Christmas Cyber Crime: FBI Warns Of Holiday Scams Targeting Shoppers And Donors

Broad & Liberty published my piece on Christmas cyber crime.

You can read the piece via the below link or the below text:

Paul Davis: Christmas cyber crime — FBI warns of holiday scams targeting shoppers and donors

A friend of mine called me and told me sarcastically that he received his Christmas gift early. Someone hacked his credit card.

My friend called me for advice, as he knew of my security background. I performed security work as a young sailor on an aircraft carrier during the Vietnam War, and later as a Defense Department civilian employee at the Quartermaster in South Philadelphia and the naval base in Northeast Philadelphia. And as a writer, I’ve been covering the cops and crooks for more than 30 years. I live and breathe crime.

I’ve covered organized crime, street crime, drug crime, white collar crime, espionage and terrorism extensively, but as my computer skills are somewhat limited, I referred him to the FBI. 

Robert Tripp, the Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of the FBI’s San Francisco field office, stated on November 26th that with the beginning of the holiday season, the FBI is urging the public to remain vigilant against an uptick in scams targeting holiday shoppers and charitable donors. The FBI SAC said that criminals are exploiting the busy shopping period, using increasingly sophisticated tactics to steal money and personal information.

“Criminals don’t take holidays off,” Tripp stated. “We’re seeing scammers employing aggressive and creative schemes to take advantage of the season’s generosity and high online shopping activity.”

According to the FBI, there are several prevalent scams this holiday season, including:

Online shopping scams: These include fraudulent websites or ads offering goods at unrealistic discounts, items purchased through third-party marketplaces using stolen credit cards or accounts, and puppy scams involving fake advertisements for pets, with losses reported at $5.6 million so far this year.

Charity scams: Fake charities soliciting donations through phone calls, emails, crowdfunding platforms, and social media, as well as copycat organizations mimicking legitimate charities to steal funds.

Cryptocurrency investment scams: Fraudsters posing as trusted individuals convincing victims to invest in fake cryptocurrency platforms. Losses are often substantial, with victims unable to retrieve their funds.

Gift card scams: Scammers requesting gift card purchases for alleged emergencies, work-related functions, or as payment. Also tampered cards with compromised security stickers or altered barcodes.

Social media scams: Posts offering fake gift cards or event tickets designed to steal personal information and fraudsters duplicating ticket barcodes for resale. 

To avoid becoming a victim, the FBI advises the following precautions:

Verify websites and offers: If a deal looks too good to be true, it probably is. Avoid clicking on suspicious links or ads.

Secure your accounts: Use strong, unique passwords for banking, shopping, and rewards accounts.

Inspect gift cards: Check for signs of tampering, such as misaligned packaging or scratched-off security codes.

Donate wisely: Verify charities through trusted sources and avoid those soliciting donations via gift cards or wire transfers.

Be skeptical of requests: Government agencies or law enforcement will never demand payments via phone, email, or gift cards. 

If you believe you are a victim of a scam, the FBI urges you to immediately contact your bank or financial institution and report the incident to law enforcement.

File a complaint with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.IC3.gov. 

This advice works for the Philadelphia area as well as San Francisco. Our local crooks, like across the country, have become computer-savvy and they like stealing from the comforts of home via the Internet. 

This past October was National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, and Wayne A. Jacobs, the Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia field office reminded the general public of important cyber safety tips to protect themselves all year long.

“Our daily lives occur online: from staying connected with family and friends to shopping, banking, and even working remotely,” said Jacobs. “It is critical we all take steps to navigate the Internet safely and to protect ourselves from cyber criminals lurking behind a reused password, a misleading hyperlink, or an outdated operating system.”

On November 21st, the Philadelphia FBI also warned of charity fraud this holiday season. The FBI’s Philadelphia office urges the public not to let criminals exploit one’s compassion this giving season. The FBI reminds the public of the charity fraud scams criminals deploy this time of year to cash in on your kindness.

Charity fraud schemes seek donations for organizations that do little or no work — instead your charitable donation goes to the fake charity’s creator. Scammers can contact you in many forms, from e-mails, text messages, cold calls and social media.

The FBI suggests that the below tips can ensure one’s charitable donation makes it to a legitimate cause and protect one from potential scammers:

Give to established charities or whose work you know and trust. Be aware of organizations with copycat names or names similar to reputable organizations. Be wary of new organizations that claim to aid victims of recent high-profile disasters. Give using a check or credit card. If an organization asks you to donate through cash, gift card, virtual currency, or wire transfer, it’s probably a scam.

