Posted on 08/08/2006 10:13:27 AM PDT by Ready2go
FBI Interested in Large Prepaid Cell Phone Purchases Posted 8/3/2006 06:06 PM
Store clerks in Grafton say people have been coming into their stores and buying several phones at a time. Story by Sarah Kapis Email | Bio
Folks at the Dollar General in Grafton say in the past few days, several men have come into the store attempting to buy large numbers of prepaid phones. However, store policy only allows a customer to buy two phones at a time, in fact, they are locked away from the general public.
The clerks say after they were in the Dollar General, the men went to the Grafton Walmart to try to purchase more of the phones.
Grafton police found one man during a traffic stop. They say he had hundreds of prepaid phones in his car.
There is no word on what the men planned to do with the phones or why they bought so many, but the incident was later turned over to the FBI for an investigation.
The owner of Country Roads Communications says the allure of the prepaid phones is the freedom that come with them. However, the FBI is not ready to say that the phones are being used for illegal or criminal purposes.
"Prepaids are hard to track, so they're used alot for illegal operations," said Vince Cafazza.
"We are aware that there are a number of purchases throughout the state. Large purchases of trac phones. We are interested in the purchases because they are unusual," said Dan Caldwell, FBI special agent. "We also understand that a number of the larger stores in the area are aware of the purchases. We are not aware of any criminal activity associated with the purchases at this point."
Caldwell says if you notice someone trying to buy large quantities of these type of phones, you can contact your local police or the FBI.
That is a fact. Howard forums has all the details.
It is illegal to purchase cell phones in quantity?
Guy looks more like Russian mob type.
What everyone seems to be overlooking is operational security.
If these were going to be used as triggers don't you think they would buy 1-3 at a time over a time period & don't you think they would have the people in each city/region buy their own cell phones?
ROFL, a little disconnect between 100 sticks of dynamite and a cell phone, or even 100 of them.
Mine too.
We're good little greedy capitalists!
You clearly misunderstood my comment, which was in response to the idea that a "big city guy" would travel to Grafton, WV to stock up on pre-paid cell phones for his big city corner business.
From the perspective of any person from a big city, Grafton, WV really is in the middle of nowhere -- there are no big cities close to there. (BTW, "dog-bottom nowhere" is just my way to emphasize remoteness -- no perjorative intended.)
Perhaps his very lucidity should give you reason to inspect your own opinions on this matter.
Time to outlaw prepaid phones. Can't have that kind of crazy freedom if we hope to stay free from terror.
And also a little disconnect between war time and peace time. We are at war.
Thanks, I did, as I did with your post for the same reason. I still respectfully disagree with you both.
Why bother with all that trouble when most Americans don't care that we are at war?
"Erosion of freedoms in the USA sickens me. I am surprised to see you, one of the most lucid posters on FR, as a supporter."
You shouldn't be surprised. I am a rational man. I think about things. What I cannot figure out is why someone would buy 100 prepaid cell phones at retail prices. Obviously, there's no profit to be made from them, since you can buy the things everywhere for the same low price.
There may be folks who need 100 prepaid cell phones, but they are in business, and can arrange to buy them wholesale.
Ten prepaid cell phones makes some sense. 100 doesn't.
That's the suspicious part. Also, knowing that cell phones are used by terrorists for many purposes, including fairly secure communications and even for detonating explosives, makes me even more suspicious.
It's possible that someone doing this has good intentions. It's more likely that he or she does not have good intentions.
Reason dictates that such a purchase is suspicious and that it may well indicate a crime in the making. Therefore, I conclude that I should notify law enforcement of this.
It's the same reason I would call the cops if a group of 10 or 12 people were walking down my street at night slowly, looking at people's houses. Yes, what they are doing is quite legal. It's also quite suspicious. So, I'd call the cops and report that suspicious activity. They'd respond by sending a unit out to check these people out.
You have the right to buy 100 phones, or 1000, if you like. No question about it. I have the right to consider that a suspicious thing and to reason that there may be a crime in the making.
I'll leave it to others to make the actual determination, after investigating.
You see...it's not A "friggin cell phone." It's 100 cell phones. You tell me a legitimate reason to buy 100 of them at retail in a small town Walmart.
Hell, no! You'd beat me to a pulp!
Seriously, though -- this sort of activity is suspicious, and in the runup to Iran's Aug. 22 deadline I'd say it's far better to be safe than sorry in cases like this.
The last thing we need is another Jamie Gorelick-style tap dance explaining why the FBI couldn't get the word out about the bad guys.
"OK, citizens, hand me your papers as you enter the railroad car for Auschwitz, where you will recieve a cleansing shower."
Yep, all for the common good, eh?
The same Alltel (among others) cell phones sold at Walmart for $49.95 (as pre-paid cell phones) are sold at Verizon's retail stores for $149.95. Plenty of people buy the $149.95 version from Verizon not knowing that they can convert the cheapo $49.95 version to a Verizon model by poking in a few numbers in the set-up. A few people make a lot of money converting these for people who are on a contract and have lost or have had stolen their original cell-phone and go to a Verizon retail store for replacement. Buy it at Walmart for $49.95 --> convert it, then sell it to one of those people for $75.00 --> profit. You make $50, and the person purchasing the phone saves $75 over buying it from Verizon.
I see that you disagree. I take issue with your claim that you've done so respectfully. Indeed, your responses on this thread are pretty unhinged -- they give no indication that you've considered the other side of the issue at all.
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