“Gloria, I removed three separate virus files from your computer. You should now have no further problems logging into the County Court Access site. You’re welcome, Terry.”
Gloria and I both turned to Dad, a question on our faces. His computer was still booting. Dad shrugged. “Don’t look at me,” he said. “As long as my solitaire game keeps working I’m a happy guy.” Then his screen came alive with a similar message from Terry. Dad’s message had all the elements of our messages, but his also said:
“Clay, You now have six different solitaire games available to you. I also removed a virus that you probably picked up on one of those internet porn sites. You really should stay off of those. They are known for their virus attacks, worms and Trojan Horses. Terry.”
Gloria and I gave Dad our raised eyebrow look and waited for a response.
“Once again,” Dad said, “Don’t look at me. I was looking up firearms and some topless babe popped up on the screen. I clicked the little red X in the upper right hand corner, trying to get it to go away, but it just opened up to a whole page of bodacious tatas.”
Gloria looked at Dad with surprise.
“Those aren’t my words,” Dad said. “That was the title of the screen that popped up. There’s no getting away from all that garbage. It’ll find you.”
“Sure, Dad,” I said in a condescending tone.
Dad gestured with his hand, the way a person tries to wave a mosquito away. “I don’t care if you believe me or not,” Dad said. “That’s how it got there.”
“Can we get back to business?” Gloria said, trying to put an end to this uncomfortable conversation between me and my dad. Then she turned to me and asked, “So what do you think you want to do about Terry?”
“If he had mischievous intent,” I said, “He could have wiped out all three of our hard drives, but he didn’t. I think I’d like to take a chance on him, whether he has a record or not. It’s just for another two months and it seems like the benefits outweigh the risks. What do you two think?”
“Let’s go with him,” Gloria said.
“I don’t care one way or the other,” Dad said. “And you don’t even know if he has a record. Yeah, go ahead, use the kid.”
“All right,” I said. “I’ll call him after lunch.”
Just then another window opened in my screen. It was an instant message from Terry that said, “Thanks for your confidence in me. I won’t let you down. I’ll see you in a few minutes.” The message window disappeared again and I sat there, dumbfounded.
“Now how could he have known what we decided?” I said. “Unless he had the office or the computers bugged.” I thought about it briefly and then said, “Nah.”
It was less than ten minutes later that Terry walked into the office, a smirk on his face. None of us said a word.
“So,” Terry finally said, “How are your computers working now?”
“Great,” I said.
“Mine’s a lot faster,” Gloria added.
“I love those extra solitaire games,” Dad said.
“And I could keep them all in top running condition,” Terry said. “Not to mention being able to give you the edge over the competition by getting the inside scoop on potential clients.” He looked at me and said, “So what can I do for Cooper Investigations this morning?”
I looked at Gloria and Dad. “Either of you get any emails asking about our services?”
“Gloria got one, your Dad didn’t get any and if you’ll check your email,” Terry said. “You have one, too. I think we can take them both on. Gloria’s wants you to check into a computer robbery scam and yours is asking about a transaction involving a fake money order.”
Gloria and I both froze in our tracks and stared at Terry. He held up his hands and said, “Or you can just read them for yourselves.”
I turned my attention back to the email on my screen. The woman left her name and phone number and asked me to call her before ten o’clock this morning. I dialed her number and listened as it rang three times. She picked up on the fourth ring.
“Audrey Wilson,” the woman said.
“Miss Wilson,” I said. “This is Elliott from Cooper Investigations. I’m calling in response to your email to me asking about some scam involving a fake money order.”
“That’s right,” Mr. Cooper,” Audrey said. “Thank you for getting back to me so quickly. I was wondering if I could come by your office this morning to talk to you about my problem.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Terry waving, trying to get my attention. I excused myself for a moment and turned to Terry. “What is it, Terry?” I said.
“When she comes in,” Terry said, almost in a whisper, “Tell her to bring her laptop with her.”
“What if she only has a desktop?” I said.
“Women always have a laptop,” Terry said. “Just ask her.”
I got back on the phone. “I’m sorry, Miss Wilson, now you were saying you’d like to see me this morning?”
“That’s right, Mr. Cooper,” she said.
“That’ll work fine for me,” I said. “Shall we say...”
“Nine thirty?” Audrey said, filling in the blank for me.
“Nine thirty works for me,” I said. “I’ll see you then. Could you bring your laptop in with you when you come?”
“I suppose,” Audrey said, “If you think it’s important.”
“It is,” I said. “Thank you, Miss Wilson. We’ll see you in a little while.” I hung up and turned to Gloria. “I’ve got one coming in at nine-thirty. How about you?”
“No one’s answering,” Gloria said. “I’ll try her again a little later.”
Terry took a seat on the leather sofa against the wall and flipped his laptop open. He busied himself typing away on the keys, smiling to himself every now and then. When he’d finished, he pressed his Enter key and then looked up at me. “Check your email again, Elliott,” Terry said.
I opened my email and found a new one from Terry. There was no text, but it contained one attachment. I looked up at Terry.