Practice good cyber hygiene: Don’t click links or open email attachments from someone you don’t know, and manually type out links instead of clicking on them. Don’t provide any personal information in response to an e-mail, robocall, or robotext. Check the website’s address—most legitimate charity organization websites use .org, not .com.

The FBI in Philadelphia can be reached at (215) 418-4000.

The holiday season is a time to pray, give thanks, shop, gather with family and friends, eat, drink and be merry. But as my friend can attest, being ripped off by cyber crooks does not make one merry.   

Paul Davis, a Philadelphia writer and frequent contributor to Broad + Liberty, also contributes to Counterterrorism magazine and writes the “On Crime” column for the Washington Times. He can be reached at pauldavisoncrime.com. 

Note: You can read my previous Broad & Liberty pieces via the below link: 

You searched for Paul Davis - Broad + Liberty 

My Crime Fiction: 'A Christmas Crime Story'

As the Christmas season is once again upon us, I’d like to once again share my short story, A Christmas Crime Story.

The short story originally appeared in The Orchard Press Online Mystery Magazine in 2003. 

A Christmas Crime Story 

 By Paul Davis

To get in the true spirit of the Christmas holiday, some people go to church, some people go to the homes of family and friends, and some people go out and shop.

Me? I go to cop bars.

Cops are great storytellers. Perhaps it’s because they observe a segment of life that’s dramatic, tragic and funny. Perhaps it’s also because they spend so much time cruising on patrol that they’ve had the time to develop and hone their story-telling skills.

As a writer, I’ve talked to cops in station houses, in patrol cars, on the street and in bars. I’ve listened to their concerns, prideful boasts and sorrowful confessions. I’ve accompanied cops on patrol and witnessed them handle insane, intoxicated and incongruous citizens. I’ve observed how they console crime victims and their families. I’ve seen how they cope with the aftermath of criminal violence and man’s inhumanity to man. And I’ve come to appreciate their black humor, which like military humor, is a necessary safety valve to get them through the bad times.

I especially like to frequent cop bars during the holiday season and listen to cops at their very best. Some cops gather at bars after work to relax, drink and tell their stories. At this time of year, they are in very good spirits, a bit happier, a bit giddier and a bit more talkative.

Cops are generally in good spirits despite the fact that the holiday season is a busy one for them. It’s a sad commentary, but the holiday season is a peak time for crime.

Criminals certainly love the holiday season, but not for spiritual or sentimental reasons. It’s simply a time of grand opportunity. And criminals certainly don’t take a Christmas vacation. As joyous and hopeful people go out to worship, shop, dine and visit family and friends, criminal predators go out and pickpocket, shoplift, mug, steal and burglarize.

My recent columns in the local newspaper covered the annual Christmas crime spree and over the years I’ve reported on and chronicled a good number of crime stories during the holidays. I recall covering the story of a do-gooder delivering toys to needy families who was viciously assaulted and robbed. Another story concerned two kids playing with their Christmas gift, a paint ball gun, when an irate neighbor came out and shot them with a real gun.

One year while out on patrol with the cops, I came upon a young couple who had started out drinking and getting high for the holidays and ended up with one murdering the other. I once covered a story about a man with a car full of gifts who ran into a store for a pack of cigarettes. He came out to no car, no gifts and no Merry Christmas for him that year.

I’ve covered an assortment of other stories about armed robberies, thefts, purse snatchings and other crimes during the holidays as well.

Despite the crime and tragedies I’ve seen, I still love the Christmas season. I love the lights and decorations, the hustle and bustle and all of the trimmings. I love Christmas music and often sing along, although admittedly off-key.

This particular year, even more than others in the past, I was in very good spirits, having recently recovered from severe spine and nerve damage that crippled me and caused God-awful pain. I spent several months in the hospital and convalescing at home. I’ve suffered with a bad back for many years, dating back to my years as an amateur boxer and playing other sports, and as a young sailor working on a U.S. Navy tugboat and an aircraft carrier. The build-up of damage to my poor back finally took its toll and crippled me.

The doctors at the hospital ruled that I was not a surgical candidate, determining that any operation would be too risky. As I was deathly afraid of surgery, this diagnosis suited me fine. So they loaded me up with wonder drugs and placed me in physical therapy. The physical therapists, trained by Saddam Hussein’s secret police, I suspect, got me to my feet and ran me through a series of painful but ultimately beneficial exercises.

When I initially collapsed during the summer in my bedroom, I thought the searing pain in my groin and back was akin to being shot with a high-powered rifle. My wife called 911 and the Philadelphia Fire Department’s Rescue Paramedics rushed me to the hospital. Despite being in great pain, I managed to joke with the attending doctors and nurses that first night in the hospital.

This is the most painful day of my life, I told them - and I’ve been to Vietnam.

