Month: June 2018

Although I have already investigated and provided evidence in countless cases of scams and I have managed to prevent many frauds, I am still impressed by the level of devious and disrespect of many scammers. They do not care about anything; they do not even seem to be afraid of jail. Some of them conduct their frauds in broad daylight and leave their personal information at every step.
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By reference of an old client I was contacted by a couple from another state with the following case: “For some years now we have wanted to sell the property we have in another city, whose current value is very high and then buy several commercial and residential properties in this city to be able to rent them out and dedicate us full time to the real estate business. Four months ago we visited a property for sale at a very good price, although we were not interested in buying it, the owners put us in touch with a court appointed real estate auction agent, who processed the sale of property foreclosed by the court with very good prices. We immediately contacted the agent and agreed to an appointment that same day at one of the properties. Benjamin (name changed) was dressed in uniform, judicial plaque on his belt and identification of the judicial system. That day we visited 3 properties, two apartments and a house. The process, he explained, was simple, the properties were repossessed and their titles transferred to a lawyer authorized by the court, we should make a payment of $20,000 for each property and continue the mortgage payments. To close the deal, Benjamin and the lawyer presented us with the properties’ documents confirming that these properties were under the name of the lawyer. Because the properties were repossessed for lack of payments, the court only allowed payment in cash or by bank transfer. We sign the required contract in the lawyer’s office and the following week we proceeded with the transfer of $60,000 to the account of Agent Benjamin. We have been waiting for a month and a half to receive the transfer document so that we can take possession of the properties and start with the needed renovations, but Benjamin is still postponing us. Although at first everything seemed very correct, now we have begun to suspect that things are not as we believed. We need you to help us clarify this situation.”
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Making a deal signed by a lawyer and a judicial agent, both authorized by the court, does not sound like fraud, but I do not think it is right that my clients had to make a transfer to the personal account of the judicial agent. We must investigate this, I responded to my desperate clients.
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Although I thought that in a few days we would clarify the situation and give good news to my clients to stop worrying, all I could do was uncover a Pandora’s Box. Benjamin was not a judicial agent of the court, but a convicted felon who had paid time for imprisonment for various crimes of fraud including charges for “criminal organization to commit fraud”, “Falsification of signatures of legal documents”, “false presentation as a judicial agent” and several civil claims for debts. The alleged lawyer was just another fraudster who had been committing misdemeanors for some years, some of them with Benjamin. Apart from Benjamin and the fake lawyer, we identified three other individuals who were part of this new “criminal organization to commit fraud” led by Benjamin. The fraud process was simple, Benjamin and companion identified properties whose owners did not occupy and/or were failing their mortgage payments, then began a process called “Quitclaim Deed”, in which they falsified the signatures of the legitimate owners to generate a transfer in the name of the alleged lawyer. In many of these frauds the real owners never learned of this deceptive process until very late. Once with the new property documents in their hands, they gained access to the property and sought bargain buyers, almost always “novice investors” who were asked for an attractive figure and occasionally proceeded to perform another “Quitclaim Deed” in favor of the new buyers. When the real owners were informed, they opened court cases against Benjamin and his false lawyer and the new buyers were left without property and without money. By that time Benjamin and company had withdrawn the money and had vanished. This type of fraud affected two victims, real owners and bargain shoppers. The disrespect of these criminals was so big that they did not mind being identify; even knowing that these types of crimes are paid with jail time.
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For your own safety always check the licenses of the alleged professionals. Distrust everyone until proven otherwise. If you are going to make a deal with a company or with the courts, be sure to pay that entity and not the personal account of an employee. Do not believe that you are immune to fraud; because fraudsters know very well how to sell bait and switch.
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Beware of fraud, but if you need help, call us at 866-224-1245 or visit us at www.drakonx.com
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June 7, 2016
By Private Detective Fernando Alvarez
DIARIO LAS AMERICAS
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Drakonx Investigations offers Private Investigator and Detective Services in Los Angeles, Santa Monica, San Fernando, Santa Ana, Long Beach, Van Nuys, Torrance, Pomona, San Gabriel, Whittier, Orange, Costa Mesa, Huntington Park, Huntington Beach, Culver City, North Hollywood, Burbank, Thousand Oaks, Tustin, El Monte, West Covina, San Dimas, Riverside, San Bernardino, Rancho Cucamonga, Corona, Fullerton, Miami, Hialeah, Miami Lakes, Aventura, Miami Beach, Homestead, Kendall, Coral Gables, Doral, Miami Springs, Miami Gardens, North Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, Hollywood, Miramar, Cutler Bay, Hialeah Gardens, The Hammocks, Sunny Isle, Bal Harbour, Cuba, Havana, Matanzas, Varadero, Camaguey, Santa Clara, Santiago de Cuba, Holguin, Pinar del Rio, Sancti Spiritus, Trinidad, Cienfuegos, Ciego de Avila, Isla de la Juventud, Guantanamo, Bayamo, Granma.
