Modus Operandi (14 page)

Electronic Forgery

Electronic forgery is becoming commonplace. Money can be fraudulently transferred among bank accounts using computers. This is accomplished either by a bank employee or over telephone lines via a personal computer and modem. Some computer experts, known as hackers, attempt to gain entry into business accounts through their technical abilities. These hackers can even shield themselves from apprehension by using a network of nontraceable telephone extensions. Credit card numbers can also be obtained using computers. Credit card agencies which perform audits also aid the criminal in his endeavors, as an unscrupulous auditor will sell card numbers.

Art Forgery

When someone creates a replica of a piece of art, and then sells it claiming it is the original, he is committing forgery. The art of the masters has been forged with such skill that even the copies have been mistaken for authentic pieces and sold as originals.

To forge art, the forger must be a skilled artist himself. If it is a painting that is going to be forged, the forger must study the style of painting including brushstrokes, the way paints are made, the colors used, and even the way the canvas is prepared. The forgery must then be aged. One method to age a painting is to place it in an oven. Another method is to drill small holes into wood art to give the appearance of worm holes. Some forgers will even acquire a canvas dating back to the original period and then create their forgery by scraping off the original painting and painting the forgery on top.

Today, forged art items, especially rare pieces dating back to the seventeenth and eighteenth century or earlier, are easy to detect. Before the advances of modern laboratory analysis, an expert would have to examine the artwork and give his opinion as to whether or not the article was genuine. Modern laboratory analysis uses microscopes, X-rays, infrared, ultraviolet and even chemical analysis to detect the forger's handiwork. With an X-ray, you can look under the first layer of paint to see if there were previous paintings underneath. The use of infrared can reveal a signature that has been painted over by a forger who changed the signature to that of a famous artist.

By removing very small pieces of the paint found on the painting and analyzing those fragments, we can determine whether the pigments used were available during the period when the painting would have been completed. Through radio-carbon dating, organic material such as the wood used to construct the frame or the sculpture itself, can be dated. Also any paper or inks used to create the artwork can easily be dated based on the material content and the methods used to manufacture them.

Other Collectibles

Antique furniture, mechanical banks, porcelain curios, children's toys, clothing or anything else there's a market for, people are willing to forge. These items are easily aged by exposing them to moisture, harsh chemicals, rough handling, or outside elements, just to name a few. These collectibles can then be sold for high profits at swap meets, antique shows and even garage sales.

Coins.
Forging coins can be extremely profitable. Coin collectors or numismatists are willing to pay high prices to add specific coins to their collections. Ancient coins from Europe are basically a chunk of flattened silver or gold stamped by an engraved seal. These coins could later be easily changed to a higher value by restamping. Eventually the two-sided coin was manufactured.

Counterfeiters can easily duplicate two-sided coins and make a profit by limiting the amount of gold and silver

placed in them. This became so much of a problem that coin counterfeiters can receive the death penalty.

Slugs are pieces of metal the same size and weight of the coin they are representing. Slugs are made by machines that cut nonprecious metals like iron into circles. There are no other identifying marks or alterations made to them. They are sold for use at toll booths or vending machines, and sell for around a quarter of the value of an actual coin.

Stamps.
Postage stamps can also yield a profit for the talented forger. Rare or extremely old postage stamps can be reproduced and sold at extremely high prices. To perform this type of stamp forgery, simple engraving equipment is needed. A "vertical camera," which is used to reproduce high quality pictures, posters or brochures, can be used to take an extremely detailed photograph of an authentic stamp. Once a negative is produced, a counterfeit can easily be manufactured with a printing press.

Other chapters cover the modus operandi of burglars, con artists, hijackers, skyjackers and carjackers. All of these criminals take property that can be used in one of two ways:

1. For the criminal's own personal benefit, which is actually pretty rare.

2. For sale to a second party (a fence). The money from this sale is then used for the criminal's own purpose.

The problem of converting stolen goods into cash is solved by finding a suitable fence. The choice of a fence will depend on a number of factors, most importantly the character and the type of stolen goods and the underworld connections of the particular criminal. The tremendous surge of crime by addicts in recent years has brought about changes in the multi-million dollar fencing trade. Some addicts have taken to selling stolen property, such as jewelry, on the streets.

Fencing is a very difficult criminal charge to prove because the evidence against the fence is largely circumstantial. The accused fence usually has a legitimate business, and the testimony of criminals who conducted business with him is generally not viewed as credible by members of the jury. The activities of the criminal receiver or fence have to be documented in great detail.

The most amazing aspect of a fence's operation is that, despite being surrounded by the bottomfeeders of the criminal underworld, he is, except for the fact that he receives stolen property, basically crime free. He is almost never a drug, alcohol or gambling abuser, because these personal problems would severely impair his ability to run a business.

