Inside Dateline : Net Crime

Have you been scammed?

Dateline Editor — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 23:56:00 GMT

by Chris Hansen, Dateline correspondent

I just wanted to thank you all for the overwhelming response we've received after our latest investigations. As you know, in the past few weeks we have used some of the same enterprising hidden camera investigative techniques that we use in our "To Catch A Predator" series to expose other crimes and scams. Apparently many of you yourselves have been targeted by the types of thieves we recently highlighted.

First, in "To Catch A Con Man," we tracked down some of the people behind those e-mails most of us have received offering millions, if only we'd put up some of our own cash to help a stranger in a far away land access an account only the e-mail sender knows about. I posed as an investor and turned the tables on the con men by exposing and then confronting them.

On March 27th, we aired the first part of our investigation into identity theft and credit card fraud, "To Catch An Identity Thief." Tonight, we are showing you the second part. I don't know that we've ever infiltrated a crime syndicate the way we have in this story. We started by getting into chat rooms that are virtual thieves markets for stolen credit card information and identities. We formed "Hansen Discount Electronics" on the web and "CH Delivery" so we could track this crime and the people committing it from the United States through Europe and into West Africa.

I have heard from thousands of you who have been victimized by the kinds of crimes we have investigated. It got me thinking about other stories we could do using our investigative techniques and hidden cameras. I am sure you have some great ideas as well and I want to hear about them. This is a great forum for you to tell me about the things you think should be investigated. Perhaps you have even documented some of these concerns on video. I may want you to share that with us as well to get us started.

Thanks again and I look forward to hearing from you.

To catch an ID thief

Dateline Editor — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 05:01:00 GMT

If you’re like most Americans, you know all too well how pervasive credit card fraud is. You might have been a victim yourself. A few years ago, I got a call from my bank asking if I had charged $24,000 dollars at a store in New Zealand? I most certainly had not, but I had bought my son something on a Web site that apparently was not secure and thieves were able to obtain and use my number.

In a groundbreaking investigation a year in the making, we’ll take you into the thieves' markets on the Internet, where your stolen credit card numbers and identity information could be for sale at this very moment. Very seldom are we able to infiltrate a criminal syndicate the way we do in the case of our investigation into identity theft and credit card fraud.

We’ll also show you who is involved in this multi-billion dollar fraud and we’ll track the identity thieves all the way from the United States, through Europe and into West Africa. It was challenging, risky, but rewarding.

There are also a few light moments. As part of our investigation, we actually form an online electronics company and a delivery service so we can follow the trail of merchandise purchased with stolen credit and debit cards. We find that a number of items ordered are going to the same address and the man who lives there is re-shipping the items overseas, not knowing he’s part of a criminal enterprise. In order to learn more about the operation, we invite him to the “offices” of “CH Delivery” to pick up some of the packages. It’s actually an old warehouse-like building we’ve rigged with hidden cameras and microphones.

When the man comes in, I greet him and we start chatting. I ask him how he got into this business and he tells me it all started in an Internet chat room when he met an attractive woman named Wendy who ultimately has become his business partner. He then leans over to me and gives me a warning about chatting online and what can happen if you get caught soliciting teenage girls for sex.

“Like you watch Dateline? A lot of these guys want to have sex with a 13-year-old and they show up and get caught.”

He’s talking about our “To Catch A Predator” investigations, but he has no idea who he’s really talking to. Now, I’m not wearing a disguise-- just regular clothes a delivery company employee might wear: a fleece and a ball cap. He goes on to describe several scenes from our shows. Apparently he’s a big fan.

As you’ll see, he’s about to find out that we’re investigating a predator of a different sort and I am about to ask him to help us.

'To Catch an I.D. Thief' aired Dateline Tuesday, March 27, 8 p.m. on NBC. Click here for more on the investigation, including Web-exclusive videos, and video to the entire episode. Here are tips on protecting your identity.

Editor's note: Thank you for your responses, below. Please don't post anything you don't want published -- and again, don't forward us your spam, although tips are appreciated. We apologize if we can't publish all your comments, although we are reading them and appreciate the positive response. See you next week.

A different kind of predator

Dateline Editor — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 00:02:00 GMT

by Chris Hansen, Dateline correspondent

“My name is Mrs Maryam Ibrahim,...{I am} suffering from long time cancer of the breast...Before my late husband died {he} deposited the sum of 20 million dollars ..20% of this money will be for your time and effort...”