And I’m married.

And I have a teenage daughter.

I got a few laughs, which helped to lighten my pain, as I am a ham to the end. In addition to the fine medical professionals who cared for me, it was my wonderful wife and family - who were often the brunt of my jokes and asides – who helped me get through the worst time of my adult life.

Within the period of five months, I went from being bed-ridden in great pain, to twirling around the hospital halls in a wheelchair, to walking a few painful steps with a walker, to finally walking into a cop’s bar aided by a cane this fine Christmas season.

I’d recovered sufficiently enough to go out and stop by Johnny Drum’s Bar & Grill, a great little cop’s bar in South Philly. I had a lot to be thankful for this year and I visited Johnny’s place expecting to run into some lively characters that felt likewise.

I was somewhat disappointed to first encounter Sgt. John Snyder at the bar. Snyder was known as one mean cop. He was of average height, a bit stocky and had a large, pan-shaped head topped with thinning dark hair. He was an unhappy, gruff and miserable man. A cop once made the comment that Snyder "barked" rather than spoke.

I recall previous Christmas seasons when Snyder would be at the end of the bar by himself, miserly nursing his drink. In addition to being foul-tempered, Snyder was a notorious cheapskate.

"Merry Christmas, Ebenezer," I’d greet him in jest during those holiday visits. "Bah, humbug," he’d respond, playing along begrudgingly with my take on Charles Dickens’ classic holiday story, A Christmas Carol. I joked around, but in truth he was truly as mean-spirited as Dickens’s Ebenezer Scrooge.

Sgt. Snyder was widely known as "The Cop Who Busted Santa Claus." As the often-told story goes, Snyder pulled over a man dressed as Santa on Christmas Eve a few years back. Observing that the red-suited, false-bearded man was slightly inebriated, Snyder promptly placed him under arrest.

He slapped the handcuffs on the man and then had had his car towed. The tow truck took the car, despite the jolly old soul’s somewhat slurred pleas that his car – a modern-day sleigh - was full of toys destined for children at an orphanage. A crowd had gathered on the street and booed the police officer’s actions. He cursed them and threatened to lock them all up.

"And a Merry, Merry Christmas to you as well," one bystander sarcastically remarked.

More holiday-spirited police officials quickly released the man dressed as Santa. The man, outraged by his treatment, promptly called a TV station and told his story. The mayor, the police commissioner and other police brass were not happy with the lead news story run on Christmas Day. The national press picked up the story and this did not help Philadelphia’s image. "The Cop Who Busted Santa Claus" complemented an earlier story of Philadelphia sport fans pelting Santa with snowballs at a ball field.

A cop once told me that Snyder had him out walking on South Street on a very cold and windy Christmas Eve night. Snyder sternly ordered the beat cop not to hang out in a store, sucking up heat, coffee and merriment. Of course, the cop quickly escaped the bitter wind and cold and stepped into a shoe store for hot chocolate and conversation with the store owner and customers.

When the cop looked out through the store window and saw Snyder’s car roll down South Street, he stepped out and stood in front of the store, shivering. "Have you been hiding in a store?" Sgt. Snyder barked. "No, of course not" the cop told him. "Although it is really cold out here, Sarge."

Snyder placed his bare hand on the cop’s badge and found the metal to be nearly as warm as the hot chocolate in the beat cop’s stomach.

The chastened police officer told every cop, everybody, the story. "Do you believe it? The SOB chewed me out on Christmas Eve!"

There were also tales of Snyder locking up kids whose only crime was being merry. Sgt. Snyder was a one-man crime-fighting machine during the holiday season, targeting not thieves and crooks, but rather the people whose only crime was to be too joyous.

To his credit, he still talked to me despite the two negative stories I wrote about him in the past. One of my columns covered "The Cop Who Busted Santa Claus" and I wrote another that dealt with Snyder’s arrest of a honeymooning couple who were visiting the Italian Market. Their crime? The happy couple, who were married on Christmas Eve, asked the good sergeant to pose with them for a photo. He didn’t like their attitude and placed them under arrest for disorderly conduct.


But this year, as I approached him at the bar, I saw that Snyder was clearly a changed man. Over a few drinks, he told me why.

A day earlier the gruff sergeant responded to the call of a residential burglary. The victim told the responding officers that among the stolen valuables were his military awards and other mementos of the Iraq War. He told Snyder that he had just returned from Iraq as a medically discharged soldier due to combat wounds.

"Who’d steal this stuff?" he asked Snyder. "Who would steal children’s toys at Christmas?"

The burglars stole the gift-wrapped presents from under the Christmas tree. The young former soldier was saddened by the loss of his gifts to his wife and children. He said he was not insured, and he could not afford to buy new gifts. Snyder, the well-known mean, jaded and cynical cop, was truly touched by this young veteran who had just returned from war.

Snyder felt empathy for someone for the first time in many years. He thought back to his own return from Vietnam so many years before. He recalled how he then yearned to become a cop. He also yearned to marry his high school sweetheart and to have kids with her. He accomplished all that he set out to do, and now, in the midst of a crime scene, he wondered why it had all soured for him.

He marriage suffered from his penny-pinching, his chronic petty complaints, and his foul temper. His wife finally drew up the courage to throw him out of the house one night after he came home drunk, mean and violent. He would never hit her or the kids, he assured me, but he often gave the inanimate objects in the house a real good beating.

The kids, grown now and on their own, rarely spoke to him. He thought of them as he watched the veteran’s children. The sight of these kids, sitting close together on the couch, perhaps wondering if the crooks would come back, if Santa were coming now, or whether Jesus still loved them, broke Snyder’s heart.

Snyder made the rounds of the local veteran’s organizations the next day and told the story of the veteran who had been victimized. He collected a good bit of money from the veterans, from his fellow police officers and he personally donated a large sum himself. Having secured the list of stolen items from South Detectives, he ventured to the stores and purchased nearly all of the stolen items.

He also called his wife, sweet-talked her, told her he was a changed man and asked her to accompany him when, like Santa Claus, he would deliver the replacement gifts to the veteran and his family.

He was truly beaming as he told me this Christmas crime story. I had never seen him smile before.

He told me how the veteran’s kids were so happy they cried. The veteran was embarrassed, but thankful. Snyder explained that his fellow veterans and the local cops wanted to help him and his family.

By helping the veteran, Snyder recalled the true meaning of Christmas. He felt the joy of giving and of goodness and loving - even in a cruel and sometimes evil world.

"I have to run," he said, finishing up his story and beer, "I’m celebrating Christmas with my wife, my kids and all of my grandkids."

Before he left, Snyder, to everyone’s astonishment but mine, bought a round for the house.

"Merry Christmas to one and all," he barked.

© 2003 By Paul Davis 

Note: You can read my other short stories via the below link: 

Paul Davis On Crime: My Crime Fiction Stories 

My Washington Times On Crime Column On Three Books On War And Government

The Washington Times published my On Crime column on three books on war and government. 

You can read the column via the below link or the below text:

Three books on war and government - Washington Times

Back in 1991, before I became a full-time writer, I was a Defense Department civilian employee. I recall attending a Defense Department conference in Memphis, Tennessee, where I heard an Army colonel speak. The colonel was the military assistant to then-Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney.

 

In the Q&A period, I mentioned to the colonel that I was reading Bob Woodward’s new book, “The Commanders,” a nonfiction work about President George H.W. Bush, Mr. Cheney, Gen. Colin Powell, other administration leaders and the lead-up to Operation Desert Storm. I asked him if the quotes from the Defense Department leaders were accurate.

 

He replied that they were. 

 

I followed up by asking why the senior leaders spoke to Mr. Woodward for the book, as he was not considered a friend of the Bush Defense Department. He replied that Mr. Woodward’s books were popular and highly regarded, so the Defense Department leaders wanted to be included in “The Commanders” and be a part of history.

 

Bob Woodward’s new book, “War,” is similar to “The Commanders,” and recounts President Biden and his administration’s actions and conversations in the lead-up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the horrendous Hamas attack on Israel and the Jewish state’s military response.

 

The reader can be privy to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s telephone conversation with his Russian counterpart in October 2022. Mr. Austin was concerned about Russia’s potential use of a tactical nuclear bomb in its war with Ukraine.

 

“If you did this, all the restraints that we have been operating under in Ukraine would be reconsidered,” Mr. Austin told Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. “This would isolate Russia on the world stage to a degree you Russians cannot fully appreciate.”

 

“I don’t take kindly to being threatened,” Mr. Shoigu responded.

 

“Mr. Minister,” Mr. Austin replied, “I am the leader of the most powerful military in the history of the world. I don’t make threats.”

 

In another section of “War,” Mr. Biden informs his aides of his view of Russian strongman Vladimir Putin: “Putin is evil. We are dealing with the epitome of evil.”

The book is clearly biased against former President Donald Trump and favors Mr. Biden. Supporters of the president-elect, however, might still enjoy reading about the inside story of the world’s two current major military conflicts.

’Watchdogs’

 

While performing security work as a Defense Department civilian in the late 1980s and 1990s, I investigated Inspector General complaints regarding waste, fraud and abuse.

