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Scam

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Alley-Oops! George Mason Basketball Team Duped By Sham Travel Agent In $100K Scheme: Feds Alley-Oops! George Mason Basketball Team Duped By Sham Travel Agent In $100K Scheme: Feds
Alley-Oops! George Mason Basketball Team Duped By Sham Travel Agent In $100K Scheme: Feds The George Mason University men's basketball team planned an exciting summer trip to the Bahamas, but instead, they were left grounded after an Atlanta travel agent allegedly pocketed over $100,000 without booking a single ticket or hotel room. Maurice Eugene Smith, 44, is facing charges of wire fraud for allegedly scamming the Patriots out of their international trip, according to the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. In June 2023, GMU representatives began planning the trip with a company referred to as "Company A" in court records.  Smith, operating through…

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by Zak Failla
Police & Fire
Resident Gets Better Of Porch Pirate Stealing Electronics In Virginia: Sheriff Resident Gets Better Of Porch Pirate Stealing Electronics In Virginia: Sheriff
Resident Gets Better Of Porch Pirate Stealing Electronics In Virginia: Sheriff Not so fast. A sneaky porch pirate - possibly pirates - who targeted electronics during a short spree in Stafford County are at large following a string of reported incidents, but not before one would-be victim pulled a fast one on the robbers, according to the sheriff's office. Shortly before 4:20 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 6, a deputy was called to Daffodil Lane when a homeowner reported that FedEx had dropped off his brand new phone, though it was taken by an unknown man before he was able to pick it up. Later on Wednesday, a second FedEx package was intercepted, this time on from a reside…

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by Zak Failla
Police & Fire
Bogus Contractor Arrested After Stafford Standoff: Cops Bogus Contractor Arrested After Stafford Standoff: Cops
Bogus Contractor Arrested After Stafford Standoff: Cops A 37-year-old man posing as a construction worker in an attempt to scam customers was arrested after his failed attempt and brief police standoff in Stafford, authorities said. Gerson Estanley Rodriguez-Lizama was hired by a family on Onville Road for work on their home, but he had yet to do so when police were called to the home on Oct. 27, Stafford County Sheriff David Decatur said. "While at first it appeared to be a civil matter, as Deputy Bates dove further into the investigation, he discovered the suspect might be defrauding the pair," Decatur said. Bates tracked down Rodriguez-…

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by Cecilia Levine
News
$400G GoFundMe Scam: NJ Woman Serving Federal Time Gets 3-Year State Sentence $400G GoFundMe Scam: NJ Woman Serving Federal Time Gets 3-Year State Sentence
$400G GoFundMe Scam: NJ Woman Serving Federal Time Gets 3-Year State Sentence UPDATE: A woman who helped pull a notorious scam that conned 14,000 GoFundMe donors nationwide was nearly 150 miles away when a judge in South Jersey sentenced her to a plea-bargained three years in state prison on Friday, Jan. 6. Katelyn McClure, 32, of Bordentown will be released in July after completing a federal sentence at a low-security prison in Danbury, CT, for scamming well-meaning donors out of $400,000 to purportedly help a homeless veteran. At that point, the year and a day federal sentence will be deducted from her state term and a determination will be made whether she shoul…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Andrew Bucklandon Is NOT Missing: Here's How Social Scammers Get You Andrew Bucklandon Is NOT Missing: Here's How Social Scammers Get You
Andrew Bucklandon Is NOT Missing: Here's How Social Scammers Get You A boy named Andrew Bucklandon hasn't gone missing. He didn't leave for school and not return. He doesn't even exist. For those who've seen -- or, worse, shared -- the Facebook post about a purportedly missing boy the past couple of days, here are a few questions: Does the post include a town? A link? Contact details? It doesn't. Because it's bogus. Like any good phishing scam, the missing boy ploy tugs at the heartstrings and plays on the fears of those who want to help. They're actually helping the scammers find more victims. Phishers threw their latest line into social media waters on…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Federal Convict Who Hatched $400,000 GoFundMe Scam Gets NJ Prison Time, Too Federal Convict Who Hatched $400,000 GoFundMe Scam Gets NJ Prison Time, Too
Federal Convict Who Hatched $400,000 GoFundMe Scam Gets NJ Prison Time, Too UPDATE: A New Jersey man already serving federal prison time for a GoFundMe scheme that conned 14,000 donors across the country out of $400,000 to purportedly benefit a homeless veteran got a state prison sentence, as well. The plea-bargained five-year term approved by a Superior Court judge in Mount Holly on Friday will run at the same time as the 27-month federal sentence that Mark D'Amico of Trenton received in April. The difference is that there's no parole in the federal prison system, which keeps D'Amico in the medium-security United States Penitentiary in Lewisburg, PA for more than…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Animal Lovers Beware Of Petersburg Donation Scam On Facebook Animal Lovers Beware Of Petersburg Donation Scam On Facebook
Animal Lovers Beware Of Petersburg Donation Scam On Facebook Petersburg Animal Care and Control Center recently discovered a scam was going on involving animal care donations, officials said.A Facebook page, "Help the Petersburg Animals" is soliciting money from people and posting pets online that are not currently up for adoption in the Petersburg adoption facility, according to the Petersburg Bureau of Police.  The Animal Care and Control Center, which does not ask for donations online, is not affiliated with this Facebook Page, officials said. The facility and police remind Petersburg residents they can only donate in the shelter, authorities…

