FBI Investigates Cell Phone Purchase ($60,000 worth of prepaid cell phones)

NBC.com - Dallas/Fort Worth ^ | October 31, 2005 | NBC5

[LurkedLongEnough]

DALLAS -- A Target store employee alerted Dallas police to a recent extraordinary cellular telephone equipment purchase. A man bought $60,000 worth of hard-to-trace prepaid cell phones.

The size of the purchase raised suspicions among police investigators, who turned over the case to the FBI.

"Those notifications are taken seriously," former FBI agent Danny Defenbaugh said. "Anytime a business or private citizen sees that type of activity, they need to go the extra step and notify law enforcement."

The large purchase caused investigators to look toward possible homeland security threats. 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.

Officials with the FBI and Target declined to comment on the case other than to say they were pleased that the clerk reported the purchase.

[LurkedLongEnough]

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.

[pissant]

I agree they NEED to invetigate and bust his balls if need be. But why this is in the media is beyond me.

[caisson71]

The average American citizen IS our ultimate defense.

[MarkeyD]

They have to have him on store video.

[BenLurkin]

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.

[Hank Rearden]

The average American citizen IS our ultimate defense.

Except this guy.

[adamsjas]

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.

[AmericanChef]

I'm not sure if actually giving him the phones was a good idea, though.

[Sender]

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.

[Lloyd227]

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.

[nuffsenuff]

They let him walk out of the store?

[Casekirchen]

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

[Jim Noble]

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.

[ARealMothersSonForever]

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.....

[Knute]

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.

[oceanview]

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.

[Emmett McCarthy]

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.

[cynwoody]

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.

[pissant]

good observations.