Beware the internet criminals. The FBI will not help. Since I have written several Op Eds about internet fraud, I assumed that I was savvy enough to protect myself, but I was almost trapped by clever thieves. A bank teller thwarted this major theft. Beware emails on the internet from your friends and business associates, where emails can be intercepted and falsified to steal your money.
My Writings About Internet Frauds
In addition to other articles, my Op Eds about internet frauds included "U.S. Banks and the FBI Harbor Criminal Fraud Enterprises", "The Bank of America Reacts to Freedom of the Press and the Consumer Fraud Protection Bureau", The Bank of America Steals our Money - The Bank of America's International Fraud against America", and " Visit France as a Tourist-Risk Fraud and False Imprisonment in Jail-Luxury Tours France and Hotel Le Pavillon Des Lys ".
Liars and thieves commit the number one fraud in the U.S., i.e., Imposters are at the top of the list.
(Image by U.S> government) Details DMCA
Banks are Protected from Thefts Committed Through Those Banks
The facts are quite clear. Banks are not responsible if you send a wire transfer, criminals are allowed to continue using banks after committing frauds through those banks, the FBI does not usually investigate frauds under $100,000, the FBI may, or may not, investigate this attempted fraud, and prosecuting thieves may place you in danger.
To stop this specific fraud, a bank teller at SRP Federal Credit Union in South Carolina thwarted this major theft by implementing policy at that bank to demand verbal verification before a wire transfer was sent. Many thanks to her.
This teller also told me of a man who had his email hacked. That hacker then changed bank account information. Accordingly, that man sent $200,000 to a fraudulent bank account number. That man then lost that $200,000 in cash. Banks are not responsible.
Some Banks Do Not Warn Customers About This New Type of Crime
For example, the Bank of America does not implement a policy to warn customers of email hackers and their frauds, where I sent a wire transfer on 2/15/2024 from that bank - without any questions at all. I have not investigated wire transfer policies for other banks. Beware of thieves, internet hacks, and altered and or falsified emails from people you know. Given these new types of internet wire fraud crimes, all banks should implement policies to advise customers to verbally validate banking information before any wire transfers are sent anywhere.
The FBI Refused to Investigate This Crime
We Are On Our Own
The following fraud complaint was filed with the CFPB on 2/21/2024, where this complaint details an attempted fraud. Perhaps such information may save you money from other thieves, even though the FBI refused to investigate this crime or any similar crime.
To: The Consumer Fraud Protection Bureau, FBI
Attempted Fraud
[Our financial services company], my wife, and I were the intended victims of this fraud.
Using fraud, forgery, and internet hacking, an unknown criminal, or criminals, attempted to defraud my wife and I. They hacked my internet account, deleted all previous emails between my stockbroker and I, suspended communications between my stockbroker and I, and then the thieves pretended to be my stockbroker.
[Emails within my email account, claimed to be a stockbroker and those emails had two letters in the email address reversed. By eliminating other earlier emails with the correct email address, detection was avoided].Before this fraud took place, the thieves apparently monitored my emails to my stockbroker. My wife has sold her childhood home, and she wished to reinvest those profits in the stock market under her trust name. She asked me to orchestrate this transaction with our broker of [our financial services] company.
In my broker's name, the criminals stated through email that [our financial services company] no longer accepted checks, and further that [our financial services company] requested a wire transfer. The criminals used a false email address from within my email account. My internet email provider, AOL, has since cleared the buffers installed by the criminals on my email account and checked for viruses. At their direction, I changed my account password and installed virus software.
Back to the fraud discussion, I called my broker, and I stated that I did not understand [our financial services company] policies, and that I was going to send [money] by wire transfer for him to invest in stocks on our behalf. I was not explicit that I had received an email claiming that checks would not be accepted, and our broker later confirmed that [our financial services company] does, in fact, still accept checks. Even so, my broker assured me that a wire transfer would be safe and guaranteed.
The fraud then continued. Concerned with possible interned fraud, I stated by email that I wanted written confirmation that [our financial services company] was responsible for any internet frauds during [our financial services company] transaction. The criminals then forged my broker's signature on a document accepting such responsibilities. The criminals provided [false] bank information, using [our financial services company] as the account name.
...
Later, my wife and I went to our bank on February 15, 2024 to make the wire transfer. The bank teller advised us that bank policy required us to verbally confirm wire transfer information. We called our broker, and he stated that he had never filled out a form accepting [our financial services company's] responsibility for wire transfers, I said that he did, and I sent the signed form back to him, but the email was blocked. The fraud was still in process, since I still thought that our broker had sent the email, and he did not respond to this noted email.
My wife, our broker, our banker and I were scheduled to meet on February 20, 2024 at 14:00 to verify all wire transfer information before sending [money] by wire transfer, On that day, I received an email from the criminals, claiming to be our broker, that there was no need for verbal confirmation. Believing that our broker sent this email, I sent him an email that I would find another broker, and I cancelled the 14:00 meeting at the bank. At about 14:20, our broker called and asked why we did not have the meeting. For the first time, I realized that my AOL account had been hacked, and we were the victims of an attempted fraud.
What would be a fair resolution to this issue?
Locate the criminals, arrest the criminals, and put an end to their criminal enterprise. Forgery and theft are serious crimes that should be pursued. If this crime had not been stopped, we would have had [money] stolen from us.
Some stock brokers, banks and realtors verify transactions by phone to ensure prevent wire transfer frauds. Some do not. For this case, the Columbia office of the FBI refused to investigate this crime, and referred me to the CFPB. The CFPB advised me that they only investigate crimes committed by registered corporations. That is, when thieves act alone, the FBI refuses to investigate any interstate wire transfer crime, regardless of the amount that was stolen or attempted to be stolen. The FBI advised me to hire my own legal counsel to investigate this crime. In the absence of any legal protection by our government from wire transfer frauds, we are on our own.
(Article changed on Feb 28, 2024 at 11:23 AM EST)
