The Criminals Who Found Out the Hard Way!

Isnt it great when people actually fight back to crime?! Lets get started with: 6 - Hell Mop the Floor With You Niall Stranix, a convenience store employee, stopped an armed robbery using only a mop, bucket, and his own hands, Jason Bourne style. Marlon Stewart stumbled into a One Stop branch in Leeds, England, wearing a black face mask and clutching a bottle of vodka and a firearm.

The 61-year-old Stranix was mopping the floor when the unwelcome guest entered. While Stewart was busy scaring a woman behind the counter, Stranix pounced on him and put him in a headlock. Stewart fought to free himself while the two men fought between the aisles and the doorway. Stewarts mask slipped during the struggle, and security camera footage captured his face. Stranix attempted to grab the firearm until Stewart

struck him on the head with the vodka bottle. While they fought, the pistol, which was likely a plastic BB gun, fell apart. Unable to intimidate Stranix with the broken firearm, Stewart broke free from his grip and raced out of the store empty-handed. He jumped into a hijacked white Audi A1 and sped away. Crime Wave The One Stop branch wasnt the only place Stewart committed a crime

that night. After buying a bottle of vodka, he entered a park, brandished his weapon, and robbed three 19-year-old men. With two of the mens stolen cell phones in hand, Stewart burst into a liquor store and demanded that the store employee open the cash register. A woman walked in during the robbery, so Stewart, thinking he was in GTA, stole the keys to her Audi as well. His

next destination was the One Stop store. Stewart stormed the building and pointed his weapon at the cashier. Thats when Stranix quickly intervened. After getting beat up by a 61 year old man, Stewart drove around the city, swerving in and out of traffic, running red lights, and hitting barriers. Stewarts erratic driving in the stolen Audi called way too much attention, and several people reported his dangerous driving

to the police. Aftermath The robbery victims also filed police reports shortly after each incident occurred, and police officers quickly located and arrested Stewart. Hed committed an impressive 13 crimes in 20 minutes, which is probably some kind of high score or something. Stewart was finally charged with robbery, attempted robbery- which seems weird to be charged with both, like he got penalized for failing his first robbery attempt-,

possessing a firearm while committing a robbery, assault causing bodily harm, driving on a suspended license, and driving without insurance. He probably wasnt using his blinkers either. Stewart pleaded guilty to all charges and received a ten-year and four-month prison sentence for his 20 minute reign of terror. Getting beat up by someones grandfather probably isnt going to do much for his reputation in the big house. 5 -

The Worst Target Ever Jamaican Phone scammer Keniel Thomas made a huge mistake when he targeted former FBI chief AND CIA boss William Webster! William and his wife, Linda, were Thomas prospective marks in a Jamaican lottery scam. Thomas called Webster to inform him he had won a car and millions of dollars. To collect his winnings, Thomas told him he would need to pay $50,000 to cover the

prizes taxes. Identifying himself as David Morgan, Thomas said he was the head of the Mega Millions lottery and that Webster had won $15.5 million and a brand new Mercedes Benz. But Webster, who served as director of the FBI and CIA under Jimmy Carter and Ronald Regan, wasnt buying it. Declined Webster and his wife repeatedly declined the offer, prompting Thomas to start being threatening. So Webster notified

his former colleagues at the FBI, who recorded follow-up calls between the couple and Thomas. In a later phone call, the scammer said the Websters had actually won a $72 million package. But he was angry that the couple hadnt paid him yet, so he threatened the supposed lottery winners, the Websters, by claiming he was spying on both of them. Thomas then made graphic threats to Lynda, talking

York, where he was arrested at JFK International Airport, earning himself a prison term. Shouldnt scammers do at least just a LITTLE bit of background check on their targets? 4 - Catching a Different Species of Snake Australian snake wrangler Bryce Lockett exposed a con artist who pretended to be a bank employee so he could scam victims out of their money. The scammer went by the name Eric

and claimed he worked for Suncorp, one of Australias top insurance and banking companies. Eric called Lockett on behalf of Suncorps financial advice and fraud investigation team to tell him they had flagged his account due to six suspicious transactions to crypto.com. The fraudster said he needed to confirm Locketts identity to stop the transactions and that he would provide a call reference number. Lockett, not taking the bait,

played along at first, but then called Eric out by complimenting his scamming ability. Eric, who spoke in a well-enunciated British accent, pulled the ole what? Who? Me!? bit and said he was a bank employee, not a scammer. Which is exactly what a scammer would say. Wrangled Lockett was no stranger to these calls and told Eric that it was the third time hed received a call like

this. Each time, hed contacted Suncorp to confirm the calls were scams. Caught in the act, Eric dropped the posh accent and spoke with his natural Scottish one. He also dropped his guard, saying he was Scottish and had never been to Australia. The tone of their conversation changed, with Eric asking Lockett what the weather was like in Australia and suggesting they should meet up if he ever

got out that way. Lockett said that if Eric stopped scamming him, he would consider it. Lockett then asked Eric why he worked as a con artist, and of course he said money. So Lockett reminded him that he caused a great deal of harm with his scam, but Eric didnt care. He pointed out that he would never meet his victims, and since he pretended to work for

Suncorp, he thought the bank would give them their money back anyway. So to him, there were no real victims. A few weeks before Eric called, fraudulent transactions popped up on Locketts account. Someone skimmed his card and bought $1,000 worth of gift cards. He contacted Suncorp, who were in the process of paying him back when he spoke to Eric. Since Eric used the standard terminology an employee

would use, it was easy to believe he was legitimate. Lockett filmed the interaction and posted it on TikTok to stop others from falling for similar scams. The video was viewed over 1.5 million times. Bryce Lockett seems like a cool dude- and weve never been to Australia either so.... Just sayin. 3 - Citizens Arrest When the police showed no interest in tracking down the person that stole

Scott Dunsters credit card, the dad took matters into his own hands. A thief broke into Dunsters car outside his home and took his wifes purse, which had their joint debit card. Shortly after, he noticed a $75 charge from a liquor store to his account. Dunster screenshotted the transaction and took it to the police. However, law enforcement showed little interest in finding the thief and took no

immediate action. Free Hands So Dunster, like some 1950s hard boiled detective, visited the liquor store where his card was used and requested the security camera footage. With footage in hand, Dunster posted images of the transaction on Facebook. Local social media users soon identified the criminal as Joseph Khas. When a friend told him that they saw Khas nearby, Dunster tried the police again but failed to get

through, prompting him to find the criminal by himself. Dunster made his way to the location and spotted Khas, where a pursuit quickly ensued in a crowded area. He tackled Khas, pinning him to the ground with the help of some nearby security guards. Nearby officers rushed to the scene and swiftly arrested Khas, who pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation. Dunster admitted that he risked his life

by chasing Khas, as he could have been armed, but he was too angry to let him get away with it by that point. Plus, that was his favorite purse. 2 - Not not a Cop An IRS scammer went viral after calling Kyle Roder, a police officer specializing in telephone fraud. Roder's exchange with the scammer grew heated when the fraudster threatened to call the police to arrest

Roder if he didn't hand over his personal information. Roder responded by calling the con man back with the help of fellow cop Don Henning. IRS The conman, posing as an IRS agent, asked for Roder's name and address to look up a supposed case file. The scammer said he would issue an arrest warrant for Roder and come to his house if he didnt cooperate. How would he

send law enforcement to his home if he didn't have Roder's address? Eventually, the scammer claimed he would contact Roder's local sheriff's department, who would arrest him that day. Roder wanted to know why he couldn't deal with the situation at his local IRS office, to which the fraudster stated that his department was already investigating the police officer after the IRS handed his case file to him. The

scammer changed his name multiple times during the call. At first, he said he was Officer James Maxwell, then James Johnson, and then James Maxwell Johnson. Clearly, this guy was one smooth operator. Henning chimed in to inform the scammer that the police don't receive IRS information or arrest warrants based on phone calls of that nature. Educational Film Part of Roder's job is educating elderly people about the

dangers of cold-calling fraudsters, so he filmed the 20-minute conversation for educational purposes. He told the fraudster he needed to check something and would call back. His subsequent attempts to call back failed, with different people answering the phone and claiming he was out to lunch. Some redirected him to a voicemail, and others asked for another fake case number. The police officer hadn't planned to be a potential

scam victim but enjoyed wasting the scammer's time. Fraudsters imitating IRS agents and other phone scams are among the most common fraudsters in the US and occur even more than identity theft. While the con man claimed to be working from a bureau in Washington, DC, he had a foreign accent. Since nobody lost money in the interaction, the police department couldn't take legal action against the caller. Often

scams like this occur outside of the country, making it much more difficult to prosecute them. When fraudsters take money from their targets, law enforcement notifies the real IRS and the FBI. The police department released a video of the call, which received over 3.4 million views in two days. Be sure to stay tuned right here for our past release on the worst scammers who scammed their own

friends and family! 1- Caught in the Act Sal Mercado refused to be a burglary victim when two men broke into his California home. Mercado came home to find an unfamiliar car parked out front with a driver sitting behind the wheel. Though it probably wasnt the safest thing to do, Mercado ran into his house, where he encountered two burglars in the act. They attempted to flee when

they saw Mercado, with one slipping past him as he walked into his home. But Mercado hit the burglar over the head as he ran toward the getaway car. The criminal fell onto the grass in the front yard but pulled himself onto his feet and ran to the vehicle. More Hands The second burglar, Alexis Provoste Aranguiz, was still walking down the stairs carrying jewelry and electronics. Mercado

wasnt about to let Aranguiz leave without a fight. While the getaway car was getting away with the first burglar, he wrestled Aranguiz to the ground. Mercado shouted for neighbors to call 911 as Aranguiz squeezed out of his grip. The homeowner chased after him, shoving him into the bushes on the side of his property. Mercado grabbed Aranguizs arms and pulled them behind his back. Mercado then put

his entire body weight on Aranguizs head while waiting for the police to arrive. When officers reached the scene, they arrested the Chilean national, who faced felony charges of first-degree residential burglary and conspiracy. Aranguiz and his accomplices were suspected members of a South American theft group. The group was responsible for a recent wave of crime tourism, where they send burglars on trips to the US. They would

often fly through LAX and target homeowners across the state, returning to their home countries with stolen goods. Considering where he was in Southern California, it sounds like the Aranguiz was lucky all he got was pinned. Whats worse, scamming your own mom just to buy a new car to flex on social media? Or running a ponzi scheme and scamming money from all the people around you? Lets

start with: 5 - Moms New Car Heidi Carruthers In 2018, Heidi Carruthers bought a shiny new BMW for 42 thousand pounds with her moms help. The problem here is that the role of her "mom" was played by someone else!. The misrepresented mom didnt find out about anything until she was later contacted about the car payments falling behind. Carruthers is a serial offender. Her rap sheet has

a whopping 79 previous offenses, 34 of which ended in convictions. The 35-year-old wasnt expected to see much mercy from the court when it all came to light. Cleansed When the case was addressed in court earlier in 2022, all signs pointed toward Carruthers having the book thrown at her. Then her attorney, Steve Hennessy, brought forth a relevant fact. Carruthers had given birth to a daughter in 2019

and had since turned things around. Carruthers had reportedly shown remorse and embarrassment over the whole thing and supposedly had committed no other offenses since the birth of her daughter. She was also a prior user who had been clean since the pregnancy. Her lawyers claimed to the court that she was committed to remaining clean for her daughter. This argument and Carruthers own confession and testimony were enough

to sway officials. Judge Graeme Smith noted that the woman being sentenced in 2022 and the offender from 2018 were quote, two different people. What was supposed to be a 16-month prison sentence was changed to an 18-month suspended sentence. As part of that agreement, Carruthers was subjected to a 20-day rehab program and a four-month curfew, enforced by electronic monitoring. Motherly Love In cases like this, its reasonable

to expect the victim to be upset. This goes double when the victim is the offenders mother, seemingly showcasing poor parenting skills for all the world to see. On the contrary, Carruthers mom turned up in court to support her daughter. The whole thing ended with poor mom on a credit blacklist and the financing company unable to recover most of the original amount financed. Even so, her mom

indicated that she loves and supports her daughter and will stick by her! 4 - ATM Investment Scammers Colin Voeuk and Aimee Ploi Pitman, out of Darwin, Australia, racked up about $1.9 million banking on ATMs that didnt exist, with their first victim being Pitmans father. Sources say she stole almost $300,000 from him, and Dear old dad had no idea he was being led on. Such a substantial

sum should be more than enough to get a legitimate ATM business off the ground. But that was never the plan. They simply told people they had a legit company and asked them to get on board. The pair hooked 17 people. Pitman roped in several victims from the hospital she worked at. She had no problem scamming her coworkers on company time. ATM Owner ATM ownership and the

operation of the ATMs arent all that complicated. There are several companies out there willing to help you start out. According to one of those companies, all you would need to start is a suitable location and about $5,000 to buy the machine, get it hooked up, and load it with an initial payload of cash. Pitman and her beau chose to skip this part because it was too

complicated for them. You must service the ATMs, repair them, keep them loaded, and so on. These are all things that the pair didnt want to do for their investors. They did at least one semi-honest thing; they shelled out around $700,000 to pay their investors. But the money came from other investors funds, aka it was a Ponzi scheme. Aftermath Officials estimated a figure shy of $1.9 million

as the ultimate take in the scam. This number included the initial $300,000 kick-in from Pitmans dad. Despite everything, he was still willing to throw down $10,000 against his daughters bail. Even so, the courts ultimately denied bail in the case. The other victims probably didnt feel the same way, and the courts suspected the victims they had proof about werent the only ones taken in. In December of

2018, the couple pled guilty to multiple charges. This netted them each a seven-and-a-half-year sentence, four of which were without the possibility of parole. 3 - Party Money Hannah Dickenson Hannah Dickenson had the grim task of telling those in her life that she was facing terminal cancer. Our story began in 2012 when Hannah went to her parents asking for cash for lifesaving treatment. Not long after, she

needed another procedure that would happen in New Zealand. By 2013, Dickenson had stretched her parents' paper-thin. They began turning to friends, neighbors, associates, and anybody else who would lend a hand. Dickenson didn't go around asking on her own. Residents eventually came together to give Dickenson everything she needed. This would be a heartwarming story of a community rallying around one of their own... if it werent a

complete scam. Diagnosis Turns out Hannahs grim task was self-imposed and totally unnecessary; she had scammed everybody around her. There was no cancer, and none of the money that people gave to her ended up going to medical treatments. The cancer she claimed to have, its worth noting, was a rare form that has a high survival rate and is among the easiest to cure. This meant she could

claim to be healed and back out of the whole deal whenever she wanted. The whole thing is even more heinous because one of her victims was an actual cancer survivor. Fresh off his own treatment, the generous guy kicked in $10,000 out of the nearly $42,000 that Dickenson made off with in the end. She got found out in 2018 after one of her victims saw a suspicious

social media post and contacted the police. Cops put out the word, and others came forward in short order. It was later revealed that she had been using the money to party it up with friends at home and abroad. Hard-partying and holidays were the name of the game, all made possible by money that was supposed to be paying for lifesaving medical treatments. Naturally, her travels included some

serious drinking and use of illegal substances, both of which were a constant in her brief new life. This ended up playing into her case later on. Court Decision When her entire fake story shattered in 2018, Dickenson landed in court. Officials saddled her with seven charges of obtaining property by deception. Despite just how brazen her crimes were, one person saw good in her still; her lawyer, Beverley

Lindsay. The defense brought up the case of health blogger Belle Gibson, who was ultimately saddled with a $400,000 fine for misleading her readers and scamming whatever she could get out of her audience. This was all done under the guise of putting out content to help others in similar situations, which Lindsay argued made Gibsons case worse. She pleaded with the magistrate not to send Dickenson to jail.

The magistrate saw things differently. Court official David Starvaggi argued that Dickensons in-your-face fraud, to her own parents no less, required swift and decisive deterrence. As such, he threw Dickenson in jail for three months. She also caught a 12-month community service order that amounted to 150 hours, along with court-mandated rehab. This resulted in the scammer losing her job at Little Real Estate as a property manager. Same

Time At the same time frame as the original scam, it turns out that Dickenson was engaging in a much more conventional fraud! Records show she attempted to get a car loan for $30,000 using fake documents and a fake identity. As if that wasnt enough, she nabbed over $100,000 in disability payments using fake documents submitted to the local magistrates office. The whole thing came out in 2021,

and Dickenson found herself in court again. Officials were much less lenient this time; they slapped her with a sentence of at least a year for using false documentation, with more charges pending as of 2022. The car loan was reportedly not granted, making it a bit less serious. The disability payments, however, went on from 2014 to 2018, when her original case broke. 2 - Cancer Banker Rajesh

