Forgotten Fraud: The World Power Systems Scam

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In 197? a personal computer (then it was called this way a microcomputer) turned only three years old, the original Apple II was only going to be launched into a serial sale, and with it to unleash the computer revolution, which we, computer users, know and love everything. But then a terrible fly in the ointment arose in this barrel of sweet computer honey; 3r33232.  
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So, let's take a walk through the back streets of computer history and recall World Power Systems and Norman Hunt’s crimes against very young computer enthusiasts. 3r33232.  
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The first significant fraud was committed in early 197? when Hunt, under the assumed name Colonel David Winthrop, founded the company DataSync Corp, based in the town of Santa Maria, California. Datasync, advertised in early computer magazines, such as Byte and Creative Computing, offered to buy new equipment from it at incredibly low prices for that time. Hunt could easily put up any price, because the equipment, which he “virtually” sold, did not even exist. 3r33232.  
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Photo page 47 of the journal Kilobaud 197? August . 3r33232.  
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In June 197? he was arrested for fraud and sentenced to three years in Chino, California, state prison. 3r33232.  
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Hunt spent less than six months in prison, the police then added a warning “a very persuasive person” to his characteristics, using something like NLP (neuro-linguistic programming), Hunt was able to persuade the prison authorities to transfer him to the prison department with the minimum level of protection where he came from just gone one day. 3r33232.  
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3r3158. World Power Systems
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Hunt moved to the city of Tucson (660 km 410 miles from Chino Prison), Arizona, and changed his name to Jim Anderson, also there he met Perry Pollack, his new unwitting partner in crimes, and together they founded World Power Systems. 3r33232.  
Taking the bull by the horns again, Norman wanted to return to his old tricks again and start advertising the fictional equipment at incredibly low prices. 3r33232.  
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But some computer enthusiasts nevertheless became very suspicious, they noticed that the advertised equipment in photographs in magazines and newspapers was collected incorrectly (especially for pictures with types and diagrams of printed circuit boards), and some devices did not even have the necessary contacts for power! 3r33232.  
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However, at that time many computer magazines were rarely published and their copies remained on sale for a long time, so for everyone who asked, this was explained by the fact that the photos are simply product layouts used for advertising, and not real equipment, so that these materials had time to get into the magazine early. But this approach has already ceased to be particularly profitable, as buyers of computer equipment became more suspicious and increasingly understanding in technology. 3r33232.  
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Some time after its foundation, World Power Systems worked to gain a good reputation, following all laws and rules, orders were received, they were quickly sent to the Customer, but as the volume of orders began to increase, new fraud schemes started to be implemented in the company. 3r33232.  
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On behalf of World Power Systems, warning letters were sent to customers claiming that they could not receive their product on time, according to the contract, because the suppliers of this particular product do not have the right amount at the moment. At the same time, World Power Systems began to request from their direct suppliers of equipment a delay and the possibility of supplying equipment on credit. 3r33232.  
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Since World Power Systems was a very good customer, suppliers generally agreed and came across a new Norman trick. As soon as the supplier agreed to credit World Power Systems, Hunt made large orders for expensive components, promising suppliers that payments for orders would be made in 30 days. 3r33232.  
The company's warehouses were filled with equipment, and virtually nothing was shipped to customers, usually one out of ten orders was carried out in this scheme, and this order was often from the most fastidious customer who could go to the police or worse, complain to the organization. BBB (Better Business Bureau)
with a message about cheating. 3r33232.  
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3r3158. Only heels sparkle
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3r3108. As well as Paulie could do anything. Especially to launder money with the institution. Why not? Take delivery at the main entrance and sell it cheaply at the back. Take a 200-dollar box of booze and drive it for 100. It does not matter. Profit is profit. And finally, when nothing is left, when you can no longer borrow from the bank, you close the place. You light a match. 3r33232.  
- Nice guys
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Norman Hunt’s fraud scheme was pretty simple, and this classic trick is called “tacking.” Every time Hunt implemented it, he followed this scenario: 3r-3232.  
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It is necessary to establish a new company, play by the rules for a short time, create for the company a solid reputation with customers and suppliers. 3r33232.  
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Over time, start getting lots of equipment on credit and stop sending anything to customers from their orders.
 
When customers start complaining, blame the suppliers. From time to time send the order to the meticulous customers themselves, so that they lag behind, so you can pull time to continue the fraud.
 
Clients whine, milking suppliers to the maximum. Answer their questions about unpaid invoices that the invoice is not correct or it came too late, and the payment cycle has already passed, but payment will be made later in two weeks. When it stops working, then lie that the payment was made, and finally give them a century-old lie, which often works: the check is stuck in the mail.
 
Catch the moment when the supplier is determined to stop lending, and be sure to place with him the last maximum order.
 
Repeat steps 1-4 until the list of suppliers is exhausted.
 
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When the situation in the company begins to worsen as much as possible and it looks like the house of cards is about to collapse, because creditors threaten to sue and customers call the police, Hunt calmly implements the next stage of his deception - a withdrawal strategy that was almost the most insidious part of his fraud 3r33232.  
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Hunt begins to reset bank accounts, complicates logistics and begins to move equipment in various difficult-to-follow areas to cover the traces for the police, and, most importantly, finds a scapegoat who will take all the blame for what is happening. 3r33232.  
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Hunt found a simple-minded employee beforehand, whom he promoted to the post of president of the company, entrusting the company’s assets and preparing everything for the flight as much as possible. Hunt went on long-term leave, giving the management of the company into the hands of the new president. And the Hunt with assets and equipment disappeared from the state. 3r33232.  
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The police arrest the president who does not understand anything almost on his first working day and starts investigating the company's actions, while Hunt received a good temporary odds for quiet escape and continue his dirty work in other states. 3r33232.  
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Covert becomes clear. John Craig, editor of Creative Computing, offered to meet with Hunt to discuss the new article, but it was a serious problem for Hunt, since he met with John while working at DataSync and knew that he would be identified by Craig as “Colonel David Winthrop "And, more importantly, he is a fugitive. 3r33232.  
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The time has come once again to flee from fate, and on April 2? 197? Hunt and his wife left Arizona. 3r33232.  
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Further, the plan of Hunt quickly began to collapse because of trivia and fellow travelers. For some reason, he decided to take with him two female employees, the sisters Eva and Joan Bof (these are the pseudonyms by which they appeared in the article about Hunt’s fraud in Kilobaud magazine), under the pretext that they go to the Computer School in Florida . 3r33232.  
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While they were traveling around Texas, the employees found out that the equipment that Hunt was also carrying with them in his van had already been resold to other customers, and that Hunt intended to deceive his customers and suppliers along with them as accomplices. 3r33232.  
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Eva was able to quietly reach the phone to call her father, who went to the local police authorities and arranged for both sisters to be taken under guard as important witnesses. As soon as Eva returned to Tucson, she told the local authorities everything she knew about Hunt’s plans, and most importantly, the exact location of the warehouses with the equipment where the stolen goods were stored by World Power System. 3r33232.  
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Hunt, at that time, managed to elude the authorities of Tucson, although he was eventually arrested in May 1979 in Honolulu, Hawaii, and brought back to California, where he was charged with 14 counts of fraudulent schemes. was found guilty. 3r33232.  
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As a result, the two-year scheme of deception Hantu brought him about 3?000 US dollars (this is 10?000 US dollars in 2018) for fraud through advertising and from 10?000 to 25?000 US dollars (this is 34?000 - 85?000 US dollars for 2018) for the stolen unpaid equipment from suppliers and oversold to other buyers, such a fork in the amounts and figured, since all the totals from the affected customers who tried to purchase goods from his "company" were not fully known. 3r33232.  
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After a loud arrest and pronouncement of the verdict, Hunt was sent to the correctional center in San Diego, California, where he tried to demonstrate his switching skills and become an informant. 3r33232.  
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For Hunt, such a change in prison roles did not end very well, so he was transferred to the correctional center of Northern Nevada for defensive purposes, however, at that time he somehow managed to crank another scam, this time involving the prison guards, selling supposedly working software, known as “Word Type”, which includes almost 100 different programs for only $ 109.9? so he found a new market for selling software air to naive users. 3r33232.  
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Any loser who bought this set of programs, if he nevertheless received a copy of them on his hands, found that these programs do not run at all or are renamed copies of existing programs. 3r33232.  
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After opening this scam, Norman was transferred back to 3r3202. San Diego Correctional Center
in 198? where the trail of his computer misadventures was completely lost. 3r33232.  
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Link to Kilobaud magazine. 3r33232.  
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Original article in the magazine Kilobaud:
 
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