 

So it was with some interest that I read Glenn A. Fine’s “Watchdogs: Inspectors General and the Battle for Honest and Accountable Government.” 

Mr. Fine, who served as the inspector general of the Department of Justice from 2000 to 2011 and served as the acting inspector general of the Department of Defense from 2016 to 2020, writes about his time as the IG for Justice and Defense, working cases during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as FBI agent and Russian spy Robert Hanssen, and other high-profile cases.

 

Mr. Fine explains how IG oversight investigations improve government operations, deter wasteful spending and curtail corruption. He also offers several suggestions on how to improve agency inspector generals.

 

This interesting and informative book about IGs is a critical element for good government.  

 

’The Unvanquished’

 

Patrick O’Donnell’s “The Unvanquished: The Untold Story of Lincoln’s Special Forces, the Manhunt for Mosby’s Rangers, and the Shadow War That Forged America’s Special Operations” is a most interesting book about the Civil War beyond the big battles such as Gettysburg.

 

Mr. O’Donnell, a military historian specializing in special operations, offers a fascinating story about President Abraham Lincoln’s special forces, the Jessie Scouts.

 

I don’t believe anyone has covered the Jessie Scouts so extensively. The Union scouts, spies and special operators fought the Confederate army’s counterpart, John Singleton Mosby’s Rangers. The two irregular units performed raids, destroying critical supply lines, and they performed spy missions, often with the soldiers often wearing each other’s uniforms to blend in. If captured, the soldiers would be hanged as spies.

 

Mr. O’Donnell introduces us to memorable characters, such as Union Scout leader Archibald Rowand, the South’s John Mosby and other lesser-known Civil War soldiers, spies and secret operators. Mr. O’Donnell also writes about the Confederate Secret Service, and how they performed election interference in the 1864 race. He covers how the South’s Secret Service and Mosby’s Rangers planned to kidnap Lincoln before there was a plot to assassinate him.

“The Unvanquished” is a well-written, well-researched and dramatic history of the special operators from the Civil War.

 

• Paul Davis’ On Crime column covers true crime, crime fiction and thrillers.

• • •

“War”

Bob Woodward
Simon and Schuster, 448 pages, $32

“Watchdogs”

Glenn A. Fine
University of Virginia, 216 pages, $29.95

“The Unvanquished”

Patrick O’Donnell
Atlantic Monthly Press, 432 pages, $30

Happy Thanksgiving 2024

As Jennifer Harber notes in her column at the Washington Times (where my On Crime column also appears), Thanksgiving became a permanent holiday on a fixed day under President Abraham Lincoln. 

“President Lincoln declared the last Thursday in November to be regularly commemorated as Thanksgiving Day. His Thanksgiving holiday proclamation implored the nation to heal its wounds and restore peace, harmony, tranquility throughout the nation,” according to an advisory from the White House Historical Association, found at whitehousehistory.org. 

Jennifer Harper also took note of what President Ronald Reagan said in his 1981 Thanksgiving Proclamation. 

“Thanksgiving has become a day when Americans extend a helping hand to the less fortunate. Long before there was a government welfare program, this spirit of voluntary giving was ingrained in the American character. Americans have always understood that, truly, one must give in order to receive. This should be a day of giving as well as a day of thanks. 

“As we celebrate Thanksgiving in 1981, we should reflect on the full meaning of this day as we enjoy the fellowship that is so much a part of the holiday festivities. Searching our hearts, we should ask what we can do as individuals to demonstrate our gratitude to God for all He has done. Such reflection can only add to the significance of this precious day of remembrance. Let us recommit ourselves to that devotion to God and family that has played such an important role in making this a great nation, and which will be needed as a source of strength if we are to remain a great people.” 

Note: The above illustration is the late, great Norman Rockwell's Thanksgiving.  

For Those Born in The 1950s

 

A Little Humor: An American Sailor In Scotland

In 1974 I returned to the U.S. Navy after two years of broken service. I received orders to report to the USS Saugus (YTB-780), a Navy harbor tugboat assigned to the U.S. nuclear submarine base at Holy Loch, Scotland.

I had hoped to receive orders to a 7th Fleet aircraft carrier that would take me back to Southeast Asia, having previously served on the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War.  

My second choice was an aircraft carrier that was cruising the Mediterranean Sea, but the Navy issued me orders to report to a Navy tugboat in Scotland.

I found it curious that when I originally enlisted in the Navy in 1970, I had requested duty on a 50-foot Swift Boat in South Vietnam but received orders to an aircraft carrier. Then in 1974, I requested an aircraft carrier, but I received orders to a 100-foot tugboat at the U.S. nuclear submarine base at Holy Loch, Scotland.

I was not looking forward to the cold Scottish winters, but as I was Scot-Welch on my father's side, and I was interested in British culture, history and literature, I was resigned to spending the next two years in Bonnie Scotland.           

When I first arrived in Scotland, I met a man on a the Gourock-Dunoon ferry who asked me if I was a "Yank" (a name the Scots called Americans) and had I just arrived. 

“Yes,” I replied. 

“Tis a shame you didn’t come yesterday. The sun was shining.” 

"Is that a rare occurrence?” I asked with a sarcastic tone. 

“In Scotland, aye.” 

I discovered that he was right. I also discovered that for a newly arrived American, the Scottish accent can be difficult. 

Later that week, I recall sitting at a table in a pub with another American sailor and a couple of local girls. 

One of the girls was talking about a birthday present her father had given her. 

I took this as a cue for one of my old jokes. “For my 17^th birthday my father gave me a set of luggage – packed.” 

The joke got a laugh, and I ordered another round for our table. 

One of the pretty Scottish girls leaned in towards me and asked, “Can I have one of your kisses?” 

As I was about to lean over and kiss her, it thankfully dawned on me that she was referring to my luggage joke and had actually asked me for one of my "cases."  

Nearly two years later I was on a train heading to Inverness in the North of Scotland when a woman sitting across from me looked out the field of flowers we were passing and asked me if the flowers were the famous Scottish Heather. 

“Yes,” I replied. 

“I’m from Chicago,” the woman said. “Have you ever been to America?” 

“I am an American,” I said, a bit taken aback. 

A few months later, as I was nearing the end of my two-year tour in Scotland, the tugboat crew was watching a comical TV commercial for a bag of crisps (what Americans call potato chips – chips in Scotland are French Fries). 

In the commercial a befuddled Englishman goes into a Scottish pub and asks for directions to a hotel. 

The burly Scot bartender gave the Englishman the directions and the Englishman looked perplexed. 

“Ah,” the bartender said, realizing the Englishman did not understand his Scottish accent, “Allow me to translate…” 

“Shit!” I said to my fellow tug crew members. “I understood him the first time." 

It was truly time to return to America.  

Note: The top photo is of me on the Gourock-Dunoon ferry and the above photos are of me on a street in Glasgow, the Navy tugboat the USS Saugus, a photo of the Holy Loch submarine base and a departing submarine going on patrol taken from a tugboat also parting Holy Loch, and an aerial photo of the floating Holy Loch submarine base. 

You can read an earlier post on Holy Loch, Scotland via the below link: 

Paul Davis On Crime: Site One: A Look Back At The American Nuclear Submarine Base At Holy Loch, Scotland

Two Men Convicted In Pizza Shop Arson That Resulted In The Death Of Philadelphia Firefighter Lt. Sean Williamson

 The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Philadelphia released the below information:

PHILADELPHIA – United States Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero announced that Al-Ashraf Khalil, 31, and Isaam Jaghama, 31, both of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, were convicted today at trial in the June 18, 2022, arson fire at a Fairhill pizza shop, which resulted in the death of Philadelphia Fire Department Lieutenant Sean Williamson and injuries to five other first responders inside the building when it collapsed.

A federal jury convicted the defendants on one count each of conspiracy to commit malicious damage by means of fire of a building used in interstate commerce, and one count each of malicious damage by means of fire of a building used in interstate commerce. Khalil was also found guilty of one count of wire fraud, and one count of using fire in furtherance of the commission of that wire fraud.

Khalil was the owner of the property at 300 West Indiana Avenue, which housed both apartments and the pizza shop. As proven at trial, in the early hours of June 18, 2022, he and Jaghama set a fire inside the building so that Khalil could profit by filing an insurance claim related to the fire. The day of the fire, Khalil signed paperwork authorizing an insurance adjuster to file a more than $400,000 insurance claim on his behalf.

At sentencing, Khalil faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 17 years in prison and a maximum possible sentence of life in prison. Jaghama faces a mandatory minimum sentence of seven years in prison and a maximum possible sentence of life in prison.

“This fire wasn’t an accident or act of God,” said U.S. Attorney Romero. “But for these defendants, it never would have started, the building would still stand, and Lt. Williamson would still be with his family — a wholly preventable tragedy, sparked by greed. While today’s convictions can never make up for such an immeasurable loss, they ensure a measure of justice for Lt. Williamson, the Williamson family, and the dedicated first responders of the Philadelphia Fire Department. They also reinforce that anyone reckless enough to commit arson will be held to account for their actions.”

