| Sysop: | Amessyroom |
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| Location: | Fayetteville, NC |
| Users: | 28 |
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| Uptime: | 46:39:52 |
| Calls: | 422 |
| Files: | 1,024 |
| Messages: | 90,363 |
You used to have to drive down the Baja California to experience this
kind of Third World crime. No thanks to Alejandro Mayorkis, Kamala
Harris, Joe Biden and Gavin Newsom, the crime is now here in the U.S.A.
https://www.theinertia.com/surf/surfers-southern-california-car-break-in-scheme/
A group of well-organized, high-tech thieves stole over a million
dollars from more than a hundred surfers in Southern California.
Ultimately, it was the surfers who were able to help bring them to justice.
The story even reached CNN, which recently published a video report
featuring Snapt’s Logan Dulien, one of the victims who played a key role
in identifying the thieves. On August 12, 2024, Dulien stashed his car
key in a side yard of his property in Newport Beach while he went for a
surf. When he returned, he discovered that the key was missing. The
thieves had broken into his yard, located the hidden key, and stolen his phone, key, and wallet.
Dulien, who was grieving the recent passing of his mother just two days before, eventually got online to discover that the thieves had hacked
his phone, drained his accounts, and run up huge bills on his credit
cards. All in all, it was a $150,000 hit.
“I’m just sitting there, kind of deteriorating, like, emotionally,” Dulien told CNN. “I just watched my mom die 48 hours before and it’s
been a really rough year and a half. And then this stuff is happening to
me. I was basically like, I don’t give a f**k who this is, I’m gonna do everything I can to make them pay.”
Luckily, Dulien had footage of one of the thieves from a security camera
on his house. He sent the footage to a tech-savvy friend who cleaned it
up, and then he posted it to social media. STAB picked up the story and messages started pouring in of other Southern California surfers who had
been hit by the same scheme. The list of victims included pros like
Tyler Gunter, Taro Watanabe, and Reef McIntosh.
“All these surfers started DMing to me: ‘The same thing happened to me!’” said Dulien. “I’m like, ‘This is what these guys do — they rob
surfers!’”
Dulien was turning over every bit of information that came in to the
police. Authorities were also onto this crime syndicate but lacked the evidence needed to put them away. The same day that Dulien was robbed,
they hit three other surfers for a grand total of more than a quarter
million dollars. Even after this information was made public, the
criminals brazenly kept targeting the same spots and robbing surfers
while they were in the water. They became known on social media for
sometimes driving a Bentley while they committed their crimes.
Eventually, the group was caught red-handed by a security camera on the
house of Dulien’s neighbor. Now the police had the break-ins, license plates, faces, and stolen items all recorded. The cops even got one of
the thieves to flip on his accomplices. He told police that they
“focused on vehicles belonging to surfers as the surfers would be out on the water for significant periods of time and would not be able to take
their keys with them.”
The way the scam worked also came to light. One thief would watch
surfers stash their keys before they paddled out. Another accomplice on
the beach would confirm that the surfer had entered the water, and the
coast was clear to steal the key and break into the car. Once they had
the wallet and phone, they passed it over to the real mastermind,
Moundir Kamil. Kamil, a Moroccan national in the U.S. illegally who was previously convicted of bank robbery and served time in a California
prison, was able to hack the facial recognition software of the phone
and gain access to all the phone’s apps. While surfers were locked out
of their cars, the thieves would empty bank accounts, investment
holdings, crypto wallets, you name it. When the credit card companies
would call to ask if there was fraudulent behavior from a purchase at
stores like Chanel or the Apple Store, the thieves, in possession of the phone, would simply answer and approve the charges.
The crooks are now awaiting trial. Daniel Castillo, the man whom Dulien originally caught on his security camera, faces 30 charges, including
grand theft and fraud. Dulien told STAB that Castillo already had three felonies and a homicide charge. Kamil, the tech mastermind, is also in custody awaiting trial.
Thanks to Dulien’s persistence and the combined effort of surfers who contributed their stories, Southern California surfers don’t have to
worry about these criminals tormenting their surf sessions. That said,
it should be a lesson to all surfers to work out a smart key system for
when you paddle out. Surfers have been the targets of clever thieves
before, after all.
“The surf community is one tribe. … Everyone doesn’t get along but at
the end of the day if someone’s drowning, we’re gonna do whatever we can to save them,” said Dulien. “I feel very happy to know that these guys aren’t gonna do this to anyone else, especially other surfers.”