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by AJ Goldbloom
News
NJ Woman Who Pulled $400,000 GoFundMe Scam With Homeless Vet, Ex-BF Gets Federal Prison Time NJ Woman Who Pulled $400,000 GoFundMe Scam With Homeless Vet, Ex-BF Gets Federal Prison Time
NJ Woman Who Pulled $400,000 GoFundMe Scam With Homeless Vet, Ex-BF Gets Federal Prison Time UPDATE: A New Jersey woman who helped pull a scam that conned 14,000 GoFundMe donors across the country out of $400,000 to purportedly benefit a homeless veteran is headed to federal prison. Katelyn McClure, 32, of Bordentown got a far lighter sentence under the terms of her plea deal with the government than did her former boyfriend, Mark D’Amico, who concocted the cruel scheme. McClure was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Camden on Thursday to a plea-bargained year and a day in a federal penitentiary. D’Amico, the "mastermind," earlier this year got 27 months in a fed pen in exchange …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
McLean Man Sentenced To 3 Years In $1.6M In Fraud Scheme: Feds McLean Man Sentenced To 3 Years In $1.6M In Fraud Scheme: Feds
McLean Man Sentenced To 3 Years In $1.6M In Fraud Scheme: Feds A 33-year-old McLean man was sentenced to three years in prison earlier this month for his role in a five-year scam that bilked more than 1,300 people — mostly elderly — out of $1.6 million, the Department of Justice said.  A court ruled that Bruhaspaty Prasad, 33, worked with scam artists based at a call center in India to steal money from unsuspecting victims, a U.S. Attorney said in a news release.  Their alleged grift is one that anyone online has likely come across in recent years.  In the scam, victims would get an unsolicited phone call or a pop-up window on a website…

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by Josh Lanier
Police & Fire
Clueless Scammers Fail At Impersonating Loudoun County Deputy: Police Clueless Scammers Fail At Impersonating Loudoun County Deputy: Police
Clueless Scammers Fail At Impersonating Loudoun County Deputy: Police An Ashburn woman said she was the victim of a complicated scam where the fraudsters played multiple roles including impersonating a sheriff's deputy.  The woman contacted the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office on Tuesday, May 31, after getting the runaround from a pair of scammers. It started when she received a phone call from someone who claimed to work for Amazon. They told her there was some fraudulent activity on her account, and she would need to file a police report with the Sheriff's Office.  They transferred her to a man who claimed to be a patrolman for the Loudoun County S…

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by Josh Lanier