“Arson is a dangerous deadly crime,” said Eric DeGree, Special Agent in Charge of the ATF Philadelphia Field Office. “In this case two families with children had to run for their lives, four responders were buried alive, and a firefighter was killed. Bringing together the resources of the ATF Philadelphia Arson & Explosives Task Force and the ATF National Response Team, the Philadelphia Fire Department, the Philadelphia Fire Marshal’s Office, the Philadelphia Police Department, the U.S. Marshals Service, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, we brought these arsonists to justice, and they now face up to life in federal prison. ATF is committed to protecting our communities from dangerous criminals and will continue to partner to prevent and prosecute crimes like this.”

“The Philadelphia Fire Department will forever mourn the loss of Lieutenant Sean Williamson. We thank the United States Attorney and Justice Department for their diligence in bringing these men to justice. Our fervent hope is that this verdict will bring even a small amount of closure to Lt. Williamson’s family, both at home and in the PFD,” said Philadelphia Fire Commissioner Jeffrey Thompson.

This case was investigated by ATF Philadelphia and the ATF’s National Response Team, the Philadelphia Fire Department, the Philadelphia Fire Marshal’s Office, and the Philadelphia Police Department, with significant assistance provided by the Philadelphia Department of Licenses & Inspections. Special thanks are given to the United States Marshals Service for their assistance in the international apprehension of Al-Ashraf Khalil. 

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Amanda R. Reinitz and Michael Miller.

Drug Addicts Are More To Be Pitied Than Censured

Broad & Liberty published my piece on drug addicts.

You can read the piece via the below link or the below text:

Paul Davis: Drug addicts are more to be pitied than censured

While recently speaking to a friend, a retired Philadelphia detective who supported President Trump in the election, he repeated something that struck a chord with me. 

The detective, a genuine tough guy who worked the streets of Kensington for a good part of his career, had taken me on a couple of “ride-alongs” through Kensington’s open-air drug market. 

“The drug addicts are lost souls due to their addiction, and although I think the police should crack down on the street-gang drug dealers, the addicts should be treated as victims,” the retired detective told me. “They are, after all, someone’s father, mother, sister, son or daughter.” 

I agreed. Damn the drug dealers, pity the drug users. I thought of the William B. Gray poem, She is More to Pitied Than Censured. 

She is more to be pitied than censured,
She is more to be helped than despised,
She is only a lassie who ventured
On life’s stormy path ill-advised.
Do not scorn her with words fierce and bitter,
Do not laugh at her shame and downfall;
For a moment just stop and consider
That a man was the cause of it all.

I also thought back to the late 1960s and early 1970’s when heroin swept through South Philly and the country like an epidemic. I saw so many young men and some young women fall victim to heroin addiction, and so many who died due to drug overdoses.  

I was no angel, and I ran with a rough teenage crew in South Philly during the ’60s. Thankfully, I joined the Navy in 1970 when I was 17. While I was serving on an aircraft carrier during the Vietnam War, another war was waging in my old neighborhood. And it appeared that heroin was winning the war.

When I returned home, I discovered that many of my childhood friends had become heroin junkies. It was as if they sold their soul to the drug and lost their humanity. They were mere shells of their former selves. 

I occasionally think of my late friend Steve. He was a good-looking young guy, and he was popular with the girls and the guys all liked him. He came from a well-to-do family and his father bought him a brand-new car when he graduated from high school.

Unlike many of my crowd, including me, Steve graduated from high school with good grades. He worked at his father’s South Philly store, and he always had ready cash in his pocket. Like the rest of the crowd, he drank beer and smoked pot in the late 1960s. He later took pills and graduated to heroin when I was in the Navy. 

Steve married a local girl and had a son while I was in Southeast Asia. When I came home, he told me that he was “shooting” heroin, meaning he used a needle to mainline the drug straight to his vein to achieve the maximum high. I tried to talk him out of it. 

At this point, he was not yet a full-blown junkie, and he was able to function, working in the store and living with his mother and father. He also maintained his wicked sense of humor. He asked me to help him deliver a set of drums to his ex-wife’s parent’s house, where she and his five-year-old son were living.

When we deposited the drum set, his ex-wife screamed at him and said their son was only five, so why did he buy drums? Steve handed the drumsticks to his son and the youngster began banging on the drums, much to the alarm of his ex-wife and her elderly parents. 

Steve laughed loudly in the car as we were leaving, and I must admit that I laughed as well. “I hope my son bangs on the drums day and night and drives them crazy!”

Months later, Steve became a full-blown junkie, and his father fired him and threw him out of the house after Steve stole money from the store and the house to support his growing drug addiction. His father later told me that this was the hardest thing he had ever done, and his wife, Steve’s mother, cried every night. 

