Why Can’t Police Arrest Scammers? Treaties Are The Reason!

The Process Of Arresting Scammers or Criminals Outside Of Your Country Is Complicated

Let’s Start With A Few Basic Facts About Arresting Scammers

Some scammers are local, and these are treated as local criminals. Regardless of which country you live in, local criminals are investigated and arrested all the time!

Almost every local police department has a “Bunko Squad” or Fraud Department to investigate and apprehend con artists, fraudsters, and scammers in your local communities or country. Cops do a good job (generally) of keeping local scams under control.

However, 95% (or more) of all online scams originate from another country, and this is where it gets VERY tricky.

When you want to arrest scammers or a criminal in another country and then return them to your country for trial this has to be done by an “Extradition” treaty, and even then the local courts have to agree with the extradition. As we have seen in the case of the African countries, they are not very willing to extradite scammers to stand trial in another country.

Of course, the victim could go to an African country and file criminal complaints against the scammer, but this is rarely effective and is often physically dangerous.

1. It is extremely dangerous to the victim physically.
2. The local police are totally corrupt and will ignore the victim.

The victim can bribe the local police but this can either result in the loss of more of their money or have them be arrested for bribery. Either way, the victim loses even more.

Let’s Talk About Arresting Scammers & Extradition

Extradition is the act by one jurisdiction of delivering a person who has been accused of committing a crime in another jurisdiction or has been convicted of a crime in that other jurisdiction – into the custody of a law enforcement agency of that other jurisdiction. (When we say “jurisdiction,” think “country”)

It is a cooperative law enforcement process between the two countries and depends on the arrangements made between them. This means that they have to have a “TREATY” in place for this to happen, and that treaty needs to include the specific types of crimes covered.

If a country does not have an extradition treaty in place then criminals are completely safe. For example, Costa Rica does NOT have an extradition treaty with most other countries – so it is a criminal haven.

Besides the legal aspects of the process, extradition also involves the physical transfer of custody of the person being extradited to the legal authority of the requesting country. It is not just about Arresting Scammers!

Through the extradition process, one country typically makes a formal request to another country where they believe the criminal is living or hiding. If the criminal (fugitive) is found within the territory of the other country, then the requesting country may ask that they arrest the fugitive and subject him or her to its extradition process. The extradition procedures depend on the law and practice of the country where the criminal is found.

This involves a court process usually, and it is not certain that their local courts will even agree with a treaty, It is totally voluntary.

Between countries, extradition is normally regulated by treaties. Where extradition is compelled by laws, such as among countries, the concept may be known more generally as rendition.

Proper Identity

One of the first problems with Arresting Scammers is determining the proper identity of a scammer. Most victims do not know the real identity of a scammer. They have names and sometimes more information, but that is just the false information the victim was given, and usually, more investigation is needed to either confirm the identity of the scammer or discover their real identity.

Just because the victim has the name of someone picking up money does not mean that it is a scammer or even a real person. Scammers have “Moles” at the money transfer agencies, and it is up to the agent to confirm identity or not. The entire money transfer system in Africa is corrupted by scammers.

Confirming A Crime Suitable For Extradition

In many African countries scamming is really not much of a crime. After all, the victim voluntarily sent their money to a scammer. They really don’t view this as a crime or not a serious crime. So they rarely are interested in arresting scammers.

Only when U.S. or European Law Enforcement goes directly to the country involved can they obtain the cooperation of the local African country. Unfortunately, this is both expensive and very time-consuming, and law enforcement rarely will take these steps.

Summary

The result is that a critical lack of resources and a weak system of treaties allow most scammers to get away with it. But the great news is that scammers are being arrested:

• 2019 : 555,000+ scammers arrested worldwide*

• 2020 : 1,300,000+ scammers arrested worldwide*

• 2021 :  Estimated to be over 1,000,000+ scammer arrests*

• 2022 : Estimated to be over 900,000+ scammers arrested*

* These are estimates and they may change as more countries report in. Go to AgainstScams.org for more statistics.

Some countries have moved forward seriously in their commitment to Arresting Scammers:

• The United States is now arresting dozens of scammers a week (on average)
• The EU & Europol is aggressively arresting hundreds of scammers at a time
• Nigeria’s EFCC is going to reach record levels of arrests by the end of 2021
• The EFCC has started to share information that results in arrests in the Ivory Coast, Senegal, Togo, and Benin.
• Countries around the world are taking cybercrime seriously now!
• China is the world leader in scammer arrests for scammers operating inside the PRC

Only by changing these treaties will we be able to more effectively enforce our laws against global online crime. Changing treaties is a complicated process and requires the approval of both countries involved. However, it is possible, and by pressuring politicians this process can be moved forward.

Reporting

However, it is important to always report scammers, since this alerts other potential victims AND allows law enforcement to place them on “Watch Lists”. These watch lists allow for the arrest of the scammer when they cross an international border! So please always report scammers on this website or on www.Anyscam.com and to your local law enforcement.