If you’re like me, you’ve likely received unsolicited e-mails offering you the chance of a lifetime. A financial windfall is out there and all you have to do is take advantage of a rare opportunity. They usually sound a little fishy. The pitch goes something like this -- a government official or someone with influence in an African nation has access to a fund containing millions of dollars. But, for some reason that person needs your help to get the money out of Africa and into another country. Oh, and by the way, you’ll need to come up with $14,000 in processing fees and expenses. Once you wire the person this money…the multi-million dollar funds transfer can go through and you’ll get a generous cut of the deal, perhaps $2 million dollars.

You might think that most people would simply hit the delete button, but our investigation reveals that perhaps tens of thousands of people each year take the bait and are taken for a ride, some losing hundreds of thousands of dollars. Usually these cases go uninvestigated, because federal authorities are busy with more pressing matters like counter-terrorism. We decided to take up the challenge and go after these scammers. As you’ll see it’s an investigation that takes halfway across the world and let’s us turn the tables on the conmen.

Chris Hansen reports on 'To Catch a Con Man,' Dateline Tuesday, March 20, 8 p.m.

Editor's note about the comments: Please don't send us the text of the Nigerian spam e-mails you get (since it is spamming our blogware.) You can also go to our message boards for other/longer posts. For other leads, e-mail Dateline@NBC.com. Comments written on this page are for publication. And don't forget to check out the Web-exclusive videos for this story by clicking here.

The 'predator' series in our own words

Dateline Editor — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 20:00:00 GMT

by Chris Hansen, Dateline correspondent

This “To Catch A Predator” special takes a look back at our earlier investigations as well as a look forward at some critical areas involving online predators we’ve yet to explore.

More important, it’s told in a unique way. Producer Lynn Keller interviewed me, Del and Frag from the online watchdog group Perverted-Justice, some of the law enforcement officers who ran parallel investigations to arrest the men we confronted, and a prosecutor.

The story is told in essentially our own words. It will take you behind the scenes, going back to our very first investigation in Long Island, New York. You’ll see how the investigations developed and became more sophisticated. There are moments that are startling, disturbing and in a few instances even humorous. We’ll answer some of the questions you’ve raised here on the blog.

You may know that I recently wrote a book called “To Catch A Predator” in an effort to explore several important aspects of this subject that we’ve not had time to flesh out on television. One of those areas is that of collateral damage-- what happens to the wives and children of the men who are arrested. You’ll meet Darlene Calvin who appears in the book and you’ll hear the inspirational story of how she put her life back together after her husband’s arrest. You’ll also hear the unique prospective of Bob Shilling, a Seattle Police detective who investigates sex crimes against children, who himself was the victim of sexual abuse as a child.

Take a look at the program. I think you’ll find it interesting and insightful.

More behind-the-scenes in Flagler Beach, Fla.

Dateline Editor — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 01:03:00 GMT

This was Tuesday's live blog. These posts were meant to coincide with the broadcast.

by Chris Hansen, Dateline correspondent

8:03 p.m.
Usually when two potential predators arrive at close to the same time, I try to move quickly through the first interview so that we are ready for the second. But here in Flagler Beach, you’re about to see something I’ve not done before. Two men show up so close to each other I have no choice but to conduct the interviews at the same time. Watch as I introduce the two men to each other and see if you can figure out which one has seen our previous Dateline investigations.

8:15 p.m.
This being our 10th investigation, we figure that some of the men, perhaps even the majority of them here have seen our previous shows and maybe anxious about actually walking into a house. So we are prepared when the men set up a second meeting location across the street at the beach. The police are under the boardwalk and hidden cameras are set up in and around a beached sailboat. In a moment you’ll see how it all works out.

8:34 p.m.
Sometimes Perverted-Justice decoys talk online with potential predators for weeks about a sexual liaison -- and still the man never shows up. You’re about to meet a guy who we thought was going to do just that: 41-year-old Todd Spikes engaged in an explicit online chat with a decoy posing as a 13-year-old girl. His intent seems pretty clear as much of his chat is unfit to print or put on TV. It’s Sunday night and we worked very late the night before. The whole team is beat. I ask Frag of Perverted Justice if he thinks Spikes is going to show up. Frag says Spikes hasn’t communicated with the decoy for hours. We decide he’s probably a no-show and break down for the night. Man, were we wrong.

8:51 p.m.
Minutes after we arrive at the hotel, the decoy gets a call. It’s Spikes and he’s in Flagler beach after what we figure is more than a 5-hour drive from his home in northern Florida. It turns our Spikes is a cop from a small town in southern Alabama. In spite of having three cell phones in his car, he uses a pay phone to call. There’s no way to get everybody in position back in the house and it turns out that may have been a good thing. The police pull him over. Wait until you see what he had stashed in his car: 800 rounds of ammo, an assault rifle, three bullet proof vests and camera equipment. He also had a pistol in his pocket. In a moment you’ll see what he has to say for himself.