Fences and the Law

An accused fence is most often charged with receiving stolen property. The police know that the property is stolen. But how do they go about the laborious task of proving this in court? For an item to be proven stolen and for the fence to have knowledge that it is stolen, the following four elements must
always
be present:

1. The property actually fenced must, of course, be stolen. If a person down on his luck decides to trade in the sofa or television set for a ridiculously low price and the fence buys it, has the fence committed any crime? Of course not; the fence has taken advantage of someone who accepted a low price for an item that he felt was no longer important in his life. This could be a destitute person seeking quick cash or a person cleaning out his garage. There is never a crime if the property is not stolen.

2. The property, if it is stolen, must be
received
by the fence, and the property must be found in the possession of the fence. If the store or warehouse where the stolen property is found is owned and occupied only by the fence, then there is no problem proving this in a criminal investigation. However, the difficulty comes when there is more than one occupant of the warehouse or office space. When interviewing four partners in a rental warehouse where stolen property was found, the investigator will get dizzy watching the fingers the criminals point at each other.

3. The fence must have known that the property was stolen. How do you prove this knowledge if the accused won't admit to it?

• The astronomically low price the fence paid for the item. This does not, in and of itself, prove the property was stolen.

• The person it was purchased from could never have been the legitimate owner.

• It was not bought from a responsible person or from an established business.

4. The accused fence must have the intention to convert the property
to his own use.
The detective attempts to obtain any record of an effort by the fence to dispose of the property. The detective must give particular attention to any arrangements for the concealment of the stolen goods.

Police Stings

Police agencies use undercover sting operations to catch stolen goods rings. The police will set up a store front that appears to sell completely legitimate merchandise such as bicycles. The police spread rumors to their contacts throughout the neighborhood that the store is really a front for the purchase of stolen property. When this rumor circulates and criminals bring in stolen merchandise, they can be selective about the items they purchase. During a sting operation, the police will purchase many hundreds of stolen items, which are ultimately returned to their rightful owners.

Overall, these operations are highly successful in terms of arrests made and merchandise recovered. And they generally make money! For example, a sting operation buys, let's say, $300,000 to $400,000 in stolen merchandise, and another $200,000 is expended in salaries, equipment, rent and overhead. After the merchandise is recovered and sold at auction if it cannot be returned, it will net usually four to five times the actual price paid by the law enforcement agency during the operation of the undercover sting.

Types of Fences

The
lay fence
knowingly buys stolen property for personal consumption: a pickpocket or petty thief who steals credit cards, checks, money or money orders and uses them himself. A lay fence buys stolen property without the intent to resell it to persons and instead intends to use it for his own benefit.

The
occasional fence
buys stolen property for resale to other persons but does so infrequently.

The
professional fence
deals in stolen merchandise as his main occupation. The difference between the occasional fence and the professional fence can be slight and is based on the frequency of accepting and reselling stolen goods. This can most easily be determined by the area in which a fence operates. City fences are often professionals while suburban fences are more often occasional fences.

The amount of merchandise a professional fence buys is affected by a number of factors: the condition of the market in general; the amount of capital he has; the difficulty of securing the merchandise, including the measures he must take to protect himself; and his contact with potential buyers. Of all these factors, fluctuations in the general market have the most impact on the fence's purchases. Many other things affect the business, such as the competence of the fence, his business sense, the attention he gives to his work, his particular industry or purchasing area, the condition of his health, his relationship with his wife, his personal and interpersonal relationships with thieves and the third party purchasers of his merchandise, and his professionalism in general.

What are the criteria that distinguish a fence from other traders in stolen goods?

First, the fence must be a dealer in stolen property: A buyer and seller with direct contact with thieves (sellers) and customers (buyers).

Second, the fence must be successful: He must buy and sell stolen property regularly and profitably and must have done so for a considerable period of time, usually many years.

Third, the fence must be public: He must acquire a reputation as a successful dealer in stolen property among police officers, thieves and others acquainted with the criminal community. He must eat, live, sleep and breath stolen property.

How to Become a Professional Fence

A fence does not become a fence overnight. Let's face it, anyone can make money buying and selling stolen property. But, a fence is a businessman, and, as such, he must have a little bit of capital, a little bit of opportunity, and willingness to do the work. As a businessman, the fence learns how to buy and sell merchandise, and where to locate his business so that it increases his capital. A fence starting out with minimal capital can overcome that hurdle with a willingness to look for opportunities to make a quick turnover. He must also have the ability to understand market conditions. There is a strong similarity between fences and entrepreneurs. For a fence to become successful he must gain as much knowledge as possible about the type of product that he is going to buy and sell.

The fence who is a generalist in all items is a ready market for those things most commonly stolen. He is much like a K mart or a WalMart of fences because his attraction is a wide variety of products. He will be willing to buy and sell most things without much notice. But, much like a regular business, he must be careful not to become overstocked.