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You really never know where the fraud is going to come from or what you’re going to lose after the damage. I do not know if the scammers are delinquents or artists, or maybe both, the truth is that they develop the power of conviction very well in order to enter our lives, our businesses and our homes.
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One day, I received a call from a customer who had been robbed from his business and wanted to see how I could help him. He explained, “I have a business that has been established for some years and I am also the owner of the building that occupies my business. For strategic needs I need to move my business to a more central area of the city and I have told some real estate agents about that. I was called by one of these agents five days ago and explained that Gerardo [name has been changed] a potential buyer, had received a $15 million inheritance, and it was his intention to invest it in the business. Gerardo was delighted with the building and agreed to purchase it. This would be the fifth property in which Gerardo would sign a purchase and sale agreement for. Two days later, Gerardo appeared alone in my business, which was almost about to close, and explained to the receptionist that he needed to make some measurements inside the building and that his real estate agent was not available. Gerardo made his measurements and then left. The next day when I enter the office I realize that there are some small things missing among them a picture of the Republic that has a lot of historical value. When I checked the security cameras I noticed that it was Gerardo who took them. I do not understand why a millionaire investor needs to steal. Now he does not respond to the real estate agent or me. What can be done?”.
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“First of all, we must report the facts to the police in order to set a precedent and second we need to investigate this matter a bit in order to understand it,” I replied.
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As part of the investigation, we reviewed the recordings of the security cameras and indeed, Gerardo had taken the picture, his way of acting was typical of an experienced delinquent. The vehicle that Gerardo used had fake plates. But although Gerardo was very clever to deceive people with his polite language and good presence, he was not smart enough to change his name or use fake documents to do his misdeeds. Based on these details, we established the true identity of Gerardo, a man with more than 20 years of criminal activity. Among those, we found charges of petty theft, vehicle theft, check fraud, illegal access to private property, credit card fraud, Misrepresentation, identity theft, and violation of parole. Gerardo had spent almost 8 years imprisoned for this type of crime, but apparently all that time in jail did not serve him for his rehabilitation. Anything but a millionaire, this man had nowhere to call home. Maybe he would have a better life in prison where he was given free food and a bed.
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In less than 72 hours from initiating the investigation, I found three new victims. The first was a family that was selling their house and was presented to Gerardo who was introduced as a millionaire investor. Mysteriously, several gold jewelry items belonging to the family went missing during the tour of the house. The second victim was a real estate agent who after presenting Gerardo to several properties of his interest, all very expensive; he realized that his credit cards had disappeared mysteriously from his wallet on the desk. The third victim also owned expensive jewels and watches that mysteriously went missing after a visit from Gerardo, the false investor, in his house.
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Gerardo’s method of operation was simple. He showed up at real estate agents’ offices as the $15 million heirs willing to invest in expensive properties. The agents dazzled with this client began immediately to show properties for sale, yet, he just wanted to see properties that were inhabited and working. Once Gerardo entered such properties then magic would occur and things of value would disappear. The fault here was unfortunately committed by the real estate agents who did not verify the background or request records of the investor’s bank funds. This error not only caused damage to the home owners, but also to the reputation of the real estate agents. Once faced with all the police reports and investigations, I contacted the probation violation office so that they could proceed to arrest Gerardo. They are still looking for it.
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For your safety, take the time to verify the background and financial solvency of those people, be they millionaires or not, before giving them access to places where they can steal or find victims for their crime. Do not be fooled or taken advantage of.
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Beware of fraud, but if you need help, call us at 866-224-1245.
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June 20, 2016
By Private Detective Fernando Alvarez
DIARIO LAS AMERICAS
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Generally, in all types of businesses or professions, there is fraud and scam, but I have come to realize that many of the scam cases that I have investigated have been related to the investment business. Investments in which ordinary people deposit their savings and even money obtained from loans on the value of their houses, and then enjoy the interest earned. This is an easy way to make a living when you have money saved, although these investments have their own risks, I have found worse risk; false investment agents.
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A woman called my office and began to explain the following case: “A year ago, I invested $50,000 dollars in an oil extraction opportunity on a Pacific island with an investment firm from my city whose advertisement I saw on the internet. I am a single woman who has saved that money with years of hard work, savings and sacrifices and saw this investment as a short-term economic opportunity because I was promised 40% annual profits and no risks. I signed the investment contract, personally, and although the office was small, Julio [name has been changed], the financial adviser who attended me was very educated and explained in detail the investment plan, the profits, the absence of risks and his long history As a counselor and investment agent. Julio confirmed to me that many people were investing in this unique opportunity and that I did not want to lose it. Every month I communicated with Julio to know how everything was going with the investment, and according to his own words everything was going very well, two months went by that he did not respond, I went to his office but it was already closed. I kept trying until I was able to make contact again, he told me that he had moved out of the office and that he had been out of the country because of the oil extraction investments and that the news was not good. He informed me that the oil well had no oil and that all the money invested was lost. He proceeded to tell me that, legally, there was nothing that he or I could do. I thought that I should forget the money and I did not think to do anything legal against him. I am frustrated and desperate. I want to locate his new office and his assets to be able to sue and denounce it. “
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“Hands on,” I replied. I did not want to go into details because I understood the suffering my client was going through, but there were several details that caught my attention. My client invested based on an “Internet advertisement”, a typical place to announce investment scams. She was promised 40% of the profit which was too good to be true. “Zero investment risks” was a red flag since there are no risk-free investments. “Everybody is investing in this opportunity”, is a typical hook of the fraudulent investor. “Oil investment on a Pacific Island” is said so that the place is far away enough so that you cannot verify anything. This story was familiar to me and did not sit right.
