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'You've Won $72 Million and a Mercedes Benz': Phone Scammer Gets 6 Years in Prison After He Made the Mistake of Calling William Webster, Ex-FBI and CIA Director (washingtonpost.com)

Posted by msmash on from the oooops dept.

Reader McGruber writes: The Washington Post has an amusing story about phone scammer Keniel A. Thomas, who made the mistake of calling William H. Webster. Thomas told 90-year-old Webster that he had won $72 million and a new Mercedes Benz in the Mega Millions lottery, but that he needed to send $50,000 in taxes and fees to get his money. Thomas also told Webster he'd done his research on the top winner. "You're a great man," the scammer cajoled. "You was a judge, you was an attorney, you was a basketball player, you were in the U.S. Navy, homeland security. I know everything about you. I even seen your photograph, and I seen your precious wife."

Thomas's research didn't turn up everything. He didn't learn that the man he was calling was the former director of the FBI and the CIA, the only person ever to hold both jobs. And he didn't know that Webster would call him back the next day with the FBI listening in. Thomas was arrested in late 2017, after he landed in New York on a flight from Jamaica. He pleaded guilty in October and faced a prison term of 33 to 41 months under federal sentencing guidelines. But with Webster and his wife in the courtroom, Chief U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell on Friday added another 2 years to Thomas's sentence, giving him nearly six years to serve. Howell said that the scam qualified as "organized criminal activity" and that Thomas posed "a threat to a family member of the victim."

39 of 169 comments (clear)

  1. Wait! WHAT? by NEDHead · · Score: 4, Funny

    This is a scam? I just got that email 2 days ago! Damn!

    1. Re:Wait! WHAT? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      This is a scam? I just got that email 2 days ago! Damn!

      And I'll bet that if you had called the FBI they would have ignored you.

    2. Re:Wait! WHAT? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      This is a scam from the government to make it seem like they actually give a damn about spammers calling you.

    3. Re:Wait! WHAT? by msauve · · Score: 4, Insightful

      "This is a scam?"

      Why yes, yes it is. We're supposed to have equal justice, but obviously unless you're a former FBI director, the system doesn't give a shit about you.

      As a prole, try getting any law enforcement to take action on a scam where you haven't already lost a million bucks. Ain't gonna happen. But, if you're part of the government elite, they'll organize a SWAT team to help you out just because you got a phone call.

      --
      "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
    4. Re:Wait! WHAT? by drinkypoo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If a student says you put glue on their chair and you get away with it that is one thing but the system is completely broken if you get away with putting glue on the principal's chair.

      The system is completely broken if putting glue on the principal's chair carries a heavier punishment than putting it on a fellow student's. Crap like that is why schools have a culture of bullying.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  2. The moral of the story by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You can get justice - if you are an important person.

    1. Re:The moral of the story by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You can get justice - if you are an important person.

      Indeed. According to the summary, the judge slapped an extra two years onto the sentence because of who the perp targeted.

      So we are willing to devote lots of taxpayer funded resources to prosecuting this one guy for targeting a VIP, but doing something about the millions of scammy phone calls that little people face everyday remains a low priority.

    2. Re:The moral of the story by PopeRatzo · · Score: 2

      Indeed. According to the summary, the judge slapped an extra two years onto the sentence because of who the perp targeted.

      I'm pretty sure that the extra two years was for being really really stupid.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    3. Re:The moral of the story by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Insightful

      it will make make some people think twice before becoming a criminal

      Not really. Most scam calls originate outside the US. This "one guy" is atypical, and is not where the FBI should be focusing their resources.

      He was also an idiot who provided a valid callback number that was registered in his own name. So the message from the FBI is "We only catch the dumb ones", which isn't much of a deterrent.

      What we need is a change to telecom regulations that make call spoofing so easy. Most other countries are far less welcoming to scammers, and have much less of a problem with it. Even India makes spoofing illegal for domestic calls, although obviously not for outbound international calls.

      If an entity owns and controls multiple numbers that can be tracked back to that entity, then "spoofing" those numbers has legitimate uses. But there is no valid reason to allow anyone to spoof a number they do not own and do not have a right to use.