On 2025-03-30, Doctor Fill <DF@tutanato.com> wrote:
You used to have to drive down the Baja California to experience this
kind of Third World crime. No thanks to Alejandro Mayorkis, Kamala
Harris, Joe Biden and Gavin Newsom, the crime is now here in the U.S.A.
https://www.theinertia.com/surf/surfers-southern-california-car-break-in-scheme/
A group of well-organized, high-tech thieves stole over a million
dollars from more than a hundred surfers in Southern California.
Ultimately, it was the surfers who were able to help bring them to justice. >>
The story even reached CNN, which recently published a video report
featuring Snapt’s Logan Dulien, one of the victims who played a key role >> in identifying the thieves. On August 12, 2024, Dulien stashed his car
key in a side yard of his property in Newport Beach while he went for a
surf. When he returned, he discovered that the key was missing. The
thieves had broken into his yard, located the hidden key, and stolen his
phone, key, and wallet.
Dulien, who was grieving the recent passing of his mother just two days
before, eventually got online to discover that the thieves had hacked
his phone, drained his accounts, and run up huge bills on his credit
cards. All in all, it was a $150,000 hit.
“I’m just sitting there, kind of deteriorating, like, emotionally,”
Dulien told CNN. “I just watched my mom die 48 hours before and it’s
been a really rough year and a half. And then this stuff is happening to
me. I was basically like, I don’t give a f**k who this is, I’m gonna do >> everything I can to make them pay.”
Luckily, Dulien had footage of one of the thieves from a security camera
on his house. He sent the footage to a tech-savvy friend who cleaned it
up, and then he posted it to social media. STAB picked up the story and
messages started pouring in of other Southern California surfers who had
been hit by the same scheme. The list of victims included pros like
Tyler Gunter, Taro Watanabe, and Reef McIntosh.
“All these surfers started DMing to me: ‘The same thing happened to
me!’” said Dulien. “I’m like, ‘This is what these guys do — they rob
surfers!’”
Dulien was turning over every bit of information that came in to the
police. Authorities were also onto this crime syndicate but lacked the
evidence needed to put them away. The same day that Dulien was robbed,
they hit three other surfers for a grand total of more than a quarter
million dollars. Even after this information was made public, the
criminals brazenly kept targeting the same spots and robbing surfers
while they were in the water. They became known on social media for
sometimes driving a Bentley while they committed their crimes.
Eventually, the group was caught red-handed by a security camera on the
house of Dulien’s neighbor. Now the police had the break-ins, license
plates, faces, and stolen items all recorded. The cops even got one of
the thieves to flip on his accomplices. He told police that they
“focused on vehicles belonging to surfers as the surfers would be out on >> the water for significant periods of time and would not be able to take
their keys with them.”
The way the scam worked also came to light. One thief would watch
surfers stash their keys before they paddled out. Another accomplice on
the beach would confirm that the surfer had entered the water, and the
coast was clear to steal the key and break into the car. Once they had
the wallet and phone, they passed it over to the real mastermind,
Moundir Kamil. Kamil, a Moroccan national in the U.S. illegally who was
previously convicted of bank robbery and served time in a California
prison, was able to hack the facial recognition software of the phone
and gain access to all the phone’s apps. While surfers were locked out
of their cars, the thieves would empty bank accounts, investment
holdings, crypto wallets, you name it. When the credit card companies
would call to ask if there was fraudulent behavior from a purchase at
stores like Chanel or the Apple Store, the thieves, in possession of the
phone, would simply answer and approve the charges.
The crooks are now awaiting trial. Daniel Castillo, the man whom Dulien
originally caught on his security camera, faces 30 charges, including
grand theft and fraud. Dulien told STAB that Castillo already had three
felonies and a homicide charge. Kamil, the tech mastermind, is also in
custody awaiting trial.
Thanks to Dulien’s persistence and the combined effort of surfers who
contributed their stories, Southern California surfers don’t have to
worry about these criminals tormenting their surf sessions. That said,
it should be a lesson to all surfers to work out a smart key system for
when you paddle out. Surfers have been the targets of clever thieves
before, after all.
“The surf community is one tribe. … Everyone doesn’t get along but at
the end of the day if someone’s drowning, we’re gonna do whatever we can >> to save them,” said Dulien. “I feel very happy to know that these guys >> aren’t gonna do this to anyone else, especially other surfers.”
Surfers have that kind of money?
Wow!
Apparently they put Spicoli on this one.
I always knew he was a smarty.
On 3/30/2025 7:04 PM, pothead wrote:
On 2025-03-30, Doctor Fill <DF@tutanato.com> wrote:
You used to have to drive down the Baja California to experience this
kind of Third World crime. No thanks to Alejandro Mayorkis, Kamala
Harris, Joe Biden and Gavin Newsom, the crime is now here in the U.S.A.
https://www.theinertia.com/surf/surfers-southern-california-car-
break-in-scheme/
A group of well-organized, high-tech thieves stole over a million
dollars from more than a hundred surfers in Southern California.
