By Danny Fenster
ticklethewire.com
How much would you pay to make the threat of drug charges go away? Would you pay if you knew you were innocent?
These questions were not hypothetical for many. TMZ reports that Americans buying prescription drugs online have been the target of scammers posing as DEA agents. The phony agents would call purchasers and say they were indicted by foreign governments for the purchase of illegal drugs online. The con artists even used the names of real DEA agents.
Alarmed, consumers would often be willing to do what the fake agents asked to cooperate and make the charges go away. That’s when the scammers would ask for a civil penalty, a fee, to drop the charges.
So it went with one Hollywood producer. His lawyer spoke with the fake agents, and when they asked for the civil penalty, the lawyer became skeptical, TMZ reported. He recorded conversations with the fake agents and eventually turned over the tapes to the DEA, according to TMZ.
The DEA is now investigating the matter, having received numerous similar complaints over the last year, TMZ reported.
“We’re told the likelihood is … a number of people folded like a cheap suit when they received the call threatening prosecution and sent the money in, hoping the criminal case would go away,” reports TMZ.