      Feds: You need to fix the spoofing problem.
      Telcos: We can't. It is technically impossible.
      Feds: Starting next week, we will fine you $1000 per spoofed call.
      Telcos: Oh. We'll have it fixed in five minutes.

    4. Re:The moral of the story by mysidia · · Score: 4, Insightful

      we are willing to devote lots of taxpayer funded resources to prosecuting this one guy for targeting a VIP, but doing something about the millions of scammy phone calls that little people face everyday remains a low priority.

      "Quiet serfs. How dare you question the noble class? Here, we'll add $100 to your tax refund if you stop bringing this up."

    5. Re: The moral of the story by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It was added because of bullcrap charges that they somehow made stick. "Organized criminal activity" and "a threat to a family member of the victim"? Come on... This sort of sentencing doesn't seem uncommon in US justice, so I wouldn't say it's because of who the victim was, but even so it is hardly just. Charge him with the scam and hand down a stiff sentence for that, don't add a couple of extra years for so called organized crime or posing a threat. If you think the sentencing for scams like this is too low, petition to have the laws changed.

      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
    6. Re:The moral of the story by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I'm pretty sure that the extra two years was for being really really stupid.

      But wouldn't it make more sense to give the smart criminals extra jail time?

    7. Re:The moral of the story by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      "According to the summary, the judge slapped an extra two years onto the sentence because of who the perp targeted."

      Unfortunately, the summary didn't quote this from the article:

      The conversation was one of many calls that Thomas made to Webster or his wife, Lynda, in 2014, including one in which he promised a bullet “straight to the head” of Lynda. ... But with Webster and his wife in the courtroom, Chief U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell on Friday added another 2½ years to Thomas’s sentence ... Thomas posed “a threat to a family member of the victim.”

      That's why Thomas got the two extra years.

    8. Re: The moral of the story by Antony+T+Curtis · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The usual argument against stopping spoofing is that the average person won't answer the calls from a cold caller telemarketers.
      Sadly, organisations like the Direct Marketers Association have more political clout than consumer protection advocates

      --
      No sig. Move along - nothing to see here.
    9. Re:The moral of the story by PopeRatzo · · Score: 2, Insightful

      But wouldn't it make more sense to give the smart criminals extra jail time?

      Yeah, you're probably right. But there should be some special penalty for stupidity, just as a general principle. And trying to run a scam on a guy that you googled but didn't notice he was a retired head of the FBI and CIA is a level of stupidity that qualifies for special treatment.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    10. Re: The moral of the story by Shaitan · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It's not just them. We need to stop allowing all the exceptions, debt collectors and political campaigns can fuck off too. They can send letters like everyone else.

    11. Re: The moral of the story by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The usual argument against stopping spoofing is that the average person won't answer the calls from a cold caller telemarketers.

      That should not be a problem. If a telemarketer with a call center in India or the Philippines wants to spoof an American number, that is fine. But they need to own both the originating number and the spoofed number, and it needs to be traceable back to them, so they can be held accountable for illegal behavior.

      But spoofing to random numbers in local prefixes, inflicting blowback on the innocent people that own those numbers, and misleading the call targets, should be illegal. It is unconscionable that we allow the telecoms to get away with this behavior.

    12. Re:The moral of the story by Shaitan · · Score: 2

      Smart criminals aren't criminals at all because they don't normally get caught. But if we caught one by luck (everybody has a bad day) we should turn them loose ASAP to up the odds of someone with a brain reproducing. The dumb ones we should lock away forever to make sure they don't breed.

    13. Re:The moral of the story by thomst · · Score: 2

      I posited:

      I'm pretty sure the judge viewed, "I know everything about you. I even seen your photograph, and I seen your precious wife," as an implied threat, à la, "Nice wife you have there. Pity if anything happened to her."

      But concluded:

      "I agree that he was never in any personal danger ..."

      Prompting Shaitan to point out:

      Sure but if you threaten to kill someone who turns out to be Navy seal it is still the same crime as threatening to kill the sweet old lady from 2B. Now if said seal or old lady kills you alleging they feared for their life considerations like that matter.

