Stupid people of the week

NY magazine’s financial advice columnist admits she lost $50K to scammer claiming to be CIA agent

A financial advice columnist for New York Magazine admitted she was scammed out of $50,000 by a con man who claimed to be a CIA agent and ordered her to stuff a shoe box full of cash and hand it to a courier in a white Mercedes.

Charlotte Cowles, who pens a financial advice column for The Cut, the digital fashion news site that operates under the umbrella of New York Magazine, wrote a first-person account on Thursday titled “The Day I Put $50,000 in a Shoe Box and Handed It to a Stranger: I never thought I was the kind of person to fall for a scam.”

According to Cowles, a mysterious man called her one evening in October and got her attention after he knew her Social Security number, home address, the names of family members and that her two-year-old son was playing in the living room of her Brooklyn apartment.

Cowles wrote that the man “told me my home was being watched, my laptop had been hacked, and we were in imminent danger.”

The man also claimed that Cowles had 22 bank accounts, nine vehicles and four properties registered to her name.

The bank accounts, according to the mysterious man, were used to wire more than $3 million overseas, “mostly to Jamaica and Iraq.”

Cowles was then asked if she knew someone named “Stella Suk-Yee Kwong.”

“He texted me a photo of her ID, which he claimed had been found in a car rented under my name that was abandoned on the southern border of Texas with blood and drugs in the trunk,” she wrote.

Cowles was told that “there were warrants out of my arrest in Maryland and Texas” and that she was being charged with cybercrimes, money laundering and drug trafficking.

Believing that she was the victim of identity theft, she texted her husband: “I’m in deep s–t.”

“My identity was stolen and it seems really bad,” she wrote to her husband.

Cowles said she checked her credit score, bank and credit card accounts. “Nothing looked out of the ordinary,” she wrote.

“I can help you, but only if you cooperate,” the man is reported to have told Cowles, who was instructed that she was not to alert her husband, the police or a lawyer about the phone call.

She wrote that on a Tuesday evening this past October, she “put $50,000 in cash in a shoe box, taped it shut as instructed, and carried it to the sidewalk in front of my apartment, my phone clasped to my ear.”

According to Cowles, she told the strange man on the other line: “Don’t let anyone hurt me.”

“You won’t be hurt,” the man reportedly told Cowles. “Just keep doing exactly as I say.”

Moments later, a white Mercedes SUV pulled up by the curb. The man on the phone told her that she was to “put the box through the window, say ‘thank you,’ and go back inside” without looking at the driver.

Failure to cooperate would result in the CIA needing to “freeze all assets in my name, including my actual bank accounts,” according to Cowles, whose resume includes being a columnist for The New York Times’ business section.

“My office is in Langley,” the scammer told Cowles. “We don’t have enough time. We need to act immediately.”

Cowles was told that she needed to hand over the $50,000 in cash because they needed to issue her a government check “under your new Social Security number” — which would replace the old one which needed to be shut down as a result of her falling victim to identity theft.

“Then, by monitoring any activity under my old Social Security number and accounts, they would catch the criminals who were using my identity and I would get my life back,” she wrote.

After handing over the money, she said she received a text message from a man named “Michael” who sent over a photo of a Treasury check made out to her for $50,000.

The hard copy of the check would be hand-delivered to her in the morning, Cowles was told.

When Cowles tried to secure an appointment at the Social Security office, she was told by a strange woman on the phone that “Michael” was “busy” and that he would “call you in the morning.”

“You are lying to me. Michael was lying. You just took my money and I’m never getting it back,” Cowles told the woman.

“You’re a f—king liar,” she told the woman.

When Cowles told the police what happened, a cop informed her that “no government agency will ever ask you for money.”

Cowles wrote that the day after the incident, “it all came crashing back, a fresh humiliation, and I curled into the fetal position.”

The Post has sought comment from Cowles.

Source; NY Post

Chicago scraps gunshot detection system accused of racial bias

If we just stop taking reports of crimes, the number of crimes goes down! The logic is ironclad.

Chicago will not renew its ShotSpotter contract and plans to stop using the controversial gunshot detection system later this year, Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office announced on Tuesday.

The system, which relies on an artificial intelligence algorithm and network of microphones to identify gunshots, has been criticized for inaccuracy, racial bias and law enforcement misuse. An Associated Press investigation of the technology detailed how police and prosecutors used ShotSpotter data as evidence in charging a Chicago grandfather with murder before a judge dismissed the case due to insufficient evidence.

Chicago’s contract with SoundThinking, a public safety technology company that says its ShotSpotter tool is used in roughly 150 cities, expires on Friday. The city plans to wind down use of ShotSpotter technology by late September, according to city officials. Since 2018, the city has spent $49m on ShotSpotter.

