Operation Shamrock

Today is World Romance Scam Prevention Day ???? and it's your chance to drive awareness and provide support. ?? Thank you Advocating Against Romance Scammers for going to DC to advocate for victims and National Cybersecurity Alliance for sharing this touching post. What will you do today? educate.seize.disrupt #romancescam #pigbutchering

Compelling. Honest. Brave. Vulnerable. Inspirational. I spent an afternoon this week with Carina Peritore, PhD, who leads the Operation Shamrock victims team along with Kathy Waters. I was captivated by her recounting of victimization by #pigbutchering. Highly organized, sophisticated scammers literally brainwash their victims. They use classic techniques of isolation, gaslighting, and love bombing to upend the lives of so many worldwide. Carina reinforced what I know about those who fall victim in this way – – they are smart, kind people who are simply looking for what we all want — companionship. That desire is used against them as they are lured into schemes that divest them of all their money. But this woman persevered. She dried her tears and got to work, learning how to trace cryptocurrency and being her own advocate for change. And after a year, she’s even ready to resume her search for love. Carina gives us hope. #operationshamrock educate.seize.disrupt and turn those lemons into lemonade

Mom, I’m going to build a workbench this weekend. Do you know how to build a workbench? I’ll figure it out. Mom, I’m going to take the minivan to Home Depot to buy wood for the workbench. Do you have someone to help you? Yep, found some friends. Do you have tools to build the workbench? Borrowed some. Mom, come check out my workbench. Sounds a lot like #operationshamrock, doesn’t it? Building something from the ground up help from our friends teaching ourselves along the way finding the tools that we need. If this kid can build a workbench, we can build a public-private partnership that combats #pigbutchering. Take today to rest. Then get your tool belt on for next week. We’ve got some construction to do. Come help me build the workbench.

Working remotely from St. Louis this morning, and you know Shamrock has no time to sleep. We are gaining momentum, just like the Cardinals who are threatening to sweep the Red Sox today with one more win on this beautiful Sunday afternoon. Highlights this week: -I was part of a senior study group convened by United States Institute of Peace, and our paper was launched this week. It's a comprehensive evidence-based document which highlights the massive problem of #transnationalorganizedcrime and the use of #pigbutchering in the region. https://lnkd.in/dJ2Nnex5 -Operation Shamrock law enforcement working group met and established three core missions for the next 6 months. TRIAGE, TRAINING AND TRY IT will be our focus as we develop international, standardized, replicable systems to (1) TRIAGE: get victims in front of investigators in the shortest time possible (2) TRAINING: ensure that law enforcement is trained in how to work with this typology of crime (3) TRY IT: create organized processes to connect dots and hold bad actors accountable. We will continue to progress next week as the Operation Shamrock banking/financial institutions group and victims groups meet. We are organizing and moving the needle (even an inch) every single day with a massive army of do-gooders. #operationshamrock educate.seize.disrupt and ride this momentum for our victims

I did the coolest thing last night. I held a “friends and family webinar” where I invited my FB and Instagram friends to come hear about threats like #pigbutchering, job scams, grandparent scams and #SIMswapping. At 5 pm last night my screen began to fill with friends from all windows of my life: My dad My childhood best friend The mom whose beautiful son was killed by a drunk driver (and I had the honor of prosecuting and holding that driver accountable) Work friends High school friends Neighbors After an hour they were transformed. They wanted to help. They reached out afterward to join #operationshamrock. Momentum. That’s what’s happening here. People care and will help if you educate them and give them a job to do. So let’s scale what I just did. Let me give you my deck and send you out to do the same. educate.seize.disrupt and move that needle just one click forward every single day.