How to track an internet thief?

I am looking for some input into how to track a thief!... mainly for fun now .. In Dec 09 a theif who stole forty thousand pounds from my father in law using an online scam. The fraudsters have set up a number of elaborate websites to purport legitimacy as share brokers. They communicate through email and phone calls. The police are not interested as the money isnt large enough to justify action. I traced quite a bit of info - but cant get past the security measures the scammers use 'whoisguard' etc to protect their illegitimate identities.

I would ideally like to find someone or somehow to at least give them a bit of an internet scare of their own (i.e. at least think the police are on to them)!

Ideally it would stop them getting someone more vunerable than my father in law. Thankfully this doesn't mean he is destitute..

Can anyone send me in the right direction...are there any 'Robin Hood' gurus out there who want a challenge? Or can you tell me how to go about being a good guy in this without doing anything illegal?

 

Would like to suggest that it is better you let the experts deal with Scammers.

Noted your Australian location, so if legit, you can try checking out our Attorney General's website for info and reporting at:

http://www.ag.gov.au/www/agd/agd.nsf/Page/Fraud_controlAustralasian_Consumer_Fraud_Taskforce

Also look at SCAMwatch at: http://www.scamwatch.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/693900

Cheers


LS

 

I would suggest instead of miring yourself in what may prove to be a detrimental situation, as it does constitute internet stalking and unlawful surveillance and could blow up in your face, learning from the situation and what not to do in the future.

While the natural instinct is to avenge and retaliate, that particular line of thinking never ends up helping, solving a problem, nor finding any sort of solution. It generally ends up resulting in more pain than was originally wrought in the first place. I understand it was likely humiliating to fall for such a scam, because I’m sure on retrospect it was obvious it was a scam, but by now the availability of resources available telling you it was a scam are abundant, if he’d only taken a moment to look.

I would instead learn where along the line your Father in law went wrong, such as entertaining the idea that anything emailed to you requesting money to get money was in any way a legitimate business practice, and learn what not to do in the future. “Tracking down the scammers” to somehow exact revenge for, and I apologize for being blunt, but pure stupidity, is petty and ridiculous.

I’m sure if you contact your insurance carrier the money can be compensated for, as it was stolen and I’m sure you filed a police report before searching the internet and asking people to attempt to hack them, so it should be taken care of one way or another. Most home owner’s insurance policies cover theft and fraud of up to a certain amount.

 

Others have already said what I was going to say. Turning to crime yourself is not going to end well.

All legal implications aside, stop and consider the fact that someone who makes their living scamming people online is bound to know considerably more than you do about how to protect themselves from digital attacks and online stalking? The fact that they have your father-in-law's money now and he doesn't kind of proves that point.

Chalk it up as an expensive learning experience, contact the insurance company to see if this is covered under fraud or theft and how much they will compensate him for, and start to learn to live with the fact that there are bad and sneaky people out there, and that trusting a stranger who offered to generously help you make your life better for nothing, probably wasn't the smartest thing to do.

There have been con artists in this world since long before the real Robin Hood's times, and they have always been getting away with it. That's nothing new, and though I'm sure it smarts, it's still nothing that you can do anything about.

 

Since this now has been brought up, my inner pragmatist also wants to point out that to intentionally making yourself a target of what essentially is an international organization of computer criminals, isn't the most clever thing to do either...

 

That sounds like an excercise in Darwinism.

“A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.”

 

Well, thanks for all your responses. I think I get the hint!

It does seem a shame that there can't be a 'private investigators' part of the internet that can legally do what the police are not prepared to do.

The thing that bugs me isn't the money he lost. He was actually trying to sell the shares to help out someone else. It is that I have found out this is quite a targeted scam of elderly people. My father in law is aok - albeit rather embarrased and annoyed with himself.

As for learning from things, literally as soon as I found out that he had given this mob some money I took a 'worried' look and it took me all of five minutes to determine that it was a fraud. My father in law has certainly learnt his lesson - though to be fair to him - he had taken what he thought were adequate steps to ensure the broker was legit.

Oh well...

 

As I was hinting earlier, these kinds of scams are large-scale projects by large organizations... they target the elderly, and they target the young and naive, or the comparatively very uneducated. What makes it aggravating is that there is nothing that can be done to spot them, other than to learn how to stop them -- you clearly do, and I have no doubt that in the future your father in law will be a lot more careful as well.

Whenever I help my friends setting up a brand new computer (removing bloatware, installing AV, et cetera), I always give them a quick "lecture" in the basics on how to avoid being scammed, defrauded, or have their accounts stolen. It's both depressing and a little scary how little they all know about how to be careful online... the way I see it, if they come to me for help, fishing lessons are a part of the service.

 

Very true,Mimsy.
But how much actually sinks in?
How many really pay attention and learn?

 

Most of the ones I talk to seem to... if not, they've stopped asking me for help and gone elsewhere.

 

Aaaw.... ruining my fun with "realism" again...! How dare you! LOL

 

The one I raised was not exactly an internet scam; but similar. He was duped out of his money by a person reporting to be a broker; ie. over the phone; who had knowledge of his shares. My father in law is financially literate and the 'broker' new his stuff - was English actually and probably 50's (i took a phone call from him once). To back it all up he had set up artificial websites etc. He communicated by phone and email and sent through forged certificates etc. It was pretty elaborate and I have worked out there is a number of other VERY similar websites the guy has created - so he is targeting more and will get more people.

Because I was to late to know this was happening, I did not get the chance to check the source behind his websites and some facts he listed on them...as soon as I saw it I knew it was a scam, the money had already gone. But my father in law had no chance of digging up the kind of thing I could.