Originally Posted by
Dan Druff
I can now confirm that the perpetrators were members of an organized fraud ring, based out of San Diego County.
The fake phone number used on the BetMGM account created in my name was actually that of a burner phone, physically purchased in San Diego County.
The IP address used for the fake e-mail account was not useful, as the perpetrators were using proxies or VPNs to access it.
I have more info, but that's all I feel is proper give right now. Stay tuned.
Druff, Im sure you probably know this, for those that don’t, fraudsters can be sneaky with the area code as well. Prior to about 5 years ago, when I would buy an AT&T burner from a store like Walmart, when you “loaded your prepaid minutes”, it would ping the nearest tower and assign you an area code from that area.
The ones I have purchased since then, let you type in any zip code and it will assign you the area code within that zip code, no need to actually be in that area. You can be in New York and have a California area code.
Now you can download these app’s where you can have multiple lines to your phone for call or text. With these, you can pick the area code as well as choose between many 7 digit numbers available in that area. These Apps are prime for scammers. Many companies are getting smarter, they have a list of these type of numbers that the Apps use and won’t allow “verification text” from them. However, the traditional burner phones do allow you to receive and send verification text…
I have talked about burner phones/Apps on this forum before. I promise, I’m not a scumbag up to no good. I have a legitimate business that requires this. 10 years ago I would purchase up to 30 burners a year. These days not so much. Also, since I’m not using the phone for Nefarious purposes, I can often reuse the phone itself - just get a hand-full of SIM cards, then you can buy a loadable or prepaid card, swap out the sim and you have a new number.