A very troubling unfolding scam

[Patiently Watching]

I imagine this is not an isolated situation.
The renters involved contacted me around 830pm Saturday night and I have let them stay in my personal guest house in Wolfeboro the last few nights while they sort out where to go.

[winniwannabe]

Thank you to Gary in San Fran who at least is watching our back when it
comes to fraud. I agree w/ him that blind eyes are turned toward any
countries like Russia and China, who obviously aide and abet these offenders.
In my opinion, it's sad that Govt. doesn't pursue alot of this, but then again, it's not them being hit in the wallet, it's the little guy. Like it was said...it's buyer
beware!

[WillyK]

Originally Posted by Patiently Watching

I imagine this is not an isolated situation.
The renters involved contacted me around 830pm Saturday night and I have let them stay in my personal guest house in Wolfeboro the last few nights while they sort out where to go.

So glad to hear that, I felt badly we couldn't help more, you earned some great karma points!

I have not heard back from the family, so still unclear where exactly this scammer was fishing for victims, and may never find out.

I think one of the big issues with investigating these scams is jurisdiction. If a local theft took place on the order of thousands of $$, it would be worth investigating deeply. But in this case, who is incentivized to do the leg work? The Moultonborough police? (neither the criminal nor the victim are from here). The victim's hometown? (no local connection, no reason to suspect more victims or impact to the local economy) The criminal's location? (unknown...)

And for isolated incidents by many scammers a few grand at a time, the FBI must have bigger fish to fry.

If local authorities aren't even bothering to investigate porch thefts of Amazon packages, this seems like a crime that will sadly fall through the cracks.

Stay vigilant online, educate your friends and family, lots of good tips in this thread to protect loved ones.

[tis]

Originally Posted by Patiently Watching

I imagine this is not an isolated situation.
The renters involved contacted me around 830pm Saturday night and I have let them stay in my personal guest house in Wolfeboro the last few nights while they sort out where to go.

How did they contact you? Did you know them?

[Patiently Watching]

Tis, as I understand, the wife was in line at Hannaford in Meredith when she got the news from her husband. It just so happened that the clerk had cleaned for us in the past and gave her my number.