Ultimately, it was the surfers who were able to help bring them to
justice.
The story even reached CNN, which recently published a video report
featuring Snapt’s Logan Dulien, one of the victims who played a key role >>> in identifying the thieves. On August 12, 2024, Dulien stashed his car
key in a side yard of his property in Newport Beach while he went for a
surf. When he returned, he discovered that the key was missing. The
thieves had broken into his yard, located the hidden key, and stolen his >>> phone, key, and wallet.
Dulien, who was grieving the recent passing of his mother just two days
before, eventually got online to discover that the thieves had hacked
his phone, drained his accounts, and run up huge bills on his credit
cards. All in all, it was a $150,000 hit.
“I’m just sitting there, kind of deteriorating, like, emotionally,” >>> Dulien told CNN. “I just watched my mom die 48 hours before and it’s >>> been a really rough year and a half. And then this stuff is happening to >>> me. I was basically like, I don’t give a f**k who this is, I’m gonna do >>> everything I can to make them pay.”
Luckily, Dulien had footage of one of the thieves from a security camera >>> on his house. He sent the footage to a tech-savvy friend who cleaned it
up, and then he posted it to social media. STAB picked up the story and
messages started pouring in of other Southern California surfers who had >>> been hit by the same scheme. The list of victims included pros like
Tyler Gunter, Taro Watanabe, and Reef McIntosh.
“All these surfers started DMing to me: ‘The same thing happened to >>> me!’” said Dulien. “I’m like, ‘This is what these guys do — they rob
surfers!’”
Dulien was turning over every bit of information that came in to the
police. Authorities were also onto this crime syndicate but lacked the
evidence needed to put them away. The same day that Dulien was robbed,
they hit three other surfers for a grand total of more than a quarter
million dollars. Even after this information was made public, the
criminals brazenly kept targeting the same spots and robbing surfers
while they were in the water. They became known on social media for
sometimes driving a Bentley while they committed their crimes.
Eventually, the group was caught red-handed by a security camera on the
house of Dulien’s neighbor. Now the police had the break-ins, license
plates, faces, and stolen items all recorded. The cops even got one of
the thieves to flip on his accomplices. He told police that they
“focused on vehicles belonging to surfers as the surfers would be out on >>> the water for significant periods of time and would not be able to take
their keys with them.”
The way the scam worked also came to light. One thief would watch
surfers stash their keys before they paddled out. Another accomplice on
the beach would confirm that the surfer had entered the water, and the
coast was clear to steal the key and break into the car. Once they had
the wallet and phone, they passed it over to the real mastermind,
Moundir Kamil. Kamil, a Moroccan national in the U.S. illegally who was
previously convicted of bank robbery and served time in a California
prison, was able to hack the facial recognition software of the phone
and gain access to all the phone’s apps. While surfers were locked out >>> of their cars, the thieves would empty bank accounts, investment
holdings, crypto wallets, you name it. When the credit card companies
would call to ask if there was fraudulent behavior from a purchase at
stores like Chanel or the Apple Store, the thieves, in possession of the >>> phone, would simply answer and approve the charges.
The crooks are now awaiting trial. Daniel Castillo, the man whom Dulien
originally caught on his security camera, faces 30 charges, including
grand theft and fraud. Dulien told STAB that Castillo already had three
felonies and a homicide charge. Kamil, the tech mastermind, is also in
custody awaiting trial.
Thanks to Dulien’s persistence and the combined effort of surfers who
contributed their stories, Southern California surfers don’t have to
worry about these criminals tormenting their surf sessions. That said,
it should be a lesson to all surfers to work out a smart key system for
when you paddle out. Surfers have been the targets of clever thieves
before, after all.
“The surf community is one tribe. … Everyone doesn’t get along but at
the end of the day if someone’s drowning, we’re gonna do whatever we can
to save them,” said Dulien. “I feel very happy to know that these guys >>> aren’t gonna do this to anyone else, especially other surfers.”
Surfers have that kind of money?
Wow!
Many of them supported their lifestyle by selling LSD back in the days
of the Beach Boys and Jan and Dean. It costs big bucks to live in Surf City. There's a cult book called "The Pump House Gang" that was writen about the surfers in La Jolla in the late '50s and early '60s. I would imagine most of them are trust fund babies or drug dealers. Probably
Dulien saw them as deserving targets for his scams.
Apparently they put Spicoli on this one.
I always knew he was a smarty.