Dealing with a fundraiser con-artist / fraudster A group of us are aware of someone with a history of fraud/deception. We're seeing ongoing acts of fraud that we want to stop. Key facts about the person: Currently running a fundraiser for Louisiana (following the hurricane) Only $3,000 out of $24,000 raised has been given to the cause The fundraising site (GiveSendGo) seem uninterested in stopping the campaign Arrest warrants (hit and run, check fraud) in Orange County, from several years ago but still active Convictions for bribery, check fraud, vandalism Filed for bankruptcy in 2018 Falsely claimed on social media to have law qualifications Ran a fundraiser in 2020 that had fraud complaints Claims to have been abused by many people, including many members of the clergy When asked questions on social media, she almost always blocks people Her family state that she is a pathological liar Many other deceptive acts to gain followers Orange County said her charges are not exdraditable Colorado fugitive task force said they couldn't extradite her She changes address often. I believe she's in a hidden address identity program after claiming her ex-husband abused her, though the state she's in must know where she is from her PO box (I think I know which state, but won't specify it here). I don't have time or money to invest into pursuing her, so I'm hoping there might be organisations or government departments etc. who might take on something like this. How to proceed?
The FBI provides guidance on how to Report Fraud: If you're a victim of charity or disaster fraud or have information about these types of schemes, you can: Contact your state consumer protection office Report fraud to the FBI at tips.fbi.gov Report online fraud to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission ​(FTC) Report suspected disaster-related fraud to the National Center for Disaster Fraud
All of this is illegal. You do not give a jurisdiction so I will use NSW, Australia as an example but many countries' laws have similar effect. Australian Consumer Law prohibits misleading and deceptive conduct: It is illegal for a business to engage in conduct that misleads or deceives or is likely to mislead or deceive consumers or other businesses. It doesn't matter that what you have said is strictly speaking factual - the way it has been said is likely to mislead or deceive. However, what you are proposing goes further and IMO crosses the line into fraud (s192E of the Crimes Act): 192E Fraud (1) A person who, by any deception, dishonestly: (b) obtains any financial advantage or causes any financial disadvantage, is guilty of the offence of fraud. Maximum penalty: Imprisonment for 10 years. (2) A person’s obtaining of property belonging to another may be dishonest even if the person is willing to pay for the property. In addition to the illegality, stealing other people's money is morally wrong by any reasonable standards of morality.
Hacking into a computer owned by someone else and accessing the data stored on it without permission is a misdemeanor according to StGB 202a (de|en). But only if it's successful. So a failed attempt isn't a misdemeanor yet. When you notice that someone might have committed a criminal offence (regardless of whether you are a victim or just a witness), then the usual procedure is to report it to the police. If they consider the crime serious enough to investigate, then they will request the identity from the ISP. But the copyright lawsuits which are filed in bulk by law firms working with media companies are not crime reports. They are civil lawsuits. A civil lawsuit is when someone had a tangible damage because of something someone else did, and now they want money in compensation. When there is no damage, then there is nothing to sue for. So when you want a judge to file an injunction to force an ISP to give them the identity of one of their users, then you would first have to explain to them how much financial damage you had because of that person and that this is enough damage to make it worth everyone's time. That might be quite challenging for nothing but a failed SSH login attempt. But it might be possible if a single person made so many login attempts that it incurred you non-negligible bandwidth cost or even caused a denial-of-service.
This is going to vary based on jurisdiction. In Wisconsin, the attempt statute covers all felonies, but it doesn't cover all misdemeanors. The statute says: Whoever attempts to commit a felony or a crime specified in s. 940.19, 940.195, 943.20, or 943.74 may be fined or imprisoned or both as provided under sub. (1g), 943.20 is in that list, and it just so happens to be the theft statute, which includes theft via fraud. So Eve is out of luck - her attempted theft is a crime, even if she doesn't try to steal the $2500.01 needed to trigger a felony. The penalty listed for attempts is half the sentence you'd get for the completed crime. But even if this wasn't covered by the attempt statute, once the police start investigating Eve, they'll likely find a victim, or some other crime to charge her with. People who do this sort of thing tend to have a pattern of doing this sort of thing. And I notice she's using the Internet to commit the crime; that means she's involved in systems affecting interstate commerce, and she may be breaking all manner of federal laws in addition to state laws.