8:55 p.m.
You've heard a lot from these men in their own words--- next week, I'll let you know what I was thinking while all this was happening in my own words. We’ll answer some of your e-mails and blog posts, and we'll tell you who's been convicted and how long they'll be behind bars.

Click here to read a transcript of the show and to watch the show online.

A lawman visits the ‘Predator’ house

Dateline Editor — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 19:01:00 GMT

by Chris Hansen, Dateline Correspondent

As our “To Catch a Predator” investigation in Flagler Beach, Florida continues, you’re going to see something we don’t experience very often. It’s hard to imagine, but we had an active duty member of law enforcement arrive at our hidden camera house after an extremely graphic online chat with a decoy posing as a 13-year-old girl for nearly a month.

We didn’t know it at the time but 41-year-old Todd Spikes was a police officer for the Florala, Alabama Police Department.

He drove more than 300 miles from his home in northern Florida to meet the girl he thought he was chatting with. For awhile we weren’t sure he was going to actually show up. He didn’t call or send an online message for hours. Then he called the decoy to say he was in town. We scrambled into position just in time to see Flagler Beach police arrest him. As if it’s not scary enough that a lawman would engage in this sort of behavior, wait until you see what police found in his car. There was an arsenal including an assault rifle that was loaded and chambered next to the driver’s seat of Spikes’ SUV.

Before the night was over we’d find out a lot more about Spikes and what he had stashed in his car and hidden in his pocket. Spikes has pleaded not guilty and his lawyer has suggested he had the weapons as part of his job. He’s been fired from the Florala P.D.

Part 2 of 'To Catch a Predator' in Flagler Beach, Fla. airs Tuesday, 8 p.m. on NBC. Click here to read a transcript of the show and to watch the show online.

Editor's note: Tomorrow, in another hidden camera investigation, Dateline demonstrates how people might react when they see a potential crime being committed. Watch some surprising and jaw-dropping moments that will show you how a criminal can steal your car, your priceless antique... and even your child... right in broad daylight. Read more about 'Wild Bill: Breaking and Entering.'

Behind the scenes in Flagler Beach, Fla.

Dateline Editor — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 05:56:00 GMT

This was Tuesday's live blog. These posts were meant to coincide with the broadcast.

by Chris Hansen, Dateline correspondent

7:55 p.m.
Meet a the guy who thinks he’s about to get away it, at least for a few minutes. Mohamed Abdalla walks into our hidden camera house oozing with confidence. Notice how relaxed he is talking with our actress posing as a young teen home alone. Even when I walk out to talk to him, he’s got his story all set and he’s sticking to it.

Abdalla tells me that he’s in real estate and was driving through our area to check on a piece of property he owns. Along the way he notices that the space shuttle is blasting off from nearby Cape Kennedy and pulls over his car to watch. Just a short while earlier, we too had watch the spectacular nighttime launch.

What Abdalla isn’t prepared for is that I have not only the transcripts of his sexually explicit conversation with a decoy posing as a 13-old-girl, but also naked photos of himself that he sent online. How do we know it is Abdalla in the photos? As you’re about to see, a unique piece of jewelry in the picture matches one that is hanging around the 34-year-old man’s neck. So much for the clever story.

8:16 p.m.
In a moment you’re going to meet a 22-year-old college student and chemistry teacher named Deepak Bist. This guy drove four hours to get here and after reading his online chat with a decoy who said she was 13, I am wondering what he was thinking about during that long car ride. I guess you could argue that all of these guys should know better, but Bist actually talks about our investigations during his chat. He even tells the decoy he’s watched Dateline’s “To Catch A Predator” the evening before his chat. This doesn’t seem to stop him from bringing a virtual sex kit to his underage liaison.

8:33 p.m.
We may be shooting in Florida, but on this night it is windy and cold. That doesn’t stop a 24-year-old amateur boxer named David Wagner from showing up to meet a 13-year-old girl. The boxer starts to leave when he sees me walk into the room. But watch as he decides to come back and answer some questions. He asks me if this is an “open house” as if he were shopping for real estate. It’s an open house all right…one in which 21 men would show up during four days last December.

8:46 p.m.
Towards the end of tonight’s show, you’re going to see a potential predator try to meet a teen in a location besides our hidden camera house. This is a challenge both logistically and technically. We set up several hidden cameras on the beach across the street from our house. The idea is to have a potential predator meet our decoy on the boardwalk connecting A1A and the beach. As you watch our next guest show up, see if you can figure out where we’ve hidden our cameras and where the Flagler Beach Police are hiding before the arrest.