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Not only did I plan the investigation in order to locate Julio and his precious assets, I also focused on possible fraud. To no surprise, Julio promoted his Internet investment agency but used different names and telephones in each advertisement. His company was registered as a corporation and on his behalf included the bombastic term “investments” although was not registered as an investment agency either at the state level or at the federal level. In other words, his agency was fake. Julio did not have properties to his name, ‘nor did his business have properties. The list of demands against him and his business was long. During the investigation, we found two more victims of Julio, one for $30,000 and the other for $25,000, the minimum amount to invest in this “safe oil opportunity.” Thanks to information provided by these victims and to our own investigative tools we were able to locate Julio’s new office strategically located in the financial zone of a city located more than 200 miles from the city where he had defrauded my client. It seems that Julio preferred to victims of women of a low academic level and undocumented in the US, in that way reduced the chances of being denounced. This time Julio shot back, with the testimony of my client and the two victims, plus the investigative report, we managed to file a complaint for fraud, a criminal organization to commit fraud, and business operating without a license. Julio had his days counted.
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For your own safety, always check the credentials and licenses of the professionals you are going to hire. Check their background to see if they have had criminal, civil, financial and administrative problems. Never invest in a type of business that you do not know thoroughly because if you do not know the business you will not know which promises are real and which are false. Educate yourself on how to identify fraud in a timely manner.
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Be aware of fraud, but if you need help, please call us at 866-224-1245.
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June 20, 2016
By Private Detective Fernando Alvarez
DIARIO LAS AMERICAS
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Contact us today if you need more information about:
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Fraud is defined as “the crime of obtaining money or property by deceiving people” and also the “action contrary to truth and righteousness, which harms the person against whom it is committed.” Fraud can be camouflaged in different ways but its essence is always the same, harming another person to achieve personal benefit. When I say person I do not only refer to individuals but also to entities, such as, organizations, government agencies and companies. Fraud affects us all directly or indirectly but in many cases we cannot identify it as such until a thorough investigation is carried out.
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One day a woman called my office with the following case: “I am the secretary of a small humanitarian organization whose task is to raise funds through of public activities and events to help needy families in certain poor areas of our country. Each member of the board has responsibilities in different events and one of those responsibilities is to keep the cash collected until their formal delivery to the treasurer. At the last meeting of the board, two of our directors were assaulted when they were in their way to the meeting to deliver the cash. The assailants, with their faces covered, broke the windows of the vehicle, and beat the two of them. The assailants fled with the money. We reported the incident to the police but we need your help to clarify if one of the assailants was a former member of the organization who was expelled by unfair behavior in the past. “
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As I continued to discover the details of the case, I was recalling one of those movies from the Far West where this type of “robbery” was a common thing, but in the 21st century, when money can be transferred through banks, cash looks like a movie thing. Nevertheless, it remains a possible crime, so accept to take the case classifying it originally as “assault with robbery”, but this classification changed a few days later.
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We began our investigation and as a courtesy, notified the police detective about our investigative work on this case. We took the time to interview each member in detail; no one can imagine how much information people know until you ask the right questions. We investigated the former member who had been expelled for unfair conduct and although he was still a suspect, there was not enough relevant evidence to involve him in the robbery. Interestingly, this individual already had a criminal background before being a member of the organization, which showed that the organization failed to check the records of its members. We interviewed the two assaulted directors, their testimonies matched to the letter, but the attitude of one of them did not give us a good feeling. We checked the vehicle and checked that the damage only occurred on the passenger window glass when the heist happened through the driver’s window. We checked the scene of the crime, a busy street, there were still some remains of the windows, we searched the neighbors and we found an eyewitness, a person who heard the glass breaking and looked out her window. According to the witness, the assailants did not have the face covered and also it looks like both assailants and robbers smiled and treated as if they had known each other from forever. This testimony confirmed, to a certain extent, the hypothesis that we had formulated based on previous testimony and the strange circumstances of the case. We requested the presence of both members, “victims of the assault” for a new, more detailed interview, but this time we also subjected them to a lie detector test. Both failed, one ended up telling the truth. The assault was a hoax, a premeditated fraud to justify not giving money to the organization, money they had spent on personal matters and that they no longer had. With the help of two friends they simulated the assault in a little-traveled area so that they could file a police report and justify the loss of money, leaving them as victims.
