, highlighted the dilemma presented by ransomware when he said, “You get to the point of making the business decision: Do I make my end-users — in our case teachers and students — wait for weeks and weeks and weeks while we restore servers from backup? Or do we pay the ransom and get the data back online more quickly?”
If the targets of ransomware want their systems or data back then they don’t have much choice, but to pay the fee. The hackers have repeatedly targeted hospitals since their technology working is literally a case of life or death there is significant pressure on the hospitals to simply pay the ransom.
When Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center had some of it’s communication devices taken over by hackers last year, the criminals demanded $17,000 to be paid in bitcoin. The hackers asked for that amount, because it’s low enough most places will pay under the impression it’s the quickest way to get it all over with.
“The malware locks systems by encrypting files and demanding ransom to obtain the decryption key. The quickest and most efficient way to restore our systems and administrative functions was to pay the ransom and obtain the decryption key,” Chief Executive Allen Stefanek said when the LA Times asked why they paid the hackers. “In the best interest of restoring normal operations, we did this.”
One of the scarier things about ransomware is this is only the beginning. The FBI reported ransomware to be a $1 billion industry in 2016. In a follow-up storyCNN reported:
At that rate, ransomware is on pace to be a $1 billion a year crime this year. The FBI told CNN that the number “is quite high” because a few people “reported large losses.”
The agency also said that the losses could even be bigger once other related costs from these extortion schemes are factored in. Plus: Some victims may choose to pay and not report the crime.
Paul Roberts, founder and editor of a website called The Security Ledger told CNN, “The ransomware criminals understand this. Their business in some ways is a volume business so they don’t set their ransom so high that you can’t pay it. They set it at a level so they can get their money and move on to the next victim.”
This crime has even made its way into consumer electronics like smart phones and TVs. Last Christmas a photo of an LG TV stricken with ransomware went viral.
The hackers demand far less money to relinquish control of personal devices, but $500, especially if it’s on Christmas Day after you’ve spent money on gifts, is still a lot. In December, Slatereported:
“Ransomware works by taking over a system until a user pays a fee, often in the form of cryptocurrency or digital gift cards. One recent high-profile ransomware attack shut down much of San Francisco’s public transit system while another targeted a Hollywood hospital. More mundane ransomware has been reported on Android devices since at least 2014, and Frantic Locker first began to show up on phones in 2015.
Keep your systems operating systems up to date and don’t download files that aren’t from trusted site to help avoid ransomware. If you do all these things and still end up under attack, contact your systems administrator or the manufacturer of your device. Take precaution, because ransomware isn’t going away anytime soon.
David Schroeder, Blog Writer, Lauth Investigations International
Once Jane looked past her emotions, she hired Lauth Investigations International, Inc. to investigate Joe. Private Investigators found no one exists under the name, birth date and addresses Joe provided to Jane. The bank account he provided was on a fake site. After much investigations, Lauth Investigations was able to link Joe to a scam stemming from Nigeria.
I group the wallet and identity together as the items utilized to steal your identity are generally located in your wallet. Here are just a few suggestions for keeping your information safe while you are enjoying the shopping frenzy:
