Large quantity of cellphones bought raises red flags, Lebanon police notify the FBI

How much would a purchase of this size cost, and was this visa, master card or cash?

originally posted by: JimNasium
a reply to: SPECULUM


Kind of funny how it was only AFTER the purchase that this seemed hinky. I wonder why Chinama...uh...er.... Walmart™ waited until after finishing the sale to lodge any complaint?

Probably because their face recognition software made a hit?

originally posted by: StoutBroux
The FBI should be investigating this, correlating data between the Walmarts in that locale and getting video. Just to get an idea of what's going on.

You're damned if you do, damned if you don't in these situations. If the men turn out to be terrorists that follow through on an attack, people will scream that no one did enough to stop them. If nothing happens and the phones were purchased for good reason, those questioning the purchases will be called racist, xenophobes etc. You can't win.

Quite frankly, the purchases should be noted, regardless of who is doing the buying.

Exactly. That was commendable of the clerk to follow policy. Obviously, he wasn't concerned with the profiling label like that woman in San Bernadino.

originally posted by: xistence05
In this area there is a high likelihood like a previous poster said that they planned to resell them. Probably in a convenience store. We have many independently owned convenience stores ran/owned by middle eastern people. No biggie. Most are really cool. Some own multiple stores and bring over family to work them. It was probably coordinated in that they sent multiple people to buy as many as possible from multiple locations to stock up. A lot of these stores will also sell drug paraphernalia like papers, glass stems for meth and crack pipes (packaged as other things of course) which makes them an ideal "safe place" for drug dealers to buy Burner phones from because those shop owners don't report. They don't care. They are here to make money.

Or are there any flea markets around the area? They might pop up around there.

originally posted by: Shamrock6
I would suspect, based off my own experience, that the FBI was called because two guys who seemed to be out of place made an out of place transaction.

Certain kinds of people appreciate a good deal on a cheap throwaway phone. Some are legitimate, decent people.

Many aren't.

Why this so much reminds me of Trump's quote about Mexicans?!

It seems the same kind of thinking...

Some are good, most are rapist and killers... right???

Appropriate article @ huff: Countdown to Kristallnacht

originally posted by: UnBreakable

originally posted by: StoutBroux
The FBI should be investigating this, correlating data between the Walmarts in that locale and getting video. Just to get an idea of what's going on.

You're damned if you do, damned if you don't in these situations. If the men turn out to be terrorists that follow through on an attack, people will scream that no one did enough to stop them. If nothing happens and the phones were purchased for good reason, those questioning the purchases will be called racist, xenophobes etc. You can't win.

Quite frankly, the purchases should be noted, regardless of who is doing the buying.

Exactly. That was commendable of the clerk to follow policy. Obviously, he wasn't concerned with the profiling label like that woman in San Bernadino.

You both stated the problem. In San Bernadino we have heard the neighbor should have said something if they noticed something really suspicious. IMO the neighbor was just talking out of their a$$ after it all went down. Here in this case large numbers of cell phones were purchased in three different locations in about 12 hours. The purchases were called in as suspicious activity as they should have been. Since the buyers were listed as men and foreigners we have people saying the sheriff in one county is a bigot, maybe he is maybe hi isn't, it doesn't really matter.

Clearly the general population don't want things reported because it is racist. I would hope the sheriff would have investigated if it was white people or any race making the purchases. You have to admit it is easier to link the purchases when the buyers stand out in some way. This general area of Missouri is 85-97% white, just the way it is. People need to use common sense.

These purchases are most likely not related to radicals. As has been said earlier in the thread there are many reasons to make purchases like this, some are nefarious some aren't. Either way I believe it should be reported and investigated, it's better to be safe than sorry.

The reason it is suspicious:

*Walmart has an automatic register lock on cell phones and SIM cards at two per transaction. Thats is, once two are scanned for checkout, it will auto decline any and all phones or SIM cards afterwards, for that individual transaction.
*That means at least 30 individual transactions had to take place to purchase a total quantity of 60, even a manager cannot override this or they will face disciplinary action.
*In my experience, having slaved in that department for a decade, the people who come to purchase any quantity over four usually have a tax exemption ID.
*Nearly EVERY transaction I ever handled like this were foreigners, with the majority actually being Palestinians, followed by Lebanese. I always asked because I was always curious.

This was part of the patriot act I believe which was amended in due to the volume of IED's that were detonated during the Iraq war with cheap throw away cell phones. but that is why cell phone quantities were regulated, and I made sure to tell every customer that made purchases in this manner were fully aware as to why we had this restriction.

It will be the same at any retailer including Best Buy, Target, Kmart, Big lots etc etc...