8:57 p.m.
Next week, we tell you exactly where everything and everyone was and you’ll see what happens when a member of law enforcement shows up in our investigation. It’s an officer who may have more firepower than the Flagler Beach officers working in this investigation.

'She waved at me,' and other excuses

Dateline Editor — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 16:16:00 GMT

by Chris Hansen, Dateline correspondent

Since we started our “To Catch A Predator” investigations almost two and a half years ago, I have confronted more than 200 men who had sexually explicit online chats with decoys posing as young teens before showing up for a date at one of our hidden camera houses.

Many of the men ultimately admit their intentions and sometimes go into great detail about their online addictions and compulsions that led them to our door.

But every once in a while, I run into someone who comes up with what he thinks is a plausible story-- an “innocent excuse” if you will -- for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Such is the case with the first man you’ll meet tonight. He’s a 32-year-old successful real estate executive who was chatting online with a decoy posing as a 13-year-old girl. As you’ll see, he’s a pretty confident guy when he walks into our house. When I start to ask him questions, he says he was in our area checking on some property he owned and had pulled off the road near our house to get a good view of the space shuttle blasting off. In fact, we’d been treated to the same inspiring sight just a short while earlier.

Click the photo for a video preview of the exchange.

Then he tells me he just happened to see our decoy in the driveway, assumed our house was for sale, and figured he’d stop in to check it out. Unfortunately for him that doesn’t explain his sexually explicit chat or the naked photos he sent. While there’s no face in the pictures to match the man standing in our living room, there’s a distinctive piece of jewelry that matches exactly the one he’s wearing. That’s where his crafty story starts to unravel.

During our investigation in Flagler beach, we’re not only prepared for excuses, we’re also ready for men who may want to meet at a location besides our house. It presents a technical challenge, but as you’ll see, it’s one that pays off.

The first part of the Flagler Beach episode airs Tuesday, Feb. 27, 8 p.m.

Where are the female predators?

Sam Go — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 15:00:00 GMT

by Jesamyn Go, Dateline Web producer

After every ‘To Catch the Predator’ broadcast, the Dateline inbox always gets this question from viewers: Where are the female predators?

“They are out there,” one e-mailer wrote. “I find it hard to believe given all the teacher scandals that there are no female Internet predators.”

Perverted-Justice has only ever encountered one female predator, according to Del Harvey, who has been a Perverted-Justice contributor since 2004 and who has acted as a decoy in the group’s investigations. The contributors use decoy profiles that are of girls and boys, but only men have shown up for meetings with what they thought to be underage teens.

Robert Weiss, executive director and founder of the Sexual Recovery Clinic in California (and who has been featured in one of our episodes), says that while their center treats both male and female offenders, sexual compulsions on the Internet do seem to be a male-dominated thing. “Women, in general, seem to look for relationships and not necessarily sex – although female offenders will have sex with a minor. They’re just less likely to seek someone out randomly online.”

He adds that men tend to me more visual (which is probably why pornography often factors into potential predators’ online chats with decoys), and men tend to be more comfortable with sex detached from relationships.

Weiss also says that in relationships, women are generally less aggressive than men — and that this is also true in this case. “So a ‘female predator’ needs to cross more social and cultural lines to actually become an offender. But when they reach that point or seek out help, they are generally more troubled and are tougher to treat.”

So what makes a ‘predator’? For Weiss, a man or woman truly needs help if the desire to have a sexual relationship with an underage teen turns into attempts to do so. Weiss says, “You’re not a predator if you have occasional fantasies about underage teens and don’t take it further than that. Predators take it to the next step by seeking out images, chats and eventual meetings with kids. Any attempt to make that kind of fantasy into a reality is predatory.”

Also, the person must be taking advantage of an inequity of power – due to age or the nature of the relationship. Perhaps this is why for many, including for those us working at Dateline, it is more upsetting to see people like teachers, doctors, and rabbis — people who are expected to protect youngsters — walk into the house.

Weiss hopes the series encourages more people who need help to seek it. He says that the clinic has received numerous calls from people who, after watching the Dateline reports, identified with the problem and feared they could be potential predators. “There are a lot of things at play for those men — problems that exist and things that happen to an individual — before they end up showing up at the Dateline house,” he says. “Compulsive sexual behavior is treatable,” he says.

Seven guilty pleas in Georgia

Dateline Editor — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 20:35:00 GMT

Seven of 20 men in the Harris County, Georgia leg of the 'To Catch a Predator' investigations pleaded guilty yesterday. They were sentenced to prison plus probation.

Click here to read the full story from the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer.