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FBI Investigates Cell Phone Purchase ($60,000 worth of prepaid cell phones)
NBC.com - Dallas/Fort Worth ^
| October 31, 2005
| NBC5
Posted on 11/04/2005 2:58:25 PM PST by LurkedLongEnough
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Good thing the clerk was not a librarian.
Anecdotal similar news: After 9/11, a "suspicious" man also had been looking for "many" walkie-talkies at Radio Shack, but the one store didn't have "enough" in stock so the same guy purchased intercommunicatable w-t's at multiple stores. Connect the dots.
To: LurkedLongEnough
I agree they NEED to invetigate and bust his balls if need be. But why this is in the media is beyond me.
2
posted on
11/04/2005 3:00:20 PM PST
by
pissant
To: LurkedLongEnough
The average American citizen IS our ultimate defense.
3
posted on
11/04/2005 3:00:43 PM PST
by
caisson71
Comment #4 Removed by Moderator
To: LurkedLongEnough
They have to have him on store video.
5
posted on
11/04/2005 3:02:15 PM PST
by
MarkeyD
(Cindy - The new 'C' word! I really, really loathe liberals.)
To: LurkedLongEnough
This guy paid $60,0000 cash?
If nothing else it would be a clever idea to launder the money. Buy phones and re-sell them for "clean" cash.
6
posted on
11/04/2005 3:03:13 PM PST
by
BenLurkin
(O beautiful for patriot dream - that sees beyond the years)
To: caisson71
The average American citizen IS our ultimate defense.
Except this guy.
7
posted on
11/04/2005 3:03:34 PM PST
by
Hank Rearden
(Never allow anyone who could only get a government job attempt to tell you how to run your life.)
To: LurkedLongEnough
This guy would have to be really stupid to buy that many cell phones for nefarious purposes. He would have to know it would set off alarm bells.
The thing you need to worry about is the Middle Easterns male between 18 and 45 who buys two phones, pays cash, and hurries out the door.
With two you can trigger your bomb remotely and unutterably.
How many phones constitutes 60 thousand dollars worth?
Did he get two or five phones and pay with a credit card because half his family is back home and international calls are really expensive, or did he buy a hundred phones for his delivery truck drivers and pay with a company check?
I'm glad the FBI is looking into this, but it seems too obvious to me.
8
posted on
11/04/2005 3:12:20 PM PST
by
adamsjas
To: LurkedLongEnough
I'm not sure if actually giving him the phones was a good idea, though.
To: LurkedLongEnough
Actually that particular scenario happens all the time. After hurricane Katrina, we sold hundreds of walkie-talkies to everyone from animal rescuers to relief workers.
$60K worth of cell phones however is about 600-1200 phones, this is not only suspicious but at Radio Shack we won't sell more than 5 handsets to anyone. I suspect none of the cell phone providers would allow such a mass sale.
10
posted on
11/04/2005 3:15:28 PM PST
by
Sender
(Team Infidel USA)
To: AmericanChef
Exact same thing happens at Wal-Mart every day. The local store where my wife works had to put a limit of 5 phones per customer just to keep them in stock. People started showing up in groups then and buying 5 for each person in the group to get around the limit...
It's weird I know, but I do suspect this is a common re-selling strategy.
11
posted on
11/04/2005 3:16:43 PM PST
by
Lloyd227
To: LurkedLongEnough
They let him walk out of the store?
12
posted on
11/04/2005 3:16:57 PM PST
by
nuffsenuff
(Don't get stuck on Stupid - General Russ Honore Sept 21, 2005)
To: LurkedLongEnough
What we need immediately is a 5 day waiting (cooling off) period before the purchase of any cell phone, a national database run by the FBI to make sure that all cell phone buyers are ok, and cell phone registration.
Hey, if controlling cell phones saves just one life, its worth it.
\sarc
13
posted on
11/04/2005 3:19:31 PM PST
by
Casekirchen
(If allah is really another name for the Judeo-Christian God, why do the islamics pray to a rock?)
To: LurkedLongEnough
On two occasions during October, a man of Middle Eastern descent bought $30,000 worth of prepaid cell phones. Security experts told NBC 5 that the FBI would work to identify the man and determine why he would buy the hard-to-trace phones send him to a secret CIA prison and torture him until he tells everything.
14
posted on
11/04/2005 3:19:32 PM PST
by
Jim Noble
(Non, je ne regrette rien)
To: nuffsenuff
They let him walk out of the store? Any sumb!tch big enough to walk out with $30k worth of phones, twice, would likely get a pass.....
15
posted on
11/04/2005 3:21:51 PM PST
by
ARealMothersSonForever
(Proud to be named as a member of the Radical Right Wing. Vast Right Wing got old.)
To: LurkedLongEnough
Something doesn't "smell" right here. I find it difficult to buy the premise that a single Target store had $60,000 in inventory tied up in a a single SKU category Prepaid Cell Phones. With Return on Investment a key indicator of wise retail management, NO store would have that quantity in stock. This was a special order and should have raised eyebrows before the transaction was executed.
16
posted on
11/04/2005 3:23:33 PM PST
by
Knute
(W- Yep, He's STILL the President!)
To: LurkedLongEnough
I've been saying for a while on these terror threads - these need to be made illegal. drug dealers use them, the terror possibility, no traceability, etc.
To: pissant
I agree that this should not be made public. It just announces to the bad guys that someone's on to them. This week a family emergency required me to fly and, not knowing when I'd be coming back, I bought one-way tickets one at a time over a 2 day period. Well, if you have a one-way ticket, TSA gives you "special screening". I said, "Don't you think the bad guys will just make sure they buy round-trip tickets?". When you "telegraph" your punches like that, you're gonna lose the fight.
To: adamsjas
How many phones constitutes 60 thousand dollars worth? Well, a quick look at Target's web site reveals a nifty Virgin Mobile model for 89.99. So, about 666?
But you are quite right. This story is alarmist nonsense. You only need two to trigger a bomb remotely, and a careful terrorist would buy them one at a time at different stores.
It would be interesting to know what use the buyer had in mind, however. I doubt it was reselling on Ebay. If it costs $90 at Target, I'd expect to pay $45 on Ebay.
19
posted on
11/04/2005 3:30:47 PM PST
by
cynwoody
To: Emmett McCarthy
20
posted on
11/04/2005 3:32:37 PM PST
by
pissant
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