Concerned about my wife's safety any agents or investigators w/experience who can help?

Here's the situation:

1. We had a number of extra mobile phones we didn't need.
2. While living in an EU country, my wife sold one of the phones through a classified ad to a middle eastern man named Mohammed and accidentally left her US SIM card in it.
3. Mohammed, or someone, (perp) racked up $2000 of phone calls, primarily to/from Egypt and other ME countries, roaming on the US SIM card.
4. The perp also accessed her contact list and private messages.
5. Since she has been in the same EU country for over a month, she did not notice the missing SIM card until yesterday.
6. She called Mohammed (had his phone number from previous sale) and he said that he knew who had the phone, but that to help her, he would need receipts. She suggested she e-mail them to him, but he said he would have to meet her.
7. She called the local police who said that they would need to positively ID him to do anything, which would mean she would have to meet him, with them (in uniform).
8. She has a meeting setup with him tomorrow.

I am concerned for her safety, and I do not believe we will get the money back. I have suggested that she not show up to the meeting and tell the police she is done. They do not seem to care much about pursuing this, and they certainly don't seem to have thought through any reasonable apprehension plan. Mohammed has her current EU mobile phone number and the other information he took. We do not know if he has our address in that country or in the US.

Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions that might be helpful? Thanks in advance.

Call the local U.S. Embassy.

They may make a reccomendation.

Well, I'll respond. You are in a pickle. I would suggest you do what you can to clear your wife by being straight forward and sincere with the challenges you face tomorrow. She needs your support more now than ever. No lie this is a biggie, but together you can stand strong and calm and you will be just fine.
Get some rest and don't be in the head so much tonight. She will feel your confidence and trust and it will help you both. Be sure to let us know how it all works out as I am sure it will.

reply to post by antar


Makeitso and Antar,
Thank you both. I'm pretty tired so I'll sleep soon, but I'll check back in the morning to see if anyone has any additional ideas. I'm still leaning towards just telling her to not show up to the meeting and hope that he doesn't have any information that could lead him to her. I really don't think we're getting any money back, and I have no confidence that the police will do anything besides maybe put her in danger. If anyone has any other thoughts or ideas, I'd really appreciate them also.

[edit on 20-2-2008 by lifestudent]

Call the phone company and tell them to shut down the SIM card. Explain why, the charges might be removed if you can prove it was not your wife who made them. If she has a receipt from the sale... that would be even better.

Thanks YankeeRose. We have cancelled the SIM card, but we don't have a receipt/bill of sale. She is going to proceed with the meeting. A friend in Europe has said he would go with her if she wants, and the police have turned it over to the criminal investigative branch, which seems to have more experience. They will somehow accompany her in plain clothes (still coordinating), which was not part of the plan before.

Even if we don't get the money, she doesn't want to let him get away with it. I am concerned, but she has decided to proceed, which I respect. I'd still be interested in any more ideas people have, the meeting is in a few hours. Thanks.

I was just wondering if you had an update! Did she meet w/ the guy today?

Originally posted by greeneyedleo
I was just wondering if you had an update! Did she meet w/ the guy today?

An incredible update, actually.

She met with him and the police took him in. She waited at the police station for a while as he was questioned. There was a fair amount of arguing, and while he was still being questioned, she went home. The police came to the conclusion that they had no proof he was the one who made the calls. They let him go.

After being let go, he called her again. He said that he really was trying to help and that if she could give him the list of phone numbers that were called, he could still try to get the money back. She did not get back to him.

Then, an amazing thing happened. He called again and offered to meet her at the police station. She went there (this was while I was sleeping), and he paid her $2000. He said that he understood why she had called the police. He said that his beliefs would not let him live with himself knowing that he had put another person through that. He also said that he had sold the phone almost immediately after buying it and did not know that it had the SIM card in it. He explained that the person who bought it had stolen the phone calls and that (this is where I'm a little unclear) someone related to the person paid the money because they were ashamed of what the other person had done.

It's definitely a strange story, but it seems like out of fear, we may have misjudged Mohammed. I believe it's understandable, and I would have never expected this outcome. I don't consider it out of the realm of possibility that there's more to the story, but that is what happened.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

[edit on 23-2-2008 by lifestudent]

reply to post by lifestudent


Wow, I don't know what to say. Everyone I know who makes a dumb move like that always has to pay the evil phone corporations. That was pretty gutsy to set the guy up with police, had it really been dangerous the 2k wouldn't have been worth it. Lesson learned without too much damage - better do a couple good deeds.