      You're correct on both points. A threat is a threat, no matter who it's directed at. Responding to a threat with deadly force may or may not be treated as justifiable homicide, depending not only on the self-defense capabilities of the person being threatened, but on other circumstances, such as the credibility of the threat, the other options (short of deadly force) that were available to the target of the threat at the moment he/she acted, and - very importantly - the state of his or her mind at the time.

      But issuing a threat constitutes simple assault under American jurisprudence, regardless. And doing so while in the process of committing a felony crime against the target of that threat is an act that the presiding judge may consider deserving of an "enhancement" to the sentence for the original felony - as clearly happened in this case.

      Full disclosure: IANAL. I don't even watch any of the 57 flavors of Lawn Order. So there ... !

      --
      Check out my novel.
    14. Re:The moral of the story by rtb61 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I fully support rehabilitation over punishment but then technically, all sentences should be minimum sentences and if you have not rehabilitated and show now signs of it, you should never be let go. So prison more studio apartments because we aren't total arseholes but you never get set free.

      It is not learning your lesson, how to fake rehabilitation for early release, it is hard line full psychological evaluation to ensure very, very low rates of recidivism. In fact correctional services officers should face evaluation and possible penalty for releasing a person who latter commits a crime and certainly the government should pay for the harm caused by a citizen released who was not rehabilitated.

      I fully support a 100% rehabilitative system, with all that it implies and that correctional facilities, staffed by professional college degree correctional services officers and run by trained psychiatrists, who properly medically seek to rehabilitate their patients unstable failed citizens and not treat them like prisoners to be punished and turned into worse criminals.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    15. Re:The moral of the story by dcw3 · · Score: 2

      I knew that was a scam
      https://www.gnc.com/hardcore-s...
      Oh, it is...just not the same one.

      --
      Just another day in Paradise
    16. Re: The moral of the story by Jason+Levine · · Score: 2

      What I hate the most is when they call me on my work phone. That phone is primarily used for system emergencies. When it rings, it means something big is happening and I need to hop on it right away. Too often, recently, though I've picked it up to hear. "We're calling you with an important message about your car's warranty/student loan." You can block the number, but they just call back using a different number each time.

      --
      My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
  3. Glad to hear, to bad the common person suffers by AnonyMouseCowWard · · Score: 5, Insightful

    That's great news and I want to point and laugh at the scammer as much as the next guy... it's just too bad the common folk still have to suffer scammer calls (and a minority actually fall for it) with really no recourse. The FBI surely wouldn't help me if I tried to setup a sting on a scammer...

    1. Re:Glad to hear, to bad the common person suffers by jythie · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Yeah, it must be nice to be the type of person with the resources and connections to actually get crimes like this investigated. This is the other end of the two tiered justice system.

  4. so the moral of the story is by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    don't ever step foot onto american soil and these crimes are entirely harmless!

  5. Comparative sentencing with manslaughter by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Six years for attempting a phonecall scam.

    Meanwhile the woman who willfully abused her boyfriend into not backing out of a suicide attempt gets 15 months

    Definitive proof that our justice system values an attempt at monetary loss at nearly six times the rate of actual loss of human life.

  6. Amazing America by Jason1729 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It truly amazes me that this is being posted as a feel-good story about how great the system works.

    When hundreds of thousands of elderly are bilked out of tens of millions of dollars in the exact same scam, law enforcement just shakes its head and says it's too difficult to track down and arrest these people and everyone has to be vigilant. When this power-man with serious connections gets called by the scammer, suddenly the wheels of justice spring into motion in top gear, the next day the FBI is on it and they get the guy right away. The scammer didn't even get anything. What about grandma who lost her $200,000 life savings in a scam only to hear "that's a shame" from the police?

    Then, the icing on the cake, the appropriate penalty is 33 to 41 months for the actual offence. And he gets 2 more years just because power-man is pulling the judge's string. What a corrupt system.

    This whole thing reminds me of a joke. North Koreans believe they live in the greatest country in the world because the government and media lie to them. Americans know perfectly well they live in the greatest country in the world.