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The results were delivered to the organization that hired us in addition to the police detective who later proceeded to file charges against both members for “false police report” and “serious perjury”. The case was initiated in both the civil courts due to the economic damage, where the premeditated fraud was explained in detail and to the criminal court consequently. The arrest and prison order came shortly after.
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For your safety, always check the background of your employees, members of your organization or club, your new friends, tenants or roommates. As the well known saying goes, “Faces we see, hearts we don’t know”. Remember that trust is a double-edged sword.
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Be aware of fraud, but if you need our help, please call 866-224-1245.
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July 5, 2016
By Private Detective Fernando Alvarez
DIARIO LAS AMERICAS
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When you think you have seen it all, it is precisely when an even rarer case makes it way to you. It is true that swindlers are artists of the lie and are capable of everything because they do not feel remorse for the damages caused to their victims or to society. However, what strikes me most is that most victims do not care to verify before acting, believe only in words and do not take seriously the need to verify, they simply believe until it is too late.
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One morning, a desperate woman came to my office with an interesting case. She explained, “I am a single mother and I have had a prosperous business for several years and I try to do everything in my power to help my son succeed in life. My son has been interested in soccer for several years and I have made sure he has the best coaches and I have to admit that he is very good as an athlete. In one of the matches between my son’s team and the team from another city we were introduced to Gaspar [named has been changed], a talent agent who told us, “For two years, I had observed the performance of your son and considered that his athletic level should be in a sports contract with a professional team.” My son’s face lit up. His dream had come true. Gaspar invited us to lunch in a restaurant to discuss in detail about this contract. He told us that he could get a contract quickly with a recognized team located in a distant city but that because of my son’s age it was better to secure a contract with a local professional team so that he could continue to live with me. To get that contract, I had to make the payment of $15,000 and it would be achieved in less than 2 months. Gaspar indicated that normally he is the one who put the money because he would act as the manager of my son as he does with other young talents, but unfortunately he was going through a complicated divorce and did not have those funds. We agreed then that I would put $10,000 and Gaspar will pay the remaining $5,000. The next day I gave him $10,000 in cash and two days later he gave me a letter signed by the sport team manager confirming receipt of the $15,000 and the beginning of the process of recruiting my son. While we waited for the day to sign the contract, Gaspar was training my son on how the system worked in the professional level and the chances of achieving greater success. I did not know how to thank Gaspar for his help and dedication to my son even though the divorce had left him with anything. God has given me the luck to succeed in business and I thought it was my responsibility to help the person who was helping my son, so I bought a new truck and gave it to Gaspar along with a $25,000 extension of my credit card so he could support his travel expenses as a talent agent. Subsequently, I made some more cash loans to pay his divorce lawyer. Almost two months after I paid the $15,000 to get my son signed, we received the news that everything was ready to sign the contract; we confirmed a date and decided to do it in a restaurant where I could invite my family and friends to celebrate the achievement of my son together. Our joy was immense and we prepared the celebration with all the details. Gaspar promised to bring the press to cover the news. On that day we were more than 50 between family and friends, but neither Gaspar nor the manager of the team nor the press came or answered the phone. Do you think I was scammed?”
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“Yes, ma’am, everything indicates that you were scammed, but you have to investigate the magnitude of the scam so that your lawyer can determine the legal steps to take so that you can recover your money and potential compensation for the damages caused to you and your family.” I replied. Later, I asked her a series of questions to understand the case because I really did not understand how it is required to pay in advance for a “talent” to be hired, or how it is possible for a “talent agent” with several talents already hired to be in such a bad economic situation. Something was fishy.
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We performed a detailed investigation of Gaspar and it did not take long to confirm that he was a con man and a convicted felon. Gaspar was not registered as a “sports talent agent”, he was not representing any “talent”, he was not divorcing and his economic situation was always very bad due to his multiple debts, drug addiction, unpaid traffic tickets and lawsuits for scams to other families with the same story of the alleged sports contract. We made the relevant inquiry with the management of the sports team with which the contract would be made, the letter was false, the signature was false and Gaspar was not known by them, besides that they were not in search of talent at that time and that the recruitment procedure did not require any payments from the talents. The sport team management was interested in interviewing the victim in order to file a formal complaint with the prosecution against Gaspar. By this time, Gaspar had already spent the $25,000 of the credit card and his whereabouts were unknown. A few days later, we managed to locate him and recover the vehicle of my client; the damages that he had caused to the vehicle were numerous. If my client had hired my services before giving Gaspar money and vehicle, she would have saved $58,000 and that unpleasant experience for her and her son.
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For your own safety always check, inquire, investigate, and verify. Trusting people blindly is never a good idea. Do not become another victim of fraud, scam, and lies that can destroy your family, your business and your children’s dreams.
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Beware of fraud, but if you need help, call us at 866-224-1245.