This would probably be legally considered &quot;gambling' Gam,bling is prohibited in many US states and a good many non-US jurisdictions. It is significantly regulated in most US jurisdictions where it is legal, often requiring a specific license. Analyzing laws on this subject in all 50 US states would be beyond the scope of an answer here. This is definitional the sort of thing where consulting a local lawyer, experienced in this area of law, would be wise. Maryland law As an example I will cite the specific laws which I think woulds apply to the situation described n the question in teh US state oof Maryland. The Maryland criminal code Section 12-201 provides that: In this subtitle, &quot;lottery device&quot; means a policy, certificate, or other thing by which a person promises or guarantees that a number, character, ticket, or certificate will, when an event or contingency occurs, entitle the purchaser or holder to receive money, property, or evidence of debt. Thus an entry or ticket issues by such an app, would be &quot;lottery device&quot; if winners were paid in money or things exchangeable for money or property, which would include gift cards. Section 12-203 provides that: (a) Prohibited.- A person may not: (a) (1) hold a lottery in this State; or (a) (2) sell a lottery device in the State for a lottery drawn in this State or elsewhere. Section 12-205 provides that: (b) Prohibited.- A person may not: (b)(1) bring a lottery device into the State; or (b)(2) possess a book, list, slip, or record of: (b)(2)(i) the numbers drawn in a lottery in this State or another state or country; (b)(2)(ii) a lottery device; or (b)(2)(iii) money received or to be received from the sale of a lottery device. Section 12-206 provides that: b) Prohibited.- A person may not print, write, or publish an account of a lottery that describes: (b)(1) when or where the lottery is to be drawn; (b)(2) any prize available in the lottery; (b)(3) the price of a lottery ticket or share of a lottery ticket; or (b)(4) where a lottery ticket may be obtained. Most plausible ways to advertise an app as described in the question would seem to violate this section. Section 12-208 provides that: A court shall interpret §§ 12-201 through 12-207 of this subtitle liberally to treat as a lottery ticket any ticket, part of a ticket, or lottery device by which money is paid or another item is delivered when, in the nature of a lottery, an event or contingency occurs. So if it is arguably a lottery, the court will treat it as one. Section 12-209 provides that: A grant, bargain, or transfer of real estate, goods, a right of action, or personal property is void if it occurs while engaging in, or aiding or assisting in a lottery. So winners cannot lawfully collect prizes. In short any such app would seem to viol;ate several sections of Maryland law if it is used of promoted in Maryland
Accused of what? Clearly stating under which conditions you (the accuser) would earn money by doing nothing more than staying online for 7 days? You agreed to these conditions, but did not fulfill them, so the scammer (the accused) was the one that earned money for doing nothing. The scammer had the same motive as you had, earning money for doing nothing. In the end a Judge will make a decision based on the presented situation and motive of the participants. In this case the motives were the same, but you did not fulfill the conditions you agreed to, so the other - as agreed to - earned the money for doing nothing. The Judge will probably come to the conclusion that had you, in the unlikely event of actually earning money for doing nothing, would not make a claim that the scammer was trying to commit a fraud. So the Judge's final conclusion may be, that both parties had agreed to attempt fraud against each other and that only one would be successful. Since the agreed result (as desired by both parties, whom we assume are not minors) came about, the Judge would probably dismiss this case to avoid further waste of the taxpayers money. Based on the Jurisdiction, this will be worded differently - but in the final result will mean the same.
My best guess would be that they're recommending that you get a lawyer if you're trying to get your money back from the thief. A criminal prosecution may not be able to do that.
The first step of a non-governmental debt collector would be to sue you and obtain a money judgment (if this debt collector is legitimate, something the comments touch upon). A tax debt is different, if this is a legitimate tax debt. There is usually an internal tax collection agency process that must be exhausted, resulting in an assessment of taxes which then results in a non-judicial imposition of a tax lien, upon which what is sometimes call a distaint warrant authorizing execution against assets pursuant to the tax lien is issued by a court in Oregon. Outside Oregon, the Oregon money judgment or the distaint warrant would have to be domesticated into California as a foreign judgment, which is a basically administrative process that might be possible to do without notice to you (I'm not a California law expert on these fine matters of procedure). Once there was a money judgment domesticated into California, your wages and bank accounts could be garnished, your property could be seized pursuant to writs, and liens in your personal and real property could be perfected and foreclosed upon. Of course, if this outfit is a sham, with a fake debt, this is unlikely to happen, and they might give up, or you might sue them for violating debt collection laws or engaging in fraud, or a law enforcement agency might do that based upon your complaint. It might take a civil action of some sort to set aside in invalid judgment, if it was invalid, but the process of setting aside an invalid foreign tax debt is very complicated even for an average small firm lawyer. Lack of notice of a lawsuit is generally a strong defense to a private sector debt, but is not always such a strong defense to certain kinds of tax debts (and the process for different kinds of tax debts is quite different).