Fraudsters such as 40-year-old Ryan Young continue perpetrating fraud until they are caught. Their mission is to make as much money as they can, for as long as they can and as an ethics keynote speaker, ethics consultant and book author, I know that many of them will feel nothing until they are put behind bars.
The predator
Young, from Upper Saddle River, New Jersey was involved in multiple frauds, internationally and domestically. The international fraud was the one that is leading him to jail. The scam, involving multiple fraudsters stole millions of dollars. It was while he was working that scam, that he set his mind on a little “local freelance action.”
The mail fraud that Young created on his own enabled him to steal almost $1.7 million. In a story by Jeff Goldman for nj.com, “(Young) tricked victims into thinking they’d receive a prize or part of a settlement in exchange for a fee of $30 to $40…instead of the promised money, Young mailed the victims one or more of the following after receiving the fee: a booklet providing publicly available information regarding government unclaimed property in various states, a booklet providing publicly available information regarding class action settlements or a flyer about online restaurant coupons.”
In other words, he stuffed envelopes of “the winners” with pretty much anything he had handy. He successfully ran the scam from March 2019 and May 2022. By “successfully” what I mean is, until he was arrested.
Officer, I had nothing else to do
The (not so) crazy thing here is that while Young was running the prize give-away scam, he was about to be sent to prison for a fraud that ran from 2011 to 2016
“Young was part of a group that sent fraudulent prize notification letters to victims in the United States and other countries. The letters falsely claimed recipients had won money or valuable prizes, such as luxury cars.”
In all, hundreds of thousands of mailers were sent out, frequently to the elderly. They used impressive letterheads of fictitious law firms and international sounding financial organizations.
In order to register for the prizes, Young instructed them to pay “minimal processing fees.” The prizes (when Young felt like shipping them) consisted of either brochures or a cheap piece of costume jewelry. The fees ranged from $25 to $50. In all, more than $50 million was collected. For his role in the scams, Ryan Young may face 20-years in jail.
Predators understand human nature
Those who scam the elderly and the naïve, have an uncanny ability to ferret-out people most unlikely to understand what they are receiving. In committing these frauds using expensive-looking letterheads with fake names, they understand confusion, greed and fear.
Elderly and vulnerable individuals hearken back to a time when important mail was received through the USPS. Younger generations are more than likely to throw them away out-of-hand.
As an ethics keynote speaker, ethics consultant and book author, I also know that such communication is often received “out-of-sight.” Relatives or friends might overlook such communication as “just” junk-mail, not realizing the shut-in and elderly read and sometimes, believe such things.
How can people such as Ryan Young rationalize running such scams? To frame their behaviors within “normal” mind-sets is folly. It is important to have awareness of the fact that these types of scam artists live to prey on others. If you are responsible for the care of someone who is elderly or a shut-in, it is essential to monitor their mail as well as phones. Beyond that, I strongly advocate for steeper fines and jail sentences for such scam artists.
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