What happens when you start scamming at a young age?
Let’s find out all the things that could go wrong and start with:
5 - Frat Funds Former University of Georgia student Syed
Arbab used his frat house to run a hedge fund.
Most of his clients were friends, and family who Arbab was going to help make them a lot
of money.
Arbab’s fund operated between May 2018 and May 2019 through his business entities Artis
Proficio Capital Management and Artis Proficio Capital Investments.
Arbab managed to raise at least $269,000 from only eight investors for his fund based on
his previous successes playing the stock market.
The only real issue was that the hedge fund wasn’t as much of a hedge fund as it was
more of a Las Vegas fund that included gambling, liquor, hotels, Ubers, and interpretive dance
shows.
Friends & Family Special Arbab asked his friend, Connor Campbell, if
he'd like to invest in the hedge fund.
Campbell, being close with Arbab since highschool, trusted him completely.
Besides, Arbab already had some measure of success, so it seemed like a good bet.
Campbell’s first investment was only $5,000, but Arbab quickly convinced his friend to
add an additional $1,500 with the promise of greater returns.
But when it came time to payout, Campbell only received a list of excuses.
Arbab, being the cute little Ponzi scammer that he was, had actually been directing the
investment funds towards payouts for earlier investors, using applications like Cash App
and Venmo to get the new investors to send the direct payments.
Arbab had sold his investors on the fact that he was a University of Georgia graduate working
on his master’s degree in business administration.
But the truth was that he hadn’t even received his undergraduate degree.
Yet he flaunted his wealth on social media as if he were the most successful trader there
ever was, even posting about buying a new Corvette with cash.
Arbab’s posts caught his friends’ attention, who were poor college students that would
have loved some extra money.
He seemed like the real deal, and solidified that belief by circulating a fictitious spreadsheet
that touted how well his fund was performing.
Arbab lied about the total investment funds he’d received from investors and promised
high return rates that ranged from 22 percent to 56 percent, which he’d then use to entice
further investments.
Caught
Overall, Arbab scammed 117 investors out of roughly $1 million.
Many of these investors were fellow students and friends.
Arbab sold investors many lies, aside from the astronomical return rates, he also promised
the first $15,000 they invested would be risk-free, making the decision to invest an easy one.
The appeal of the first $15,000 being risk-free meant that most investors spent less than
$15,000.
Many were nervous about the unpredictable market and expected to be paid back at least
their principal investment.
Arbab later admitted that he did not have the funds available to follow through on his
promises, but he kept that knowledge to himself.
The SEC filed a civil complaint against Arbab in June 2019 and he was quickly arrested.
Arbab pleaded guilty to securities fraud and apologized to his victims- we’re sure they
felt much better after hearing it.
In October 2020, U.S. District Judge C. Ashley Royal in Georgia gave him the maximum sentence
of five years in prison.
After his time in prison, he will have three years of supervised release.
Additionally, he was ordered to pay $509,032 in restitution.
Free-riding
Arbab and five friends were also accused of running what the SEC called quote a “free-riding”
scheme from May 2019 to January 2021.
The group made over $2 million in false deposits from empty or underfunded bank accounts into
trading accounts at two brokerages.
The deposits provided the group with over $1.5 million in instant credits to be used
for stock trades.
The group then attempted to withdraw all trading profits before the brokerages could discover
the insufficient funds and freeze the accounts.
Arbab and the crew made gains of less than $8,000, but their underfunded or unfunded
trades cost nearly $150,000 to the brokerages.
Arbab allegedly started his “free-riding” scam while he was literally under investigation
for running his first scam- say what you want about the kid, when it comes to scamming,
he’s a little go-getter!
Arbab’s co-conspirators gave Arbab their brokerage account log-in information to allow
him to personally engage in freeriding on their accounts.
Other times, Arbab instructed his friends in real time through texts about how to freeride
using their own accounts.
Arbab allegedly conducted this scheme just before starting his prison sentence, and was
indicted while currently serving out his 5 year sentence.
4 - The Transparent Scheme Serial entrepreneur Justin Kimbrough started
trading penny stocks when he was only 18 years old.
He had converted $3,000 to $100,000 while he was still in college.
After making such a huge profit, Kimbrough dropped out of college.
He didn't want to be taught business by professors who didn't own businesses, and felt that if
anyone should be teaching those classes, it was him.
So he went to work at a multi-level marketing company, where Kimbrough learned many foundational
business principles, including the power of personal relationships and using those relationships
to tap into other professional networks.
After leaving the multi-level marketing company, Kimbrough started his own business consulting
firm.
His firm specialized in sales and networking, helping his clients scale their social media,
branding, and income.
Scam it Forward
Since Kimbrough used his business contacts and relationships to succeed, he wanted to
pay it forward and help other people do the same thing!
Kimbrough didn't feel he was directly competing against a particular company and claimed to
be completely transparent when creating his businesses so that others could see his techniques
and emulate them.
He believed that his transparency separated him from other entrepreneurs.
When he wasn’t teaching others how to make money, Kimbrough played golf or advocated
for the environment.
He was a vegan and invested in charities and nonprofits that worked to improve the planet.
Well, this was all that was said on a puff piece about Kimbrough on VentsMagazine.com.
This was a piece that Kimbrough himself most likely wrote.
Because guess what?
SEC Facts
In June 2022, the SEC announced that Kimbrough was charged with operating a multi-million
dollar Ponzi scheme.
Talk about paying it forward!
The SEC sought civil damages from the 25-year-old and requested a jury trial against Kimbrough.
His charges were one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and four counts of wire
fraud.
Despite his image as a hard-working entrepreneur, Kimbrough was running a Ponzi.
He worked with Terry Nikopoulos, and the pair would tell potential investors that the company
TKJ Investments Corp. was a real estate wholesaler.
They obtained at least $3 million from 31 investors.
Kimbrough and Nikopoulos operated another business called Preeminent Trade Group, where
they told investors that the company specialized in reselling medical equipment in India.
They used the funds they obtained with TKJ Investments to attract more Preeminent Trade
Group Investors.
People who invested in TKJ Investments could either be paid back their principal or move
the money into Preeminent, which at least three people did.
Kimbrough wired some of the investors' money into his Wells Fargo business account.
Investments stopped in April 2021, and Kimbrough trained Nikopoulos on how to approach angry
investors who wanted their return on investment.
In July 2022, the SEC charged Nikopoulos and Kimbrough with operating a Ponzi scheme.
The Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Texas also filed criminal charges against
Kimbrough.
3 - Sales Experience Ian Bick is a scammer who ran a Ponzi scheme
that defrauded people of around half a million dollars back when he was just 17 years old!
Bick was able to defraud at least 15 investors of almost half a million dollars.
And these investors weren't strangers to him.
They were his friends, former classmates, acquaintances, and their parents.
Bick was the champion of equality when it came to defrauding people.
Everyone and anyone could get it.
Experience Sells
Ian was really good at convincing his investors of his experience in doing business.
He told potential investors that he could use their funds to generate very high returns
by using them to purchase electronic devices such as iPhones for resale on the internet.
Bic also claimed that he could generate high returns by organizing and promoting concerts
at various venues in Connecticut and Rhode Island.
To sell this lie, he told investors that he had years of experience in promoting concerts
like this and they were a sure money maker.
He even set up an entertainment agency to make his lies seem more believable.
We’re gonna guess that he told his investors he just looked 17 and wasn’t actually 17!
But his lies could never stand the test of time.
For one, the electronics resale business never got set up and the concert business was a
giant lie.
Aftermath
As you might expect, Ian was eventually caught.
However, Ian didn't behave like a regular juvenile delinquent when he got caught.
The judge released him on bond after his first appearance, but Ian didn't use his time outside
prison to do anything constructive.
Instead, he continued his money laundering activities until the judge had to revoke his
bond.
At his trial, Ian Bick was charged with six counts of wire fraud and one count of money
laundering.
Afterward, he was sentenced to 3 years in prison.
During his sentencing trial, Ian apologized profusely for his conduct, but the judge wasn't
entirely sure that he was being honest.
And how could he?
Ian had proven to be a stone-cold liar and scammer.
When it was time to sentence Ian, the judge was sort of lenient.
He argued that Ian was still a very young man and that his crimes might have been because
of his youth.
However, one of his victims made a rebuttal that yes Ian was young, but his age didn't
stop him from lying to investors and fleecing them of all they had.
Bick got sent to timeout three years to think about what he did.
2 - A SIM-ple Scam Yousef Selassie stole people's identities
and took roughly $1 million bucks worth of crypto through a SIM-swapping scheme that
he operated when he was just 19 years old.
Sim-swapping is when a thief transfers a victim's number to their own phone.
Once the information is transferred, the thief can send and receive text messages and make
phone calls with the stolen number.
The thief can circumvent security measures by receiving text messages containing security
codes that they can then use to access the victim's accounts.
Selassie passed the two-factor authentication security measures by requesting that recovery
codes be texted to the numbers associated with the account that he had hacked.
Once inside their emails, he checked to see if they had crypto accounts.
Selassie then changed the passwords so his victims could no longer access their accounts,
giving him complete control.
While he was doing this, his victims' accounts would go offline.
Crypto Theft
Over four months, Selassie stole $1 million in crypto and the identities of 75 people.
He targeted high-paid executives that worked in industries known to deal in crypto.
Selassie designed his scheme around stealing crypto, because it’s hard to trace when
it’s stolen and transferred to another account.
After authorities searched his Brooklyn apartment, he abruptly moved to California but was arrested
in Corona and later arraigned.
When authorities executed search warrants on Selassie's California and Brooklyn residences,
they found a Gucci wallet, various high-end jewelry pieces, and two Rolex watches.
They also seized half a dozen iPhones.
The crypto in his electronic wallet was harder for investigators to obtain, but they eventually
could access it.
In Manhattan Supreme Court, Selassie pleaded not guilty to identity theft, scheme to defraud,
first-degree grand larceny, computer tampering, and computer trespass.
Selassie's Sim-swapping scam was one of many that the DA had seen that year.
1 - Card Cracking Rapper Young Ash used social media to lure
her fans into a credit card scheme.
Young Ash, whose real name is Ashley Bautista, worked with four co-defendants on a 'card
cracking' scheme.
A 'card cracking' scheme is when scammers offer victims a fast and easy money-making
opportunity, primarily through a direct message on social media.
Scammers use posts where they brag about leading a luxurious lifestyle by sharing pictures
of things like cash, luxury cars, and designer clothing.
They claim they can help other people get rich too.
Her single 'Money' is all about making money.
In the song, Young Ash brags about being a millionaire and living a luxurious lifestyle-
the subject matter and lyrics were groundbreaking, as if no one had ever done a song like that
before.
Her fans were likely really impressed by her lifestyle featured in the song.
Social Media Scamming
Young Ash had a substantial social media following and took to Snapchat to flaunt stacks of cash
that she said she would give followers in exchange for their bank information.
She also posted on Instagram, where she currently has around a little over 50,000 followers.
On one of her twitter posts, Ashley tweeted that if her followers were serious about making
money, as opposed to people who are far less serious about making money, they should retweet
her and she would DM them.
She’d only look to scam someone that was at least 18, because you know, she was responsible
like that.
She didn’t want to scam any minors
Acting as a recruiter, once Bautista had a person's information, she worked with the
scammers to forge checks and ATM cards they used to steal money from the victims.
One of the other people involved in the scam was Gabriel Molina, who worked as a concierge
at a luxury Manhattan apartment building.
He collected rent checks for the building and secretly took pictures of them.
Molina would then work with the rest of the people involved in the scam to create forgeries
of the checks.
They used the forged checks to deposit money into Bautista's fans' accounts and withdrew
money using the fans' ATM cards.
Aftermath
Justin Simon, Jarod Bailey, and a third person who went by the name JD Glasses were in charge
of picking up the ATM cards, depositing the checks, and withdrawing the money.
Overall, the group stole $62,550.
Authorities arrested Bautista and charged her with grand larceny.
She appeared before a Manhattan Supreme Court, where she pleaded not guilty and was released
without bail.
Did she ever get any actual jail or prison time?
We couldn’t find any information on her sentencing!
Today Young Ash is still making new music, and it looks like she’s given up her career
in card cracking.
(https://linktr.ee/YoungAshMusic).
Click to watch one of these next videos!
Let us know in the comment section who you’d rather never have to deal with again, fake
business gurus ads trying to sell seminars, or robocallers on your phone!