Secrets to China

[Fig]

The other thread reminded me of something that happened just South of me.

This gun store opened that had all the tacticool stuff, and it was staffed by guys wearing plate carriers and gear like they were about to assault a terrorist stronghold just working in the store. Honestly, it creeped me out a little. One of the guys was a close talker, and I about gave him a forearm shiver once.

Anyway, the dude gets a call from a guy who claims he's an American contractor working in Africa, and they need 20 ACOGs shipped to him (can't remember what country) ASAP, and he will purchase them and pay for shipping right now with his company AmEx ($25k ?).

So this idiot runs the card (it goes through), boxes them up, and ships them off to Africa ITAR be dammed, because obviously the guy is a legit American contractor who needs these ASAP, and this guy is a soldier of fortune wanabe who will do anything feel like he's on the team...

About three days later he gets a notification that the card was stolen, and they're denying the charges. UH OH... Now he MUST know he's been scammed. There is no American contractor, and he just sent controlled optics to a shithole where there's an active war going on...

What does he do? Is he worried that he has committed a federal offence? No. He immediately files a grievance with AmEx and tries to recover the $25k he's out. Of course, the FBI gets involved, finds out what he's done, and ends up fully prosecuting him for ITAR.

You couldn't make this stuff up. Needless to say since he went to camp that whole deal has been shut down and is gone... Good riddance. They had cool stuff, but were way to weird. Not saying they were white supremacists, or violent militia types, but that was definitely the vibe I got. What's confirmed is that they were morons.

 

[Redmanss]

That company was in the category of special kind of stupid. Having spent eight years on the contractor end of such business and dealing with ITAR daily, that couldn't have been more sideways of how it really works, and red flags should have been going off in the shop keeper's head that he was at minimum being set up by the feds.

I always thought it was insane that we were purchasing equipment on the government's behalf, that would remain government property under contractor control, performing work for the State Department and they were hammering us to get the stuff in country immediately, yet we would have to deal with constant delays from their own agency that we were purchasing equipment for. My company had a warehouse full of standard equipment, weaponry and ammunition that was ITAR regulated already licensed or well in the process just to reduce the time lag, and we would still catch a shit ton of flak from DoS.

You don't happen to have a link to anything about the case, do you?

 

[EddieNFL]

A decade ago they used speech/hearing impaired access to place the calls. You're talking to an operator who's typing back and forth with the Nigerian. Usually looking for diesel engines or high dollar parts. I would always give them an outrageous price and they always agreed. When I said no CCs, we ship when certified funds are received, the operator would say the caller disconnected.

 

[W54/XM-388]

A decade ago they used speech/hearing impaired access to place the calls. You're talking to an operator who's typing back and forth with the Nigerian. Usually looking for diesel engines or high dollar parts. I would always give them an outrageous price and they always agreed. When I said no CCs, we ship when certified funds are received, the operator would say the caller disconnected.

That brings back memories, I hated stupid TDD calls, as I didn't want to be rude to the operator but they were 100% scams, never a legitimate call.
And paid for by government mandated programs.

Of course shipping to Africa...... Pretty much about the same as when somebody wants to ship to Russia/eastern europe..... how much money do you want to loose today?

 

[Nik H]

That guy's family tree MUST BE a circle

 

[W54/XM-388]

That guy's family tree MUST BE a circle

There is sometimes a problem with people that have really "Pure" lineage... not enough forks in the family tree.

 

[Flyingbullseye]

There is sometimes a problem with people that have really "Pure" lineage... not enough forks in the family tree.

All the royal families in Europe come to mind.

Did the guy at least also cash the Nigerian lotto check? How stupid can one person be? I have no idea how to run a business, don't know ITAR laws and rules and only know the basic firearm laws here that I'd fall under but at no point would I take the call and think its not a scam.

 

[MtnCreek]

They probably called him Bro. Deal sealed.

 

[THEIS]

Hi,

Sadly that store owner is not in a small "category" of businesses that have done and do just that shit.
You should see the items that CBP Exodus Team at IAH has in their storage from seizing items that are ITAR controlled yet individuals, business owners and even manufacturers attempt to mislabel/misrepresent as common goods.

Sadly there are lots of manufacturers in the firearm industry that have stuff seized....It wasn't 3 months ago that a barrel manufacturer attempted to represent their rifle barrels as hydraulic cylinders and an action manufacturer represent bolts as log splitter control handles. I am just waiting on that auction

Even the HUGE companies do it...a few years ago BAE systems got fined for shipping some vehicles from their USA facility to their UK facility..problem is they did not get an export license. Back in the original Blackwater days they got inspected and it was found they had shipped the wrong container the day before inspection and that container was full of firearms that were not approved for export yet. Luckily they were able to provide proof the license was submitted at least but they still go fined.

Sincerely,
Theis