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July 18, 2016
By Private Detective Fernando Alvarez
DIARIO LAS AMERICAS
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Contact us today if you need more information about:
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Many people think that the scammer comes, does their damaging work, and then leaves for fear of being caught, judged or gets locked up. The truth is that this is not always the case and I have had cases where the scammers committed their scams in an organized, successful manner and in broad daylight. Unfortunately, there are people who get carried away by their good image and advertising and therefore, do not consider it to be necessary to verify before investing their money and their dreams.
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The call came from a married couple with the following case: “Last year, following the recommendation of a family member, we decided to invest $60,000 dollars of our home equity loan with a very important investment company. We went to a monthly meeting of the company where there were more than 50 homeowners, and where we were told that our investment was safe because the investment was only made in real estate properties. We were promised 60% to 100% profit and the full return of our investment in 3 years. In addition, for each property owner that we presented, we were given an economic gift, a bonus, that’s why we invited friends and family members to join the investment network. Every month, we received a check with the promised profits, everything was going well but then we started to hear rumors that this is an organized scam. This month we did not receive the check and when we complained we were told of technical problems but that they would soon be fixed. The monthly investor meeting was also suspended. We do not believe that this is a scam because this company is advertised in all magazines, on the radio, on television by known artists. We have been in their offices, a luxury suite, with many employees, first-class customer service and meetings was always opened by a Christian preacher. It seems impossible for it to be a scam but we want to investigate what is happening.”
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As good as it all seems we need to investigate anyway, it is possible that they are only malicious rumors but that will be determined. I will need you to come to my office, I replied, but the couple informed me that this investigation was being requested in a group, a total of 42 people affected. With that many people, the meeting could not be conducted in my office but in a conference room. The stories of each of them were very similar, they had invested money from their property or their personal savings, the investment company promised them high interests of profits and guaranteed them that their investments were assured by the title of real estate property where they were investing in and also, the economic gifts which they offered in order to bring in new investors. These kinds of promises in investments are almost always indications of scam and fraud.
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We began an in-depth investigation to clarify this case. To begin, this “major investment company” did not hold an investment agency license, nor did its owners hold investor licenses. The business was almost two years old, and was already moving millions of dollars, but no investments. Their owners were a family that in a few months went from a normal life to a life of super luxuries with mansions, properties in other countries, luxurious offices, very expensive vehicles, vacations and a very public life. Apart from the family, we also identified the various partners in the company who were very skillful in words but already had some backgrounds that put their actions under fire. While this was sufficient to determine that it is a company engaging in an unlicensed and therefore illegal activity, this still might not convince all our reluctant clients to believe that it was a fraud. It just so happened that while we were conducting some interviews, we found witnesses who had already been interviewed by other investigators shortly before, the FBI was already investigating the case and subtly identifying potential victims. Shortly afterward, we confirmed that the federal prosecution was already preparing its attack. The management circle of this investment company was already very nervous, their stress was evident, and their empire was crumbling.
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We prepared a detailed report with all the information we obtained the identity and background of each director of the company, the history and assets of the company and a summary of how their illegal operations worked. After presenting the results to my many clients, it was evident that they had all fallen off their cloud; their hopes for a better future had been thrown away. One of them told me that that was not the kind of results they wanted to hear, that it was very embarrassing for them. I replied that they hired me to discover and report the truth even if it hurts. I provided each of them with the contact information of the federal investigators with whom they had to report immediately as victims to collaborate with justice and claim their money.
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A few weeks later, FBI agents arrested the owners of the company, took all their records, computers, vehicles and interrogated every secretary, assistant, accountant and bank representative related to the company. The fraud was made public, the fraudulent Ponzi-type structure managed to snatch money from more than 600 victims in less than 2 years, totaling over $30 million. Shortly afterward, the principal owner was sentenced to more than 20 years in prison, the rest received slightly lower sentences while one of the main implicated managed to escape and the authorities are still looking for him.
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For your own safety, do not believe everything of what you hear or see. Fraud exists everywhere and takes new victims every day. Investigate every time you go to invest, every time you go to deposit your trust, money, property and your life because you can lose everything in a blink of an eye. Be smart and investigate first.
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Be aware of fraud, but if you need help, please call us at 866-224-1245.
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August 2nd, 2016
By Private Detective Fernando Alvarez
DIARIO LAS AMERICAS
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Contact us today if you need more information about:
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Los Angeles Private Investigator
Miami Private Investigator
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Scam fits on every age and in every industry; it’s like the flu, which never ends because it always mutates. The era of the internet has not only brought new scams and frauds but also allowed local scams to become global, something like the globalization of fraud. The Internet makes the offer of the scammers more attractive while giving them better coverage to protect their identity. It does not mean that we should stop buying on the Internet but we must verify that both sellers and products are real.
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The call came from one of the partners of a company from a distant country. “Good morning detective, our company is preparing the purchase of 1,000 tablets from a dealer in your country. We need you to send an investigator to inspect the shipment, count the tablets, turn on some randomly to check that they really work, check that the model number matches the one that we requested and also we want you to supervise the load to the airport. This is all we want. Can you help us?
