It has been said that there is no substitute for hard work. But smarter work seems to be catching up. What a large law enforcement task force could not do, a small investigative site did in about 20 minutes.

A ring of thieves using bank accounts in the names of the elderly and deceased sold over eighty-five thousand dollars in both stolen and knock-off electronics over this past summer using a confusing web of wire transfers, fraudulent credit card charges and ATM withdraws. Despite plenty of man-power and dozens of warrants, authorities couldn't follow the money fast enough to locate an address or arrest anyone.

 

But buried in the piles of paperwork a private investigator found a ten digit clue that brought the organization down and saw the reimbursement of nearly every penny to the grifted.

 

Ronald Tabbert, victim of the scam to the tune of twelve-thousand dollars, was pouring over data with the California Financial Crimes bureau detective assigned to his case, hoping to see some information that would spark a memory into a lead. This was the fifth such session, each lasting several hours. Despite the normal prohibitions, the detective allowed Tabbert's friend, private investigator Charlie Harris to join them. A few minutes into the research, Harris noted two contact numbers from an online auction site, presumably from one of the sellers.

 

"I did what I always do when I need a number identified," Harris explained. "I ordered a search from www.cellular-trace.com"

 

The first number was to an anonymous prepaid cell phone, listing neither a name nor address. But the second search hit pay dirt. They now had the name and presumed mailing address of a Vietnamese national with several fraud arrests to his credit. The address was an extended stay motel in San Francisco.

 

 

A Bureau spokesman later said that while the actual dollar amount was fairly low, the group had big plans to expand their operation to millions of dollars of fraud, and without the reverse lookup cell phone information it is doubtful they would have been caught.

 

To date Tabbert has recovered nearly all of his money. His friend Charlie Harris only asked to be reimbursed the amount the cell phone number search cost him--$45.

 

 

About the Author

 

Brabars Crowley is a frequent web blogger and weekly contributer to Newsflash. She is a graduate of NYU and cannot bring herslf to leave the city.

 

 

 

 

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