“How come Michael wasn’t caught at that time?” asked Reilly.
“Couldn’t trace him,” said Longstaff. “These guys were far too clever with computers, clever enough to completely dispose of a trail as they were laying it.”
“Christ,” said Reilly. “I think we’re in the wrong job.”
“I think you’re right, Sean.”
Rawson took the reins and filled them in on James Henshaw. “He was the real wizard behind the company. He dreamed up most of the scams, but he was also the brains behind the computer viruses.”
“What did he start with?” asked Gardener.
“His was the Secret Shopper Scheme.”
“Christ,” said Reilly, “I’ve never even heard of this stuff. Is this what they have to contend with in cyber crime?”
“Every day,” said Pearson.
Rawson continued. “The secret-shopper mule usually falls prey to a secret-shopper scam, which is similar to the WFH scheme. It’s an employment-based scheme designed to lure victims with offers to earn extra money for shopping at certain stores, or having the opportunity to keep the goods that are purchased in exchange for ‘evaluating’ the customer service, among other things, while visiting the store.
“Like the WFH scheme, these scam advertisements and websites are designed to look legitimate and blend in with other genuine secret-shopper programs. Likewise, recruitment is performed in a similar fashion using spam email and employment site advertisements.
“The scams often include evaluating a money-service business such as Western Union or MoneyGram. Shoppers will receive a counterfeit cheque that may be worth several thousand pounds. They will be instructed to cash the cheque and use their local Western Union or MoneyGram to send proceeds to a designated third-party account. The shoppers are told to keep a certain amount for themselves and email the fraudster their rating of the service.
“The Better Business Bureau issued a warning of one such scam business called Pinecone Research. This is an example of how fraudsters use legitimate-looking businesses to trick victims, since Pinecone Research Panel is an actual company.
“James targeted a number of people with the secret shopper scam including many abroad. One such victim was a British Army veteran called Gerry Russell, who found securing full-time employment difficult after he’d completed his military career. Whilst using the internet, he saw an advertisement for a mystery-shopper evaluation job and applied.
“Russell’s assignments were easy. He would receive cheques via bogus parcel companies and deposit them into his personal account. He was instructed to purchase prepaid cards with the funds from Green Dot, a provider for prepaid Visa or debit MasterCard cards. Once Russell had the Green Dot cards, he would call his manager and provide the card numbers and the amount. After the second ‘assignment,’ his bank withdrew £3,000 to cover the cost of the counterfeit deposits. Russell reported the incident to his local police station, but there was little that could be done.
“Henshaw made a serious amount of money using the scam. He was also clever enough to cover his tracks, and because his machine ran through a number of servers it was almost impossible to detect.”
“This reads like a Grisham novel,” said Gardener.
“Doesn’t it?” said Pearson. “Wait till you hear about Palmer.”
Gardener glanced at the clock on the wall. “What did he do?”
“He ran the lottery and inheritance scam. Palmer would inform his victims that they have won a lottery or a sweepstake, or are set to receive an inheritance from an unknown deceased relative. He would initiate the scam through a number of ways, such as email, telephone, letters, faxes and social media. Once victims responded to his communications, he then required proof of identity to facilitate the payment transfer.
“In reality, he was gathering information to potentially steal the victim’s identity. The next thing he did was mention legal issues, ta
xes, insurance, probate fees or delivery costs. Such a scam was a form of the advanced fee scams, though the difference was that Palmer used the victims as unsuspecting money mules.
“One of the ways he did it was to offer to assist potential money mules with paying the fees mentioned above. He informed the victims that the payments were coming from legitimate clients. What they actually did was come from other victims’ accounts. He then wired funds into the mule’s account; on rare occasions, he used stolen or counterfeit cheques. Once the mule had received the funds, Palmer instructed them to keep a portion and send the rest to another account, effectively turning his victim into a money mule.
“A recent article in The Yorkshire Press reported of an elderly couple in Wellington Hill in Leeds. They were informed that they had won an international sweepstakes. Anthony requested fees in advance, and the couple agreed. Soon after, more and more sweepstakes mailers came in, and the couple kept engaging Palmer, believing they were winning.
“Once the old couple was deep in debt, Palmer offered to hire them as representatives for the bogus sweepstakes company he had created. Large sums of cash began to arrive at their home, where they would repackage them and mail them out. They would receive commissions for their work as their payment. Sadly, they were the couple that had lived next door to his parents, which proved Palmer’s incapacity to feel or become emotionally involved, despite knowing you.”
“Has anyone spoken to these people?”
“No,” said Anderson, “but Frank and I will pay them a visit tomorrow.”
Longstaff added a little more. “In another case, a forty-five-year-old man living in Middlesbrough, Barry Cooper, is facing money-laundering and theft charges after he allegedly fell prey to Palmer’s Jamaican lottery scam. After he lost all his money, Palmer offered him a deal. The man could work as a mule for the cyber criminals, and they would help him recover his money. The victim was so desperate that he agreed, thus moving from victim to perpetrator.”
“It never ends, does it? Someone needs to ring the Middlesbrough police in the morning, see what they can tell us about that,” said Gardener. “How the hell did they work all this out?”
“The things is, Stewart,” said Briggs, “none of this tells us who is responsible for what’s happening now.”