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“Of course,” I replied, “this kind of research is usually done in wholesale trade transactions, and of course our work will be discreet.” Then, I passed the budget and the client promise to send me all the information and payment for the service. But several days went by and I did not hear from this client anymore. Almost 10 days later, the man called me back and said “Detective, this has been horrible, my other two partners decided not to hire you because they thought it was not important to verify the products, the seller, nor the shipment. Yesterday, we received the shipment. Only 458 tablets arrived, many of them work but others are broken or not working at all, we received models that did not match the purchase order. We were charged $40,000 for products that are not worth more than $9,000. We are desperate because we already had these tablets sold to retailers in our country and now the seller’s phones are disconnected and we have no other way to make contact with them. We want to sue this company to recover our money. This scam can ruin our business. Can you help us?
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“Yes sir, that is one of my specialties, although I prefer to investigate to avoid fraud,” I replied, we fixed the agreement and we started with the investigation based on the data that appeared in the purchase invoice and the shipment manifesto, the end the only thing my clients had. Identifying the seller at first was not easy, but we succeeded. To start with this supposed seller, Esteban [name has been changed] did not even have a business license, much less export license. Neither had an office or warehouse, the address of the invoice is the address of another wholesale company, not associated with Esteban. The subject had a history of minor fraud and several debts. His real experience in this business was to sell “refurbished” electronic equipment, i.e. used and repaired devices for retail. The people we interviewed knew him well because he bought all the equipment damaged, repaired or that had lost much value due to the entry of new technologies to the market. In other words his specialty was the sale of technological junk. However, in fact, it promoted the sale of new equipment to a value lower than that offered by the average of the distributors; Tempting offer for unwary buyers. We located his residence and also his few properties, some in the name of his wife. His center of operations was his house and his old truck.
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The investigative report that I presented to my clients was a wakeup call because they thought they were in negotiations with a solid distribution company and not with a common scammer. Client stated that if they could not recover from this loss, they would dissolve their company and each partner would take its own way. Starting a civil and criminal lawsuit against Esteban would cost them a few thousand dollars more and these three partners no longer wanted to spend more money. Indeed, shortly afterwards the company dissolved, only one of the partners continued in the wholesale technology business and since then he has contracted my services every time he make a major purchase. As for Esteban I have not heard anything yet, most likely he continues in the same junk and scam business every time he find an unwary buyer.
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For your own safety, always check before making wholesale purchases, avoid buying blindly. Private investigators can be your best solution when it comes to verifying a person, a company, a major purchase, or as in this case avoiding a scam. Due diligence investigations can save you a lot of money, avoid dislikes, stress and even the dissolution of your own business.
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Beware of fraud, but if you need help, call us at 866-224-1245.
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August 5th, 2016
By Private Detective Fernando Alvarez
DIARIO LAS AMERICAS
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Even after so many years as a private detective, I am still amazed by the cunning of scammers and the naivety of many people. I understand that people are focused on their jobs and their lives and that they cannot devote time to learning how to detect fraud and avoid its harmful effects and that is why I hope these articles will help readers identify fraud or at least to feel the need to check before they trust. To confirm the importance of my advice, just remember that according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the year 2015 they received a total of 3,083,379 complaints of fraud, scams and identity theft in the United States.
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A call came from a humble family, “Detective, we have a problem and we need your help,” The person on the phone continued, “Before the economic depression we bought a house and we kept making the payments until we lost the house due to the lack of work and the high monthly mortgage. For about a year, we have been looking to buy a house again because we are a little more economically stable, but they did not give us loans because when we lost the house our credit was ruined. When we looked for the loan in different financial institutions, someone recommended Elena [name has been changed], a real estate agent who helped the families to get loans and also to find damaged houses, but at a very good price. We called Elena and she came to our house, she explained that her company had already helped many families to get loans and buy houses at better prices. The way she got the loans was paying good lawyers for complicated procedures and through gifts to contacts she had in financial institutions that helped her clients.
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To begin with the process, she requested a series of documents such as driver’s licenses, social security card, birth certificates, last IRS tax reports and copy of the checks we received from our jobs, we also gave you $15,000 in cash. Two weeks later, she brought us some documents to sign and we gave her $7,000 more. It has already been 7 months, we’ve paid $36,000 and she has not shown us the house that she supposedly already has for us. Now we are being asked $11,000 more to complete the process and we can receive the house. We want to investigate if the house really exists and if Elena is being honest with us. Do you think she is scamming us? “
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“It’s too early for me to come to a conclusion like that, but yes, this story sounds like fraud,” I replied to my client. We signed the agreement to begin the investigation. Afterwards, I began to ask my client some information about Elena to identify her and her company. I was amazed to discover that the only information that my clients had was the name of the real estate agent (Elena) without a last name, her cell phone number, a fax number and the name and address of the company, place never visited by the clients. They did not even have a copy of a signed contract, nor a business card from Elena. Unbelievable but true.
