I helped bag a scammer once in my camera store, with help from several parties. I had been contacted by someone representing a school department in Philadelphia. "They" had accepted my bid on a lot of Nikon equipment. Much earlier during telephone contact I had suspected a scam and re availability and shipping data I "need to "get you on the line with my warehouse and shipping manager," which I did. However, that person was a detective(actually) with the local police department(not an employee of mine). The merchandise would be shipped to an address in Philadelphia. So far - so good. Well, the Chief of Police in Portland, ME at that time was a fellow by the name of Mike Chitwood, known in these parts as "Media Mike," never afraid to be heard or seen in the media. Chief Chitwood had come to Maine from Philadelphia where he had been a Detective, the one who discovered - lead to charges - of some case that involved a corpse which had been found but which case had been in the "actives" for years. So I contacted Media Mike and he became involved because he knew plenty about Philadelphia.
We followed along with the "plan" which was shipment to be made only after we received the school department's check. It arrived and we prepared the merchandise to be shipped. Well, the "shipped" was a heavy box, if you get my drift. Chief Chitwood had already, through his contacts in Philadelphia, that the destination address was an empty suite on the fourth floor of a large office building(which was mostly empty).
"Time is running short on our beginning school session, so please ship via FedEx." And we did. FedEx was with knowledge of the program and, as usual, could disclose the approximate time of delivery. The outside of the large shipping container was hand-coded with an identifier. Media Mike's compatriot in Philadelphia, plain clothes, staked out the delivery location as per the time frame. When FedEx arrived, it seemed that the building's elevator was down for service. There was an employee stationed at street level to receive any and all shipments.
FedEx arrived; undercover could see the "marker" on the box. The driver knew nothing of the mission to unfold. But when the "employee" signed(required) for the shipment - - - - -BUSTED! The real killer is that, the scammer who started the whole deal was a prisoner, captive in the Pennsylvania penal system. The "check" turned out to be fraudulent, though it was never deposited and I wanted to keep it. "Sorry; it needs to be held as evidence." Slime can be found in unique places.
HR
I recently saw reference to a Police Chief Mike Chitwood, somewhere in Florida. I'd bet he's the son of our former "Media Mike."