The end is so good, it feels somewhat uncomfortable. Maybe Mr. M. was trying to make the situation go away for other reasons - such as he doesn't want anyone knowing about the phone calls. Since, you own the account you have access to all his contacts & phone records - a catch 22 diffused but not necessarily over since you both have each others records.

Spooky man - selling old stuff to people especially computerized stuff is dangerous. Used to be you didn't want some stranger coming over to look at your old couch without a friend over, now you have to worry about electronic stalkers & identity thieves too.

Now - think about how you would feel if something had happened to your wife. You would have to live with it the rest of your life. Don't ever let anything like that happen again - you've been given a second chance. Money don't mean crap if you don't have some one to share it with. Peace.



[edit on 23-2-2008 by verylowfrequency]

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Lifestudent ,

I am so happy this turned out well for you. Thank you for the update. I hope it's the last you ever hear of this incident.

But... lol because I'm a little paranoid. I would be remiss if I did not tell you to please be a bit more careful going about your everyday routines. The way everything was settled sounds a little fishy to me. We have no idea just exactly what may have been going on here, or why it was settled so quickly. Sounds to me like someone was told to clean it up and fast! Why? Perhaps honor... if so I am very impressed with the man who took responsibility. I would have done the same thing as I would never want to injure another just so I could make a few fast bucks. But on the other hand.... something just doesn't sound right.

Please keep your guard up, and be aware of your surroundings for a few months. Just because your paranoid doesn't mean someone isn't watching you.

Bright blessings to you both.

VeryLowFrequency and YankeeRose

Thanks for the thoughts.

Both of your perspectives are right in line with where I've been in my thinking.

In fact, when she made the decision to proceed with the police, it actually wasn't about money. It was about my wife needing to stand up for what she felt was right. VLF, as you said, $2000 is nothing compared to risk of harm to my wife or children. My advice to her was "drop it and let it go away". When she said she was going to setup the meeting, I understood that it was one of those times where if I really pushed it, she would have capitulated, but always feel like she was weak at a time when she should have been strong.

Since the police who ultimately went with her were more senior than the first, I decided to tell her my opinion and respect hers. At the same time, I could not even consider the possibility that he was telling the truth, and neither of us felt at all that we were getting the money back. My perspective of the best case outcome was that he got locked up so she/we had the least chance of repercussion. I was very concerned for her and my family, hence the reason for my first post and request for ideas.

At this point, I am with both of you on the feeling that it's odd, but after talking with my wife, I think there's at least a better than 70% chance that Mohammed is actually a VERY stand-up guy. I also felt before that there might be something important about the list of numbers, as he was saying he needed them to help get the money back. After he decided to meet her at the police station, he no longer seemed to care about the list, which doesn't prove, but could be explained if he was decent and didn't need it any longer to get the money back.

Overall, this is a very unusual experience, IMO, that opens up a huge possibility to me that I/we really misjudged this guy. Like I said, its understandable. Like both of you said, it doesn't yet sit 100% with me, but I never met him in person either. In spite of my reservations, all logical consideration leads me to the possibility that he could be an incredibly ethical/moral guy, and we rushed to judgment because we were unwilling to consider such a possibility.

As far as whether or not I would do the same thing... I am certain I would try to get the money back from someone I sold it to if the victim was someone I bought it from. I would not expect to actually get it back, and I don't know if I would have gone as far as he did. I half wonder if he didn't eventually cover it himself. I now feel that I should take his example (whether there's something else going on or not) and "pay it forward".

I also understand the "watch our backs" advice. I will definitely do so, but I have the feeling in this case that we likely have very little to worry about. I have even considered asking him out to dinner with us next time we're both there. Based on my past experience, I believe that most people start out life as good, but I have lost a lot of faith in humanity. I have tried to live by the Golden Rule and exhibit the traits I'd want to see from others (not always been successful in doing so). The chance that, in this case, everything is as it seems, really means something to me.

[edit on 23-2-2008 by lifestudent]