[Redress]

My former friend and business partner stole $150,000 from me and fled to another country. That was the money I was going to use to put my children through college. My daughter just started college and the tuition is coming due. I spent my whole life saving that money by being frugal and making serious personal sacrifices. The guy who stole it is a classic loser who spent his life living irresponsibly. He came to envy and resent me and, when he screwed up his own life almost beyond repair, he convinced himself he was entitled to take my money to make a new start. My salary barely covers my expenses, so I'll never regain that money if I can't recover it from him. I'm hoping someone here has suggestions that can help me.

I know the bank account number the money was deposited into. It's a regional credit union. I am in possession of a Windows machine that this guy formerly used as his main computer. I know his social and most of his personal information.

What I want, at the least, is a way to determine whether the money is still in the account, or if he transferred it somewhere else, where. If I know where the money is, I can sue him in absentia and have the account legally frozen until the matter is resolved. If there's a safe way to transfer the money into a neutral account where I can recover it, that would also be good.

If I know the money isn't there, I don't want to proceed with expensive legal actions and lose even more.

I don't want to get in trouble doing this, but looking for options.

[CanisMajoris]

Youll probably need to say how he gained access to your money as well. Have you tried talking to your bank yet? Law enforcement?

[V For Vendetta.]

Hacking into his systems will get you a criminal charge, along with more charges if you transfer the funds back into the account. Your best course of action is speaking to a lawyer to give the bank a subpoena to gain the information from them. It's not guaranteed that you will get your money back, but at least you'll have a chance.

[Redress]

In the old days, private detectives and other people used to routinely do things to find out this kind of information. They'd call the bank claiming they had a check and would ask the bank if there were sufficient funds for it to clear. Banks used to respond to those requests. Now, most of the time, they refuse to say. As far as I know, nobody ever got in trouble for that. All I want is to find out if the money is there or do something that would lock the account.

I can proceed with legal actions without knowing. I have already spent about 1,000 with my lawyer. Suing and freezing the account would cost perhaps up to 10,000 more. I just don't want to proceed if it's fruitless.

---

I've contacted all sorts of law enforcement agencies and banks and other institutions. Local police, attorney general, FBI, the credit union, etc. Nobody will take any action. When this guy clearly steals $150,000, somehow that's a civil matter, or a "deal gone bad." They just don't want to be bothered and make up any excuse to blow me off.

When I just want to know where my stolen money is, all of a sudden people say I could get into big trouble. I could get a felony, or go to jail. What sense does this make? Why could I get in trouble by trying to recover my life's savings, and he isn't in any trouble by taking it?

[Sheeple]

In the old days, private detectives and other people used to routinely do things to find out this kind of information. They'd call the bank claiming they had a check and would ask the back if there were sufficient funds for it to clear. Banks used to respond to those requests. Now, most of the time, they refuse to say. As far as I know, nobody ever got in trouble for that. All I want is to find out if the money is there or do something that would lock the account.

I can proceed with legal actions without knowing. I have already spent about 1,000 with my lawyer. Suing and freezing the account would cost perhaps up to 10,000 more. I just don't want to proceed if it's fruitless.

---

I've contacted all sorts of law enforcement agencies and banks and other institutions. Local police, attorney general, FBI, the credit union, etc. Nobody will take any action. When this guy clearly steals $150,000, somehow that's a civil matter, or a "deal gone bad." They just don't want to be bothered and make up any excuse to blow me off.

When I just want to know where my stolen money is, all of a sudden people say I could get into big trouble. I could get a felony, or go to jail. What sense does this make? Why could I get in trouble by trying to recover my life's savings, and he isn't in any trouble by taking it?

If he took it illegally, it's time to get evidence and take legal action, not illegal action. Impossible to track the money, try to contact him, maybe he'll even say something like " yeah I took ur money what're you gonna do" and you record the call or something and bam evidence.

[Redress]

Grand Pootis:

Do you have a Skype account? If so, I'll PM you my Skype and we can talk.

I've never used Skype, but I just downloaded it and I think I have it set up. What should I do?

[poisson]

Wow what a scumbag. Hope you can get things resolved.

[Godiva]

What if I told you I could do the seemingly impossible?

[UglyMeister]

What if I told you I could do the seemingly impossible?

Relax, OP your best bet is to just go to the authorities with some substantial evidence.

[Magicicada³³⁰¹]

Mate, if you are on HF to find someone to retrieve that money back, then you are looking in the wrong place...

[bοxxy]

If taking legal action costed $10,000 to get your $150,000 back why not do it?
Also, have you tried your local authorities?

[Nomad.Null]

@Redress: I would be interested in hearing your case. I represent an organization thap specializes in computer forensics and computer crime investigations. A case like yours is difficult to prosecute, but I would like to know more details. Please send an email to [email protected] and provide your contact information along with details of the case. I will notify my colleages to expect your email and answer promptly.

If you want to know more about us and what we do, you can find us at https://nemesissecurity.net/

[Redress]

@Redress: ...

If you want to know more about us and what we do, you can find us at ***********

Firefox won't open that link. It stops with a message that the site is improperly set up and hence a security risk.

[Grand Pootis]

@Redress: I would be interested in hearing your case. I represent an organization thap specializes in computer forensics and computer crime investigations. A case like yours is difficult to prosecute, but I would like to know more details. Please send an email to [email protected] and provide your contact information along with details of the case. I will notify my colleages to expect your email and answer promptly.

If you want to know more about us and what we do, you can find us at https://nemesissecurity.net/

L2use a CA that is real and actually recognized.

[Who Soup]

You should PM me. You still have legal options that you can take. Do you have Skype? Discord? I know you won't be able to PM it to me. Please respond on thread.

I've started my own companies and have gone through a similar issue and came out on top.

If what you say is true I'll fund a lawsuit for you if the people I know won't do it up front for us.