“Go ahead,” he said. “You can open it. It’s safe.”
I clicked on the attachment and a document opened up on my screen. The heading said, “Audrey Wilson” followed by a color photo of her face. The document also included her age, weight, hair color, eye color, race, credit rating, banking history, Internet browsing history, net worth, make and model of her car, marital status, court record and a few other things about her that could prove useful. I glanced at Terry.
“This way you’ll know more about her than she does about you,” Terry said. And all in the space of the five minutes it takes to read that document. You can go into this transaction armed with valuable information.”
“Is this legal?” I said to Terry.
“You don’t plan on using that information for illegal purposes, do you, Elliott?” Terry said.
“Of course not,” I said.
“Then it’s just fine,” Terry said. “What’s that old saying about a gift horse?”
I didn’t answer him. Instead I finished reading the entire document just seconds before the knock came on our office door.
“It’s open,” Dad said from his desk, the closest desk to the door.
A middle-aged woman walked in, closing the door behind her. I knew instantly that this was Audrey Wilson, even without asking. After reading her report, I felt like I knew her personally even though we’d never met.
“Miss Wilson?” I said, rising from my chair.
She nodded and walked over to my desk. “And you would be Mr. Cooper?” she said.
“Yes I would,” I answered.
“And so would I,” Dad said, rising from his chair and walking over toward my desk.
I shook Audrey’s hand. “I’m Elliott Cooper,” I said. “And this is my father, Clay Cooper.” I gestured toward Dad.
Just then Gloria came over and Dad wrapped an arm around her shoulder. “And this is Gloria Campbell,” he
said by way of introduction.
Audrey nodded at both of them and smiled. “Pleased to meet you both,” she said.
Gloria and Dad retreated to the sofa and sat next to Terry, who was still typing away on his computer. An introduction to Terry didn’t seem appropriate at the time.
I invited Audrey to sit in my client’s chair and slipped back into my own chair behind my desk. “Can I get you some coffee, Miss Wilson?”
“No thank you,” she said. “And please, call me Audrey.”
“So, Audrey,” I said, “What is it we can do for you today?”
“I’m not sure there is anything you can do,” Audrey said, “But suppose I tell you what happened to me and you can decide if you can help me or not.”
“Fair enough,” I said.
“Well,” Audrey said. “It started ten days ago when I sold my husband’s ‘87 Corvette on one of those online auction sites.”
“Ebay?” I said.
“Similar,” Audrey said, but this one was called Ebidding, Incorporated. I guess they were counting on user confusion, trying to ride the tails of ebay’s success. They should call their site ebad. Anyway, I sold the Corvette for fourteen thousand dollars and change. Right after the auction ended, I got an email from the winning bidder. He said he was out of town but that he’d have his courier personally deliver the money order to me and pick up the car.”
“What did your husband say when you sold his Corvette?” I said.
“Albert hasn’t said anything for more than two years now,” Audrey said. “He died back in 2010.”
Terry couldn’t sit still another second and nearly bounced off the sofa. He came over to my desk with no introduction and just started right in with, “And you took the money order, gave him the title and the car and never saw him again, correct?”
Audrey nodded.
“And a few days later your bank told you that the money order bounced and that you were responsible for the entire amount, correct?”
Again the nod.
“And,” Terry said in conclusion, “When you tried to email the buyer again, your emails bounced as high as the money order, correct?”
“How did you know?” Audrey said. “And by the way, who are you?”
I stood again. “I’m sorry, Audrey,” I said. “This is Terry Belmont, one of our computer specialists.”
Terry shook her hand and pulled up a chair next to the woman. He gestured toward the laptop she was holding. “May I take a look at it?” Terry said.
Audrey handed over her laptop and turned back to speak with me. Terry flipped the laptop open and pressed the power button. As he waited for it to boot, he took it back to the sofa and sat again.
“How can a money order be faked?” Audrey asked me. “The bank accepted it, so they must have thought it was real. Don’t they have serial numbers on them?”
“This is all new to me, too,” I said. “With the advent of all this new technology, the criminals have found lots of new ways to perpetrate their crimes on the unsuspecting. Law enforcement tries to crack down on them, but they manage to stay a couple steps ahead of the law.”
Terry was still waiting for Audrey’s computer to boot, but overheard what she was saying and offered his own opinions. “Just like currency counterfeiters,” Terry said, “These criminals have found ways of duplicating actual money orders and cashier’s checks. It’s getting so you don’t trust anyone anymore. I even heard of one criminal who made phony postal money orders. And you know, people in the post office have even been fooled by them.” The computer in his lap came to life just then and Terry turned his attention to the screen. “Excuse me,” he said. “I’ll be a few minutes with this. Why don’t you talk to Elliott while you wait?”
My eyebrows arched upward at the uninhibited, forward statement made by a person who, up until yesterday, we didn’t even know existed. There was nothing shy about Terry and his opinions. Audrey turned back to look to me for answers.
“Is there anything you can do about getting my money and my car back?” Audrey said.
