[masraum]

Saw this on Faceplant today posted by a county sheriff's office.

Although it will make you want to put the perp through the grinder.

Occasionally, the Sheriff’s Office investigates a case that is especially gratifying. I’m sure all of us have received threatening phone calls; the threat may be for arrest from someone saying they are the IRS, a plea by someone saying a loved one has been arrested, be threatened with deportation, or any other of the various scams. All have a common pattern: the caller is demanding that you send cash to some address, or that you place money on a prepaid card, or have cash that someone will come by and pick up. The extortionists use any kind of scheme to get their money. These cases are difficult for law enforcement to trace. It is frustrating that we can’t get our hands on the caller.

A lot of the victims are elderly with diminished capacity or those not familiar with our system of government. Some of the victims come from foreign countries where they become accustomed to having corrupt officials, so the scam is not too unreasonable for them. For whatever reason, the victims comply and the extortionists leave very few viable leads. The clues often lead to some foreign county and then disappear, or the phone number proves to be a non-legitimate number. The local participants use phony identification to collect their plunder and rapidly move out of the area to a more urban area to blend with the masses.

On Thursday, we got a rare chance to intercept an ongoing scam where the extortionist was threatening to have the person deported if they didn’t pay up. The victim was from another country attending college in Arizona. After being threatened with deportation, the victim complied with the extortionist’s demands and sent $32,000.00 in cash, by FedEx to a FedEx pick up location in Bastrop County off of SH 304. After reflecting on her actions, the victim called her local police department and learned she had been scammed. Knowing she had been scammed, the victim checked with FedEx and learned that the package was due for delivery in about 15 minutes.

The victim called the Bastrop County Sheriff’s Office to discuss her concerns about being scammed. A Sheriff’s unit was near the store where the package was to be dropped off for pickup. The package was recovered with the $32,000.00 in cash and we learned that another package was awaiting pickup by the same person. Surveillance was established on the store and a short time later a female was arrested when she showed up to claim the packages using a fictitious, out of state driver’s license.
The second package contained $18,000.00 in cash and was mailed from California. When the 88 year old sender was contacted, she described how she was contacted by a Department of Justice lawyer and threatened with cancelling her Social Security number if she failed to comply with sending the money. She was also threatened with being arrested for money laundering and other various crimes.

The arrestee, Myisha Carter, 31 years of age, with a Houston address, was booked into the Bastrop County jail and charged with 2 counts of Robbery since there was a threat conveyed during the course of committing theft. Bond was set at $1,500,000.00 dollars. The suspect was on pre-trial diversion on a federal charge out of Houston for a similar theft scheme.

A number of search warrants were executed; one on the suspect’s vehicle yielded just under $100,000.00 in cash stashed under the front seat of the vehicle. All of the information developed on this case has been turned over to the FBI where Federal charges are expected to be brought, at which time she will be released into federal custody.

While I was preparing this release, I received a call showing to be from Arizona. The caller said I qualified on my Visa account for a lower interest rate. When I asked them to tell me my name, the person speaking in broken English, had no idea who I was. I then terminated the call, knowing it was just another scam wanting my personal information with Visa. It’s difficult to know when you are dealing with legitimate callers or proper government officials, but remember, when the caller or message seeks money, passwords, or private information, it’s probably a scam. If someone asks you to send cash or buy prepaid cards (GreenDot, Apple, Google, Home Depot, Lowes, etc.), it IS a scam. If in doubt, verify the request or call your local law enforcement agency to seek guidance and to report the incident.

Maurice C. Cook, Sheriff