Teh One Who Knocks
01-19-2012, 08:13 PM
By Henry Pierson Curtis, Orlando Sentinel
http://i.imgur.com/Ty2Fw.jpg
Beware of phony porn producers promising easy money, Kissimmee police say.
In recent months, at least four victims in Osceola County have been duped or robbed by young men claiming to run Pornhub, a free pornographic website, records show.
In each case, the fake porn producers claimed they needed to launder money through personal bank accounts and were willing to pay account holders $1,000 for just a couple of days in return for providing their debit cards and PIN numbers as collateral, records show.
The most recent victim told police a stranger called "G" emptied her Wells Fargo bank account in early January after she fell for his ploy of waving cash at her as she drove through north Kissimmee. Within days, her account had been overdrawn and the deposited funds turned out to be bogus, records show.
The first in the series of crimes happened in late October on Valencia College's Kissimmee campus when two suspects approached a 20-year-old student with a similar offer for fast cash, records show. The student told police he refused but said the men in a late-model brown Toyota Camry pulled a gun and ordered him into the vehicle, records show.
They drove the student to a Chase Bank near the Osceola Square Mall, where they deposited a $2,500 check in his account and used his PIN and debit card to verify the deposit. They let him go, telling him they would retrieve their cash the next day and return his debit card, records show.
When the student checked the next day, he found $2,204 of his personal funds had been withdrawn in one withdrawal at ATM in Orlando as well as an undisclosed amount in three other withdrawals, records show.
Another victim also was threatened with a handgun after refusing an offer of fast money.
"I have a weapon and this is what I want you to do," one of the suspects said. "I will give you $1,000 if you sign this $2,200 check and deposit it into your bank number."
That victim's bank account was cleaned out as well, records show.
Kissimmee police have not found anywhere else the armed scammers have struck in Central Florida.
http://i.imgur.com/Ty2Fw.jpg
Beware of phony porn producers promising easy money, Kissimmee police say.
In recent months, at least four victims in Osceola County have been duped or robbed by young men claiming to run Pornhub, a free pornographic website, records show.
In each case, the fake porn producers claimed they needed to launder money through personal bank accounts and were willing to pay account holders $1,000 for just a couple of days in return for providing their debit cards and PIN numbers as collateral, records show.
The most recent victim told police a stranger called "G" emptied her Wells Fargo bank account in early January after she fell for his ploy of waving cash at her as she drove through north Kissimmee. Within days, her account had been overdrawn and the deposited funds turned out to be bogus, records show.
The first in the series of crimes happened in late October on Valencia College's Kissimmee campus when two suspects approached a 20-year-old student with a similar offer for fast cash, records show. The student told police he refused but said the men in a late-model brown Toyota Camry pulled a gun and ordered him into the vehicle, records show.
They drove the student to a Chase Bank near the Osceola Square Mall, where they deposited a $2,500 check in his account and used his PIN and debit card to verify the deposit. They let him go, telling him they would retrieve their cash the next day and return his debit card, records show.
When the student checked the next day, he found $2,204 of his personal funds had been withdrawn in one withdrawal at ATM in Orlando as well as an undisclosed amount in three other withdrawals, records show.
Another victim also was threatened with a handgun after refusing an offer of fast money.
"I have a weapon and this is what I want you to do," one of the suspects said. "I will give you $1,000 if you sign this $2,200 check and deposit it into your bank number."
That victim's bank account was cleaned out as well, records show.
Kissimmee police have not found anywhere else the armed scammers have struck in Central Florida.