Chance of Investifation for Internet Fraud?

Question

How big does the crime have to be before the FBI/Secret Service or State Investigation Officials will take an interest in a case where someone has scammed me out of $25,000 by stating they worked for a reputable company when they didn't?

I have be told the FBI and other large agencies won't get involved unless it is $250,000 or more and that it would be a very difficult investigation for a local police department because these guys are in other states and we really don't know who they are.

They went as far a setting up a corporate bank account, web address with e-mails (faked headers) and so on.

The company who's name was used is investigating with their own internal investigators and said they will turn the info over to the authorities but their interest is in stopping it and covering their butts not getting my money back.

Am I waisting my time and money or will someone investigate this???

Thanks

Answer 1

Talk to a lawyer! Buy an hour of time. Also, talk to a private investigator to get info on these guys.  The more info you get, the easier it is to prosecute them.  Again talk to a lawyer, I hate lawyers and it ended up costing me over $280,000 because I wanted to go around using a lawyer for a business contract. It would of cost me probably $1000 instead of my life savings.

Answer 2

That would fall under the jurisdiction of the FBI. They have a website to report it, http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx

You may only be out $25K, but you should report it anyway. Several other people may have been scammed by the same people. The more victims there are, the more likely it is they will investigate.

Answer 3

I'm sure the FBI would investigate it ,considering the amount involved and the nature of the crime. They called me once involving a stolen credit card, that another person used , they used it just to send me flowers, the amount charged to the credit card was probably only 40 dollars, but no telling what else he tried to purchase. So , I'd say you are not wasting your time or money.