“I don’t know about the money,” I said, “But you can bet your husband’s Corvette is long gone. It was probably shipped out of the country or it might be right under our noses right here in Hollywood, possibly in so many pieces as part of several other Corvettes.
By now Dad and Gloria were hovering over Terry, watching as he typed away at Audrey’s keyboard. A moment later Terry looked up at me. “I think I might have something here, Elliott,” Terry said, turning the laptop’s screen toward me. Terry stood and brought Audrey’s laptop over to my desk and set it down facing her. Terry pointed at the screen. “You see this?” Terry said. “This is the ISP address and it’s a familiar company right here in town.”
“What does it mean?” Audrey said.
“It means we’re one step closer to these guys,” Terry said. “And these lines of code beneath it, that tells me that the transmission originated from some Internet café, or some other public place with Wi-Fi access. Or, it could mean that they’ve simply rerouted their signals to make it seem like that’s where they were coming from. These guys could be almost as clever as me.”
Audrey had a puzzled look on her face. “But what does all this mean to me?” she said. “Can you find these guys and make them give me my money or my car back?”
Dad walked over to my desk and looked at Audrey. “We may be able to find them,” Dad said, “But we don’t have the authority to make them do anything. That’s where we’d bring in the police. My best friend is a Lieutenant down at the twelfth precinct and we just raided another rat’s nest yesterday. Keep your hopes up. It’s not over yet.”
“That’s right,” Terry said. “I’ve seen this scam before and usually the buyer will offer a money order or cashier’s check for a lot more than the value of the item he’s buying. He’ll generally tell you to cash the money order, take out the amount of the purchases plus a little extra for your trouble and then ask you to wire him the balance.”
“But this money order was made out to me for the exact amount of my sale price,” Audrey said.
“And the scammer still got your Corvette for free,” Terry said. “And let me guess. He didn’t pick it up himself, right?”
“How’d you know that?” Audrey said.
“That’s the pattern,” Terry explained. “They always offer to buy your item sight unseen. They sometimes make out the money order for more than the amount, hoping to make even more money on the scam. And they almost never pick up the item themselves, so they can distance themselves from the whole transaction, should it go sour on them.”
“Sounds like they’ve put a lot of thought into cheating people out of their money,” Gloria said, walking over to my desk. “The ones I’ve seen usually say they’re away from home and need to send someone else to pick up whatever it is you’re selling. Some say they’re contacting you from out of the country and want a stateside friend of theirs to pick it up for them, claiming that they’re saving you the cost of shipping it to them.”
“Did they ask for your name and address?” Terry said.
Audrey frowned. “Yes,” she said, “But I didn’t give them anything else.”
“Sometimes that’s all they need to get a foothold into your accounts,” Terry explained. “The more information you give these people, the easier it is for them to clean you out.”
Dad stepped up now, his own curiosity burning. “What about one of those online escrow companies?” he said. “If they hold the money and the item, wouldn’t that be safer for both parties?”
Terry shook his head, still typing away on Audrey’s computer. “Most online escrow sites are fraudulent and are generally operated by the scammers themselves. The ones that really kill me are the sellers who act so innocent and trusting of you. For example, they may ask for only a partial payment upfront, after which they will ship you whatever it was you bought from them. They’ll say they’ll trust you for the rest of the payment, promising to shi
p the item right away. Some even claim that they’ve already sent it. The best rule of thumb to follow is, that if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is. A little common sense goes a long way, period.”
Audrey turned to me. “Can you get my car back, Mr. Cooper?” she said.
“We’re certainly going to try, Audrey,” I said.
“Got it,” Terry said, raising one fist in the air.
“What’s that?” Dad said.
“I found them,” Terry said. “The guy who picked up the car, he’s right here in the Hollywood area.”
I stood. “Where are they?” I said.
Terry tapped a few more keys on Audrey’s laptop and then announced, “I’ve narrowed it down to within a half mile of the Internet tower in the Hollywood Hills.”
“What is that?” Gloria said. “Something like a hundred square blocks?”
“Close enough,” Terry said. “But there’s nothing square about that whole area. Those roads up there wind around all over the place. If the four of us each take our own car and start cruising that neighborhood, we should be able to pinpoint the location where their server is sending its signals.”
“Would you excuse us, Audrey?” I said. “We have to move on this right now. And one last thing, Audrey, what color was your husband’s Corvette?”
“Fire engine red,” Audrey said. “There’s no mistaking it.”
I wrote this information down and turned back to Audrey. “I’ll call you later if I have anything for you,” I said.
“Thank you, Mr. Cooper,” Audrey said and left the office.
“Does everyone have their cell phone on them?” I said.
We all patted our pockets and nodded.
“Wouldn’t we be better off with four walkie-talkies all tuned to the same frequency?” Gloria said.
“No,” Terry said. “If those criminals can also tune into that frequency, they’d know exactly what we were doing and they’d clear out before we even got close.”
The Complete Cooper Collection (All 97 Stories) Page 181