The last time I saw Steve he looked like a zombie. He was thin and his face was skeletal. Yet he was wearing a fine suit. I asked him where he was going, and he replied that he was going to his lawyer’s office.

“If he doesn’t settle my case today, I’m going to throw him out the window.”

The threat must have worked, because Steve received a good settlement. I heard from his father that Steve had called his ex-wife and told her to get their son ready as he was taking him to Disneyland. She objected and said she was calling her lawyer. Steve then purchased a huge amount of heroin and overdosed in a motel room and died. His canvas bag with his cash settlement was missing. His father believed that someone gave his son a “hotshot” and killed him to get his money. We will never know. 

Steve, like so many drug addicts in those days as well as today, had their potential for a good life taken away. The drugs also robbed their families. One’s drug addiction also devastates the parents, the spouse, and their offspring.

The police need to round up the local drug pushers and stop their product from coming across the southern border from Mexico and other countries. The ready and plentiful drugs available on the street are an unstoppable lure to people like my late friend Steve and the many other drug addicts who fall victim to drug addiction. 

Drug addicts are more to be pitied than censured. 

Paul Davis, a Philadelphia writer and frequent contributor to Broad + Liberty, also contributes to Counterterrorism magazine and writes the “On Crime” column for the Washington Times. He can be reached at pauldavisoncrime.com. 

California Man Sentenced For Acting As An Illegal Agent Of The People’s Republic Of China Government And Bribery

The U.S. Justice Department released the below information:

John Chen, 71, of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Los Angeles, was sentenced today to 20 months in prison for acting as unregistered agents of the PRC and bribing an IRS agent in connection with a plot to target U.S.-based practitioners of Falun Gong — a spiritual practice banned in the PRC.

According to court documents, from at least approximately January 2023 to May 2023, Chen and co-defendant Lin Feng, 44, a PRC citizen and resident of Los Angeles, California, worked inside the United States at the direction of the PRC government, including an identified PRC government official PRC Official-1, to further the PRC government’s campaign to repress and harass Falun Gong practitioners. The PRC government has designated the Falun Gong as one of the “Five Poisons,” or one of the top five threats to its rule. In China, Falun Gong adherents face a range of repressive and punitive measures from the PRC government, including imprisonment.

As part of the PRC's campaign against the Falun Gong, Chen and Feng engaged in a PRC government-directed scheme to manipulate the IRS’ Whistleblower Program in an effort to strip the tax-exempt status of an entity run and maintained by Falun Gong practitioners, the Shen Yun Performing Arts Center. After Chen filed a defective whistleblower complaint with the IRS (the Chen Whistleblower Complaint), Chen and Feng paid $5,000 in cash bribes and promised to pay substantially more to a purported IRS agent (Agent-1) who was, in fact, an undercover officer, in exchange for Agent-1’s assistance in advancing the complaint. Neither Chen nor Feng notified the Attorney General that they were acting as agents of the PRC in the United States.

In the course of the scheme, Chen, on a recorded call, explicitly noted that the purpose of paying these bribes, which were directed and funded by the PRC, was to carry out the PRC government’s aim of “toppl[ing] . . . the Falun Gong.” During a call intercepted pursuant to a judicially authorized wiretap, Chen and Feng discussed receiving “direction” on the bribery scheme from PRC Official-1, deleting instructions received from PRC Official-1 in order to evade detection, and “alert[ing]” and “sound[ing] the alarm” to PRC Official-1 if Chen and Feng’s meetings to bribe Agent-1 did not go as planned. Chen and Feng also discussed that PRC Official-1 was the PRC government official “in charge” of the bribery scheme targeting the Falun Gong.

As part of this scheme, Chen and Feng met with Agent-1 in Newburgh, New York, on May 14, 2023. During the meeting, Chen gave Agent-1 a $1,000 cash bribe as an initial, partial bribe payment. Chen further offered to pay Agent-1 a total of $50,000 for opening an audit on the Shen Yun Performing Arts Center, as well as 60% of any whistleblower award from the IRS if the Chen Whistleblower Complaint were successful. On May 18, 2023, Feng paid Agent-1 a $4,000 cash bribe at John F. Kennedy International Airport as an additional partial bribe payment in furtherance of the scheme.

Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams for the Southern District of New York, and Executive Assistant Director Robert R. Wells of the FBI’s National Security Branch made the announcement.

In addition to the prison term, Chen was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to forfeit $50,000. Feng was sentenced on Sept. 26, to a time-served sentence of 16 months in prison.

The FBI and Office of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Qais Ghafary, Michael D. Lockard, and Kathryn Wheelock for the Southern District of New York and Trial Attorney Christina Clark of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section prosecuted the case.