“Chicago will deploy its resources on the most effective strategies and tactics proven to accelerate the current downward trend in violent crime,” the city said in a statement.

“Doing this work, in consultation with community, violence prevention organizations and law enforcement, provides a pathway to a better, stronger, safer Chicago for all.”

Johnson’s office said that during the interim period, law enforcement and community safety groups would “assess tools and programs that effectively increase both safety and trust”, and issue recommendations.

A SoundThinking representative did not have comment on Tuesday.

Johnson, a first-term mayor, campaigned on a promise to end the use of ShotSpotter, putting him at odds with police leaders who have praised the system.

They argue that crime rates – not residents’ race – determine where the technology is deployed.

“Technology is where policing is going as a whole. If we’re not utilizing technology, then we fall behind in crime fighting,” Superintendent Larry Snelling of Chicago police told the AP in an October interview. “There are always going to be issues. Nothing is 100% and nothing’s going to be perfect.”

Violent crime, including homicides and shootings, has largely fallen across the country to about the same level as before the pandemic, though property crimes have risen in some places. In Chicago, the downward trend of violent crime has continued at the start of 2024 with a 30% drop in homicides. There were 39 through last week compared with 56 during the same period last year.

Chicago police declined comment on Tuesday, directing questions to the mayor’s office.

Community public safety groups argued that the system sends police officers to predominantly Black and Latino neighborhoods for often unnecessary and hostile encounters. Problems with accuracy, for instance when the technology has mistakenly identified fireworks or motorcycle sounds as gunshots, have prompted cities including Charlotte, North Carolina, and San Antonio, Texas, to end their ShotSpotter contracts.

The Stop ShotSpotter Coalition praised the announcement but said Chicago should stop using the technology sooner.

“Victims, survivors, their families and the communities with the highest rates of gun violence deserve more tangible support, resources and solutions that have been forgone due to investments in policing and technology that do not prevent or reduce violence,” the coalition said in a Tuesday statement.

Source; The Guardian

Will ShotSpotter end in Chicago on Friday? Mayor dodges questions as firm indicates there’s no deal

Wait, the next day, the DNC announced Chicago as the location for their national convention this presidential election year. Suddenly, the racist Shotspotter system isn’t that bad. At least until after the DNC. It’s a city run by clowns.

The question of whether the Chicago Police Department will retain access to ShotSpotter past Friday loomed over City Hall days after Mayor Brandon Johnson announced his plan to nix the controversial gunshot detection system at the end of the summer.

During a bizarre news conference Thursday, Johnson repeatedly refused to answer questions about whether ShotSpotter’s parent company, SoundThinking, would renew the current $49 million contract that’s set to expire at the end of the day Friday.

Johnson announced earlier in the week that he was ending the city’s relationship with ShotSpotter, but his office insisted the technology would remain until September — after the Democratic National Convention.

However, his administration hadn’t struck a new deal with SoundThinking, which has pushed for a longer renewal period.

In a statement Thursday, the Silicon Valley firm said it spent much of last year trying to engage the city in contract talks. As recently as December, the firm presented officials with a memorandum of understanding for a 12-month extension.

That proposal led to “preliminary discussions” about an eight- to nine-month extension that would’ve allowed the city to open a contract up for bidding and evaluate acoustic gunshot detection, the company said.

“Contrary to those discussions and without consultation with SoundThinking … Mayor Johnson announced a decommission plan, involving an extension of ShotSpotter through September 22,” the company said.

“We believe the shared goal of an extension period must provide the best possible data and analysis to the residents of the city of Chicago through greater transparency and reporting standards,” it said. “The way this is secured is through a minimum 12-month extension and modifications to the city’s current data and reporting protocols.”

A source familiar with the negotiations said the system could shut down when the existing contract ends. That could force police officials in the city’s most violent South and West Side districts to effectively go cold turkey.

More at the source; Chicago Sun-Times

SC deputies arrested after reporting 5 hoax ‘dead body’ emergencies while on duty, warrants say

Three deputies in South Carolina are facing charges after being accused of calling in five hoax emergencies while on duty.

Justin Tyler Reichard, 28; Darien Myles Roseau, 25; and Killian Daniel Loflin, 26, are charged with misconduct in office, criminal conspiracy and aggravated breach of peace.

According to arrest warrants on Feb. 4, the deputies reported five hoax emergencies within Cheraw, Chesterfield, McBee and Pageland.

“These hoax reports were telephoned to convenience stores or the respective municipal law enforcement agency and notified the call recipient of the location of a ‘dead body’ within the municipalities,” the warrants said.

The warrants said the hoax calls caused emergency responses from law enforcement and other emergency responders.

Source; WYFF

Category: "Teh Stoopid", Crime, Police, Stupid Criminals