Cody Garrett was working as a police officer in South Carolina when he started posting short videos to his Youtube channel. His videos consisted of commentary regarding policing and police activities. As his channel grew in subscribers, so did the conflict between his real job and his social media persona - Donut Operator.
I have been following “Donut” since early in his channel and I remember the video where he explained why he had to leave policing to pursue social media and Youtube full-time. He accurately explained that he couldn’t honestly discuss policing, and the public’s response to it, and keep his job as a police officer. Honest criticism and praise of the police would find him in contention with both sides of the debate. Something had to give and he saw more upside to being a social media personality than a patrol grunt working overnights and holidays. It turned out to be a smart move.
The more I write and develop my voice, the more I find myself in the same position as Cody. I have a folder of writings that I can never publish while working as a law enforcement officer. The targets range from policing reform groups, to police managers, to politicians, to those in ivory towers of academia. Upsetting the apple cart and speaking the truth to power tends to get you canceled. So I write for mental therapy and file it away in a dark folder on my Mac titled “Someday”.
I just completed a pithy commentary of a Department of Justice program targeting money mules that would certainly not be well accepted by those inside the department. I titled it “The <agency> break their arms patting themselves on the back for not fixing the problem”.
TWB readers would love it. Unfortunately, I still have to get two kids through college so you’ll never see it. At least not until I retire, or Shiba Inu coin goes to the moon, because I’m too ugly for Youtube.
Call it what it is
I don’t know who wrote this article since the author is listed as “editor” but it’s a hard hitting and spot-on piece about the lengths we go to candy-coat crime committed by business entities. Corporations break the law and should be held accountable, not just with criminal prosecutions, but also in connotation. It is Corporate Crime. Let us start calling it that. https://www.corporatecrimereporter.com/news/200/call-corporate-crime-corporate-crime/
Look Matt’s not crazy
While I’m happy for the validation of my continuous ranting, the numbers noted here are way off due to insufficient reporting. The FTC is reporting victims have lost $148 million dollars to gift card scams - just in the first nine months of the year. The data shows the agency took 40,000 reports which pales in comparison to the true amount of victimization. Any publicity is good publicity when it comes to highlighting criminal schemes so I’ll take it as a positive start. https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2021/12/ftc-data-show-major-increase-gift-cards-scam-payment-method
Rethinking AML tactics but missing the point
It is odd that this article is published on a website devoted to the hard sciences but research is research I guess. Three professors at the University of Wyoming are taking a scientific approach to anti-money laundering enforcement. From the article, “their findings suggest concentrating law enforcement efforts at the point of sale is more effective to reduce illegal market activity than seizing laundered profits.”. Ahhhh fine sirs, law enforcement is government and seizing the ill-gotten profits, to further fund government, is exactly the point. https://phys.org/news/2021-12-economists-current-anti-money-laundering.html
Tis the season…
Sheriff deputies in York County, South Carolina arrested a couple for stealing mail directly from the residential mail boxes. The investigators have identified over 2000 victims so far. Holiday season is gift giving seasons and all those envelopes are stuffed with cash, checks, and gift cards. It’s a good reminder to be alert and recognize suspicious persons in your neighborhood this time of year. They’re not just stealing packages of the front porch! https://www.yorkcountysheriff.com/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=255
The Rest…
Laundering money through art. Of course they are. And finally some are starting to talk about it. Of course, in this situation it seems to be more a case of bribery than money laundering. https://nypost.com/2021/12/06/wh-flags-art-market-as-money-laundering-haven-amid-hunter-biden-shows/
Putin is no longer a fan of Tor. https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2021/12/tor-is-under-threat-from-russian-censorship-and-sybil-attacks/
Dog fraud turns to straight dog-napping. Someone broke into a kennel and stole three bulldogs worth $17,000. https://www.pennlive.com/crime/2021/12/bulldogs-worth-17k-stolen-in-central-pa-burglary.html
This lady kept her dead mother’s corpse in the house for at least six months to keep collecting the social security check. https://nationalinterest.org/blog/politics/woman-accused-keeping-mother%E2%80%99s-corpse-order-collect-social-security-197860
Crime-as-a-Service allows anyone to be a cyber-criminal. Do you have an Internet connection and a mobile phone? Congrats you’re on the team. Meanwhile businesses are struggling to defend themselves. https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/opinions/crime-as-a-service-leveling-up/
For those of you on the Blue Side: The best log4shell / log4j reference I’ve seen yet.
https://www.techsolvency.com/story-so-far/cve-2021-44228-log4j-log4shell/
Cool Tools
Google is still the best general OSINT tool. Use it better - https://ahrefs.com/blog/google-advanced-search-operators/
Cool Job
Director of Fraud Mitigation - Onbe
“YOU DON’T HAVE TO SHOW UP TO EVERY ARGUMENT YOU’RE INVITED TO.” - someone smarter than me.
Homophones are hard
Whit - the smallest piece possible, a bit piece
Wit - the ability to say or write things that are clever and funny
Thank you for opening this weeks email. Please consider sharing with others to help us grow and I’ll see you next Tuesday.
Matt