    1. Re:Amazing America by cordovaCon83 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      No, you don't understand.... Hard work is not how you become a member of the elite class... That's how you get shift leader at McDonald's...

    2. Re:Amazing America by quonset · · Score: 3, Interesting

      While to some extent I agree with your sentiments, the real issue is this guy and his wife went through the steps to document the crime and get the FBI involved early on. They didn't complain they were scammed months later when the criminal was long gone.

      That they just happened to be well connected is only slightly tangential.

      Of course if people wouldn't be gullible and hand over their money to anyone who calls them, this wouldn't be an issue.

    3. Re:Amazing America by McGruber · · Score: 4, Informative

      When this power-man with serious connections gets called by the scammer, suddenly the wheels of justice spring into motion in top gear, the next day the FBI is on it and they get the guy right away.

      I understand and agree with your sentiment, but you are also factually incorrect. The article says that Thomas called Webster in 2014, but he was not arrested until 2017, 3 years later. He was then tried and convicted in October 2018, and finally sentenced in February 2019.

      The scammer didn't even get anything. What about grandma who lost her $200,000 life savings in a scam only to hear "that's a shame" from the police?

      Again, I understand your sentiment, but you are again factually incorrect. The article says:

      The FBI was able to document that Thomas, 29, from St. James Parish in the Montego Bay area, collected at least $300,000 with his scam from about three dozen victims, according to court records.

    4. Re:Amazing America by enigma32 · · Score: 2

      In general, I agree with you here.
      But, "because power-man is pulling the judge's string"-- maybe. There _was_ an actual threat made on Webster's wife. From TFA:

      > The conversation was one of many calls that Thomas made to Webster or his wife, Lynda, in 2014, including one in which he promised a bullet “straight to the head” of Lynda.

    5. Re:Amazing America by drinkypoo · · Score: 2

      While to some extent I agree with your sentiments, the real issue is this guy and his wife went through the steps to document the crime and get the FBI involved early on.

      Sure, but would the FBI usually be willing to be involved in something like this?

      Of course if people wouldn't be gullible and hand over their money to anyone who calls them, this wouldn't be an issue.

      Yeah! Piss on those victims!

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    6. Re:Amazing America by WoodstockJeff · · Score: 2

      > gets 2 more years just because power-man is pulling the judge's string

      "I know everything about you. I even seen your photograph, and I seen your precious wife."

      That, to me, constitutes a threat against both him and his wife. The only thing missing is the old "It would REALLY be a SHAME if something were to happen to her...."

      Yes, it would be nice if all of us had the resources available to us to catch these crooks. But the 2 extra years isn't JUST because of who was sitting in the courtroom.

    7. Re:Amazing America by DerekLyons · · Score: 2

      the real issue is this guy and his wife went through the steps to document the crime and get the FBI involved early on

      That they just happened to be well connected is only slightly tangential.

      o.O Are you serious? If the average Joe or Jane called the FBI, they'd reach a call center and a perfunctory report would be taken - and nothing would ever happen. (BTDT) That he's well connected (understatement of the year), isn't tangential at all. It's why he was able to have the FBI on the case the very next day.

  7. $72 million and a new Mercedes Benz by magarity · · Score: 3, Funny

    What kind of bizarre prize packaging is that? If you win 72 mil, the last thing you'd care about is any particular car tossed in.

    1. Re:$72 million and a new Mercedes Benz by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 2

      I think the car is just the container for all the money.

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    2. Re:$72 million and a new Mercedes Benz by Guppy · · Score: 2

      What kind of bizarre prize packaging is that? If you win 72 mil, the last thing you'd care about is any particular car tossed in.

      It's probably some sort of mental trick to make the "prize" seem more concrete. Keep in mind, the ideal target of such scams is not a lucid and clear-thinking individual -- rather, it's someone who is in the process of cognitive decline.

  8. 1 down... by Dan+East · · Score: 2

    a few hundred thousand more crooks to catch.

    --
    Better known as 318230.
  9. Re:Justice by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 2

    You just have to hope that they know sign language.

    --
    #DeleteFacebook