Good luck if you can find the actual perpetrator. If you do you are lucky, and they are amateurs, but sometimes you will get lucky.
A vast majority of times the perpetrators will play victims against each other; sometimes dozens of victims before the money will reach its final destination, usually to an over seas account.
To give a recent example, I received a report of an individual who had sold a vehicle on Craig’s list. The subject they sold the vehicle too, stated he was going to send a friend up to get the vehicle, but he sent a check to the sellers to hold until his friend got there, the check came from another party in another state. Sellers contact the bank to verify it is good, and bank clears the check, but no deposit is made.
Back story on the check:
The check came from another victim who thought he was buying a camper, set up by the original perpetrator; hence why the check cleared initially when they called the bank. Sender of the check gets wise, and stops payment before check is cashed.
Now vehicle owners are holding a worthless check, but are none the wiser because the bank cleared it when they first got it.
Now original perpetrator, states his daughter has cancer, and he is really sorry, but he will have to back out of the vehicle sale. He now requests they send him x amount of money, but they can keep $1000.00 dollars for their trouble. He gives them the name and address of another friend in another state to send the money.
Vehicle owners send the money and by the time they realize they have been scammed the money is gone.
Next phase:
Take the name and address of where the money was sent, run through a search engine, and discover victim number 3.
I contact victim number 3, and discover a low functioning male in his early thirties, who is under the care of his grandmother. Victim number 3 tells me, yes a check showed up at my house, it was for my fiancé.
A quick interview reveals, he has not yet met his fiancé, but they are set to get married as soon as she gets there. All he had to do was receive the check from her friend, deposit it into his account, and wire the money to her account in London where she was stuck.
Clear as mud.
I’m not trying to put a damper on anything, but there is a good chance law enforcement will just end up chasing their own tails.
I could be wrong though, it’s happened before; ask my wife.