Actually no....,
The scammer is merely trying to muddy up any follow-up investigation.
Criminal responsibility is still attached to the scammer, unless this is a one and only event, and then it's simply tough to prove... it's a tougher trail to follow.
Most if not all of these guys come up with a procedure, and simply repeat it a lot. They don't vary it much, and this is what leaves a trail, be it physical or electronic, etc. I mean if a person did one major theft in their life, made a huge score, then dropped "off the radar"..., yeah they likely would get away with it IF they thought the whole thing through far enough.
Of course, we're talking an Ocean's 11 scenario..., for the persons who are going to do one job and get away with it... not the vast majority of these guys, eh? ☺
Most of these guys have an "imaginary" friend, so the scammer alone is acting as "tip giver" and "seller". (they don't have to share the stolen money that way). They may change up emails from time to time, but they don't set up each scam independent of the next. So still very much criminal. IF the scammer is working with a partner, then the charges are simply compounded, and in addition to mail fraud and theft, you add conspiracy to commit mail fraud and conspiracy to commit theft. IF the scammer uses something akin to an online payment like Zelle, the charges change to wire fraud.
What the scammers bet on, is that the amounts that they get are small enough not to constitute a felony theft, and thus it is not worth the time needed to find them and bust them. AH but if several of these are connected to the same person..., then it becomes a Theft Scheme, and the total for all of the money from all of the scams is used, and that normally makes it a felony. Further, IF it's widespread enough, or done via the mail, or phones, or internet, even small amounts of wire fraud often become Federal Offenses. That sometimes means enough law enforcement attention to get them stopped.
LD
