Captains and Pilots
Pilots and Captains are used (like military and doctors), as working with the UN (United Nations), WHO (World Health Organisation), UNICEF as well as other similar institutions.
They can also be placed as private pilots, working for rich individuals, business owners and luxury goods dealers. Captains of ships are often carrying goods for similar individuals.
Travelling through lots of different countries can bring lots of difficulties, especially with life admin (paying bills), settling disputes, paying medical bills or arranging visas or other transport etc.
In extreme circumstances, these criminals have been known to draw on real life experiences of people like ‘Captain Phillips’, whose ship was besieged by pirates and the crew held captive. As much as we want to belittle these stories, they happen and in the back of people’s minds, that can make what they are told believable. The best liars use real scenarios, that’s why they work.
One of the most frequently used extortions in this scenario, is that of the package scam and medical bills.
1. Package Scams
No format used by these criminals, escapes the possibility of the package scam (aka the consignment scam).
The package scam is where the criminal will tell the victim that they are sending some important documents and/or gifts to the victim from the place of their current place of residence.
As with all package scams, the victim will have other characters brought into the cast, this time that of the courier and/or a customs official. In the case of the shipping agent or courier, the characters will send emails to the victim with notifications. This is also the part of the story where other fake websites are created to mimic that of the courier company and the tracking number sent in the email can be loaded into the website, the package can then be tracked as it makes it’s journey. Once at the destination point, the victim will be contacted by customs, this can be via email or a phone call if the criminals have employed a worker (or blackmailed another victim), to impersonate this department where the voice on the end of phone will be the local language. The victim will be informed that there are import taxes due to be paid on the package before it can be released for delivery. If the victim challenges the cost of these taxes with the scammer, they will declare that there is cash in the box to cover the cost when it is delivered.
2. Medical fees
One of the most classic traumas that occurs in these frauds is that someone is injured or has fallen sick and doesn’t have the ability to pay the bills because of the bank accounts being frozen (this will have been built in to the story earlier on). It can be the character themselves, an elderly relative or the child. who may be visiting the father abroad. This format of course is playing on the emotions and good nature of victims, causing fear that the person they have fallen in love with might die.
Other financial exploitations may happen in this format depending on the criminals in question. You can find other ways these fraudsters exploit money here.