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With the little data we had, we began to investigate. The fax was virtual, the office address was from another company not related to Elena and the cell phone number was pre-paid and was not registered in anyone’s name. But we did the best we could to connect the pieces of this puzzle and found Elena’s identity, address, date of birth and multiple civil cases for fraud, illegal work without real estate license, identity theft, application by credit cards on behalf of other people, among other lawsuits for debts. Elena did not even have a home of her own as she had told my clients, but lived in a rented apartment. Elena had not, and had never had a real estate license, had no business of her own, but she had worked for a real estate agency years ago that was suspended for tax fraud.
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When I gave the results to my client, the husband became very angry and the wife burst into tears. They had believed in Elena’s many lies and did not decide to verify it until it was too late. I suggested that they bring the complaint to the prosecution so that justice so Elena can be brought to the court and to stopping her from scamming humble families, I also advised them to hire an identity protection service to prevent Elena from using their identities to commit fraud. They did not respond, their emotions were crushed, I never knew if they filed a police report or if they let themselves be carried away by the pain of being deceived and then decided to bury this matter. If they had hired me or if they had checked thoroughly before trusting Elena they would have saved their $36,000 and 7 months of false hope.
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For your own safety, and I will never stop to give this advice: “Check out people before you trust them”. Do not feel bad or embarrassed to ask for cards and licenses to the professionals you hire, a good professional will not refuse such a request. Visit them at their office, get a copy of each document you sign, find second opinions and at least check the reputation of that professional or company on the internet. Although your verification is basic, it will be much better than doing nothing at all.
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Beware of fraud, but if you need help, call us at 866-224-1245.
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August 28th, 2016
By Private Detective Fernando Alvarez
DIARIO LAS AMERICAS
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There are many free and democratic countries in the world. Many of which are very rich and developed, but the country that most attracts immigrants and tourists, is without a doubt, the United States of America. The United States has long been considered as “the land of opportunity”. 20% of the world’s immigration, 45.8 million people, reside in the United States and its attraction comes from it being the most solid and developed economy in the world, has an excellent high education infrastructure and is a multicultural country where people of each and every country of the world coexist. But the desperation of many people to achieve the “American dream” makes them fall into common frauds and scams as we will see below.
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I was contacted by the owner of an immigration paper preparation agency, located in a very close country, with the following case: “I have been preparing immigration procedures of many types, but mostly for individuals and families who are seeking to immigrate to the United States. My work is simple, I help people to fill out all the forms and I check that they have all the documents required to apply for the corresponding visa. Three months ago, I found myself losing clients and finally I discovered that it was due to a new competition in town, apparently, this agency has an agreement with people at the US consulate and the visa of their clients gets always approved. If this is true, this would be an illegal activity that must be reported to the United States government because visas cannot be sold. I need you to investigate and document this illegal activity for me.”
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“Of course we can do that,” I replied, but deep down I thought it was just the anger of an older person who was losing clients. We started the research immediately and the core became interesting. Angry or not, my client was right, there was a very good rip-off in progress.
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We began by identifying and verifying the agency and its owners. The agency was very well promoted and its office was very well equipped. Its owners were three people, Milena [name has been changed] her husband, and her son. Milena was the head of the business, had some problems for allegations of fraud and some debts in the past, but had already solved those problems and now was doing very well financially. Since the beginning of the migratory procedures business, the standard of living of the family had changed, now they were enjoying luxuries that before they could not even imagine and were living in the best neighborhood of the city. Because their background was not so bad and apparently the whole business was in order we decided to carry out covert operations to determine the mechanism and magnitude of the scam. It took us 3 weeks but we did it. I can assure you that of all the scams I’ve investigated, as a private detective, this is one of the cleanest and safest I’ve ever seen.
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Milena, her husband and her son performed daily immigration procedures like any other agency, earning honest and stable money, but what made the difference in their income was the “additional and confidential service” offered by their agency. Milena examined each client and if her case qualified for the scam this was offered in secrecy. If the client’s case was a possible visa approval, if the client was desperate and if his or her level of street intelligence was not very high then Milena explained that she worked side by side with the consulate and that for $1,500 dollars she assured him or her that the individual or family visa would be approved. “This service, Milena explained, has to be kept in secret, but it is 100% guaranteed if your visa does not approve, come back and we will refund you back your $1,500.” Customers were amazed and paid the $1,500 dollars without objection. Milena, as we could discover, had no special connection with the consulate, her scam was very simple, she charged the $1,500 dollars and if the visa was approved then the client will not return and she will keep the money, only those whose visa was denied returned to pick up their money. As we could calculate Milena earned about $15,000 per month for the scam, plus the high profits that gave her the services of the agency. In this way, Milena would never receive complaints from her clients because she would refund the money if the visa was not approved. The investigative report was complete and included witnesses, it was left to the client to initiate the complaint to the consumer protection entity to arrest Milena and he did it.
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While there is no a perfect or corruption free government agency, I can assure you that the US immigration system is very difficult to bribe, so be suspicious of fraud every time someone assures you that they have contacts inside that will approve your case no matter what. For your safety always be suspicious or you will end up losing your money.
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Beware of fraud, but if you need help, call us at 866-224-1245.
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September 11th, 2016
By Private Detective Fernando Alvarez
DIARIO LAS AMERICAS
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Scams are a very old type of crime that does adapt itself to each age with the same purpose: to take advantage of the trust of good people. Until two decades ago the scams by postal mail were very frequent but in our Internet age these crimes have tripled due to the facility offered by the internet, however, the postal mail scam has not been extinguished yet and apparently will continue to do damage to unsuspecting buyers. The following case is very recent.
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The call came from a desperate woman with the following case: “I am a working woman, single and with two children to maintain, for several years I have been working as a saleswoman in a department store and I have done well, I like sales and I am very good at selling products. A few weeks ago I saw an advertisement on television about a company that offered franchises selling perfumes and beauty products, I was very interested in the brands, the marketing strategy and the initial investment cost was just $3,000.I called the phone on the screen immediately and they explained to me about the products they included in the package plus an electronic tablet to record the sales and see the growth of this small but exciting business. Interestingly enough, I did not have to pay anything In advance, everything worked on cash-on-delivery (COD), they would send me the package by a private carrier and I should give the postman a money order in the amount of $3,000 to receive the package. This company indicated that the money order should be purchased in the United States Postal Office only, as they did not accept money orders from other institutions. I found it very safe and proceeded to order my investment package. My calculations were for a 50% profit once I sold those products. A few days later the private mail truck arrived, I gave the $3,000 money order and they gave me the box.
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I was very happy when I started to open the box to start organizing my sales and to my surprise, the products included were not from the promised brands but from brands of very poor quality, did not contain the quantity of products promised and did not include the tablet. The value of the products in the box did not exceed $100. I immediately called the company to ask for an explanation but when I introduced myself they hung up the phone and did not take any of my calls and finally disconnected the phone a few days later. When I realized the scam I filed a complaint with the police and then with the copy of the complaint I filed another complaint at the postal office to stop the money order of $3,000 but I was informed that according to their policies they can only stop the payment until after 60 days of purchase. I explained to them that it would be too late because by that time the fraudsters would have taken the money, but the reply of the Postal Office remained negative. I then showed up at the private carrier office to file a complaint and request that they stop the delivery of the money order but they told me that legally who paid for the mail services was the sender and therefore they have to make the delivery and were unable to stop it, that they could only carry out an investigation until much later. I cannot believe that the system will not allow me to recover my money. I cannot believe that the system protects these criminals more than honest people. Do you think we can locate these criminals?
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“We have to try,” I replied. The system is designed for an ideal world and so it works but as it is known, criminals use the benefits of the system for their own benefit and to harm third parties and the system is very slow to detect these type of crimes and re-adjust to avoid them. It is sad but that is the reality and I do not think it will change much, because criminals will always look for a way to be one step ahead of justice. At the same time, I congratulated her for having proceeded to file the complaints with the police, postal office, and the private carrier. Many people do not do it out of shame without realizing that is precisely what the criminals want.
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We began the investigation with the few data the client had, a couple of phone numbers, the TV ad information, the sender’s address and other data she had collected while making the complaints. The supposed office phones were actually pre-paid cell phones that were not registered, television ads as we could confirm were paid in cash and the name registered was more common than the stones. The address of the sender was located in a warehouse within a junky area of a city located at the other side of the country. This store was not associated with the company that had ripped off my client, and maybe many more people. With the information of the private mail, we were able to determine the date on which they should deliver the money order in that warehouse and we established surveillance from very early in the morning. The private carrier truck arrived at about 11.30am, but the warehouse remained empty, the postman approached the door and rang a doorbell that had a video camera and an intercom, after exchanging a few words with the other party the postman left the mail in an external mailbox. After the postman left, Enrique [name has been changed] arrived walking to the warehouse and picked up the correspondence, from there he walked a few minutes and entered an apartment building, a building that look like the ones used on horror movies. Hours later Enrique left the building, boarded a vehicle parked in the street and left. Minutes later he arrived to a post office and cashed several money orders without any problem. The following hours of surveillance provided a lot of interesting data. Enrique was a convicted felon who had already purged some years of jail, but he was not the head of this business but only the person who collected the money in exchange for a percentage. My client was satisfied with the information obtained but although I suggested that we continue with the investigation she preferred to hand over the evidence we had obtained to the authorities and demand them to continue with the investigation. Police arrested Enrique a few weeks later.
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For your own safety, do not rely on every offer you see on the advertisements on the television, radio, magazines or the internet. Verify them before paying. Remember that hundreds of scams happen every day.
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Beware of fraud, but if you need help, call us at 866-224-1245.
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October 13th, 2016
By Private Detective Fernando Alvarez
DIARIO LAS AMERICAS
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Contact us today if you need more information about:
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