Most of the people who do this are local entrepreneurs doing their thing at a flea market or indoor discount mall type flea market or gas stations even. But in this city where I live, the men and woman who made these purchases at the store I worked were usually part of a particular Lebanese or Palestinian family. I sometimes by stuff from one of their convenience shops down the street from me. They have better price on a deck of cards, Wal-Mart charges nearly three times as much!

a reply to: SPECULUM

I worked for a large chain Pharmacy got a brief period of time. Training entailed sitting through some short videos that showed “red flags” that we should alert police of.
A Large Quantity of throw away cell phones was one of the red flags, as well as gift cards, certain OTC Medicine Combos, and even excess quantities of certain hand sanitizers by age.

It looks like this is happening in more then one area at multiple Walmarts.

4 Incidents reported

ABC 17 News confirmed Thursday someone tried to buy a suspicious number of phones at Wal-Mart East in Jefferson City over the weekend. The latest report is in addition to three other reports of similar incidents in Columbia, Macon and Lebanon. Authorities in all four cities said they had contacted FBI agents. However, The FBI only confirmed it is investigating three of those reports.

On Thursday, a television station in Cape Girardeau reported that the FBI was investigating more suspicious phone purchases in Cape Girardeau and Jackson.

Maybe they are just buying them for re sell but considering the times we are living in this should be investigated and vetted. How anyone cant see the logic in that is beyond me!

a reply to: sirlancelot

More incidents are coming to light. In a few incidents police did make contact with the individual. Police stated they had no legal reason to arrest and sent them on their way. The guys were identified and living in Michigan. The largest mid east population in the us is located in mi.

The info was turned over to MO highway patrol's Intel section as well as the FBI.

So far its just weird purchases with nothing criminal.

a reply to: Xcathdra

Yeah, these guys would go all over to stock their stores. As I said in my previous post, I managed a cell phone store for a few years in the Metro Detroit and surrounding areas. I bounced between Ann Arbor, Taylor, and Toledo stores.

I blame the folks working the stores. As an employee you always have the right to refuse the sale. I did it quite often, especially once I began realizing the same people were continually coming in for phones. Usually when someone got really bad we would communicate with other stores letting them know who to new on the lookout for. This went for both pay as you go and contract phones, though mostly the pay as you go units. The downside of refusing the sale is there's nothing stopping them from just going to another store, sending in someone new, or both.

This is hardly a new trend either, as this was going on back when I worked at these stores. That gig ended for me back in 2010. It's just something "scary" about people of another color that the news had picked up on. Unfortunately, a lot of people seem to be feeding into it...

6 Walmart's have reported bulk sales totaling upwards of 150 phones across southern Missouri (east to west). The FBI is also looking into reports of propane tank thefts from north Missouri (2 separate incident's totaling 25+ tanks). They are not sure if their is a connection.

RT - Theft of dozens of propane tanks, purchase of 150 prepaid cell phones in Missouri puts FBI on alert

a reply to: Xcathdra

Propane tanks are often stolen by scrappers looking to make a buck. I don't think there's any need to connect one thing with another, but only to drum up more fear...

a reply to: cmdrkeenkid

Hopefully there is no link. Either or the FBI is looking into it. Better safe than sorry...

Have you seen new stories that several other instances have popped up in Missouri concerning large cell phone quantities being purchased after this initial story? Apparently, they are also reporting these purchases in the same articles where dozens of propane tanks have been stolen from Wal-Marts since November.

Edit-Should have read last posts first! Ha.

How soon we forget the Pakistani who tried and failed in Times Square.

Link

So, if you have stolen ambulances, or buses....these have all happened in the last 5-7 years. Throw in phones instead of clocks.

Link for the whole article.

You see, he was from a connected family. Here on a student Visa.

Shahzad told interrogators that he was "inspired by" extremist Anwar al-Awlaki

originally posted by: hubrisinxs
You had no reason to arrest them, but you called the FBI cause they were different looking and sounded funny?

No actually it was because they did something highly suspicious, which is something a normal person does not normally do, and is something you'd look for when trying to find a criminal.

originally posted by: hubrisinxs

They were notified and that seems reasonable, but the article clearly says they could find no reason to detain them.

If you plan on committing a murder tomorrow, is there any reason to detain you today? You don't buy cellphones after the crime, but before.

originally posted by: cmdrkeenkid
a reply to: Xcathdra

Propane tanks are often stolen by scrappers looking to make a buck. I don't think there's any need to connect one thing with another, but only to drum up more fear...

Perhaps not, but if you can't post things like this on ATS for the sake of being cautious, we might as well link the URL to facebook and all share recipes.

a reply to: SPECULUM
I live in Missouri and have told family members to keep their eyes open. With Christmas coming up and people all out shopping,there is no telling if something is up or not.