Face to face with spammers and scammers

Ever get an e-mail like this?  

“My name is Mrs Maryam Ibrahim,...{I am} suffering from long time cancer of the breast...Before my late husband died  {he} deposited the sum of 20 million dollars ..20% of this money will be for your time and effort...”

The writers of these e-mails sometimes appear to be desperate characters in far-off lands, offering millions in reward money — if you’d only help them in their plight.

If you get a letter like this, you probably ignore it, smelling a scam. But there are thousands of others who take the bait, falling for this global, billion dollar racket.

In 2005, we introduced you to Pam Krause. A town treasurer in Wisconsin, she got an e-mail which asked  her to help a desperate widow recover her husband’s fortune. In return, she’d get a reward of millions of dollars. But only after she paid some fees in advance. Altogether, she lost $18,000 dollars. 

And although the scam’s been around for years, people continue to fall for it.

John Hambrick, FBI's Internet crime complaint center: It’s unfortunate, but they do.

Chris Hansen, Dateline correspondent: Are these people stupid who are falling for this?

John Hambrick:  Well no, they’re not.  Some are quite well-educated.

Chris Hansen Correspondent • Profile

Case in point: Nestled along the frozen shoreline of Lake Huron, Harrisville is the seat of Alcona County, Michigan.

In the bitter winds ofwinter, residents are freezing in their tracks. And not because of the weather. 

Resident: It shocks me that a guy that I thought was a pretty smart guy could fall for something like this.

This time, a county treasurer, Thomas Katona, the man who had control of the county checkbook got an e-mail that promised millions if he’d only invest some upfront money first. Police say he took the bait, hook, line and sinker.

First, he sent the scammers $70,000 of his own money. Then, the crooks apparently convinced him to sink at least $180,000 of county money into the scheme.  And a total of $1.2 million may be missing from the public till.

County sheriff Doug Ellinger: The taxpayers of Alcona County are obviously going to suffer some loss here.  Every property owner that pays property taxes is going to feel some sort of loss from this.

Katona faces 11 felony counts, including embezzlement and forgery. When he declined to speak for himself  in court, the judge  entered a plea of not guilty for him.

The e-mail scam in Michigan is just the latest and most extreme example of a decades-old problem that the internet has only made more widespread.

Hambrick: It’s Canada, England, the Netherlands, it’s everywhere at this point.

The FBI’s John Hambrick says at least 10,000 people will be victimized by the  e-mail cons this year alone. The majority of the scams originate in West Africa, especially Nigeria, are called “419 scams,” named for the Nigerian law which makes them illegal there.  

Some operate from Internet cafes where the crooks are able to send millions of messages, hoping to lure the unsuspecting victim.

Hambrick: And the ability to send out exponentially more in terms of volume increases their returns.  A fraction of a percentage of a response is significant to them.  Milllions of dollars are at stake.

But the criminals operate worldwide and appear to be only loosely connected— not necessarily controlled by a single kingpin. The scammers have been around for years. But there are more and more victims.

Hansen: What makes these offers so alluring to people?  What makes the average guy, say “Alright, I’ll invest eight, ten, twenty thousand dollars in this? “

Hambrick:  I don’t have an answer for that one. 

Hansen:  Greed?

Hambrick: I would say, yes, it’s an easy buck,  it’s the potential to be that once in a lifetime windfall of money.

Most of the conmen remain hidden, far away, overseas, protected by the anonymity of the Internet.  And according to law enforcement, that’s where they are most likely to stay.

Hansen: Why can’t the FBI do more about this?

Hambrick: In terms of prioritization of resources, we’re focused on terrorism at this point. It’s simply not a high enough priority for us to focus on this.

Authorities say the scammers are part of several international networks based here in West Africa that are nearly impossible to put out of business. The FBI says Nigeria, for instance, has made some progress. But every time a scammer is brought down, another takes his place. As names on  e-mails, these scammers are faceless phantoms, almost impossible to track down.

But what if we could take on the challenge of finding some of these rip-off artists? Make it our mission to smoke out some of these  conmen?

Tonight from London and other places around the world, we’ll show you  how Americans are getting ripped off in a torrent of internet scams.  But this time...on hidden camera... you’ll see how Dateline turned the tables. 

It’s an investigation where a financial predator gets taken for a ride.We’ll  make them believe they’re the ones who are going to make a fortune and make it too much for them to resist.