Ghedia of Berkshire pocketed around 1.8 million from multiple scams, including defrauding insurance and pension companies with claims of a cancer diagnosis. The scams ran from 2016 onward and included a claim that he had been promoted to vice president at his employer, Bank of America. Ghedia claimed to have aggressive pancreatic cancer, giving him a year to live. This scam, perpetrated on his pension and life insurance companies,

allowed him to withdraw funds he otherwise would have had to wait quite some time for all at once. About 1.2 million of his total take came from this avenue. Along the way, Ghedia had an unnamed accomplice pose as a doctor to vouch for him, and he dragged many unknowing doctors names into the case. The other half of the story is that he claimed to be the

vice president of Bank of America. He used this position to convince victims to invest in banking products and services that didnt exist. Two of those victims were his cousin and his own father. Things initially came to a head with a documentation issue found in 2019. Still, he continued scamming with a new insurance company, buying and cashing a policy worth 900,000. High Life According to officials, Ghedia

spent the cash on a mansion in the expensive Virginia Water area of Surrey. He also got his hands on some expensive vehicles. To put the cherry on top, he sent his children to an expensive private school in the area. Whether his primary motivation was selfish greed or providing a better life for his children, he still sentenced seven souls to financial ruin. Victims Falsely representing both Bank

of America and Goldman Sachs, Ghedia scammed 600,000 from seven different victims. His cousin, Vipul Chandegra, was out 63,000. Some 116,000 left the pockets of Per Selbekk, a local dad whose kids went to the same school as Ghedias. At a party, he met Wayne Johncock, who lost out on 181,000. Perhaps the most tragic victims were Ghedias regular taxi driver and the mans wife, Saeeda Ahmed. The pair

lost over 100,000 to the scam. Part of it was taxes attached to the investments, which the couple borrowed around 70,000 to pay. This resulted in them losing their home. What makes this part of the story sting even worse is that he faked the death of his own daughter to get out of owning up! When Saeeda confronted him the first time, he concocted a car accident in

the States that had his daughter hospitalized, drawing his attention from the matter at hand. When she confronted him again, he shrugged her off by saying his daughter had succumbed to her injuries. Aftermath When the law finally caught up with Ghedia in 2022, he was saddled with 30 fraud charges. The courts showed him no mercy, and he ultimately pled guilty to 22 of those charges. Judge Deborah

Taylor sympathized with the victims and painted a picture of Ghedia as a man with no morals. Detective Constable Daniel Weller of Londons Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department had a similar view. Judge Taylor sentenced Ghedia to a grand total of six years and nine months in prison. Authorities went to work getting victims their money back, liquidating Ghedias ill-gotten assets. 1 - Ponzi Pharmacist Natalie Cochran, 40, a pharmacist

from Raleigh County, West Virginia, ran a scam that ultimately cost her victims a hefty $2 million. She used two companies that she owned with her husband to run an elaborate Ponzi scheme from 2017 to 2019, defrauding individuals, companies, and even banks along the way. The scam centered around investments in her two companies, Technology Management Solutions and Tactical Solutions Group. The two fake companies were misrepresented to

11 people, among other victims. The investors were convinced by fake government contracts and other files produced by Cochran. She sold them on the experience, contracts, and projects her company never had. To keep the scam going, Cochran used some of the money to pay back old investors as new ones jumped on board. The classic Ponzi scheme was peppered by personal and business expenditures, some over $10,000 each.

None of them pertained to any of the contracts or investments that Cochran represented. However, she used $35,000 of the money to buy a sweet 1965 Shelby Cobra, a collectors item that could be argued as an investment. Court The United States isnt the best place to run a Ponzi scheme, as Cochran found out in 2020. The investigation involved multiple agencies and local and federal government branches, including

the Secret Service. The high-stakes crimes were finally brought to light in September 2020 when Cochran pled guilty to charges involving money laundering and wire fraud. Her sentence was 11 years in prison and three years of supervised release. Along with jail time, Cochran has to pay back over $2.5 million to her victims. So far, asset forfeitures have barely scratched the surface. The seizure of her personal and

company bank accounts only yielded $45,000. Strange Turn Most scam stories end when the perpetrator gets their day in court. In this case however, things only get weirder - and darker. Cochran was suspected of going after her own husband. Michael Cochran fell ill while all this was happening and reportedly died in Hospice care in February. The late Michael was only 38, making natural causes a suspicious conclusion.

Local investigators were struck by this fact and decided to look deeper into it. After all, if Natalie killed her co-owner husband, she would no longer have to split the loot. Additionally, that would be one less loose end. Michaels body was exhumed, and an autopsy was performed. The investigation is ongoing as of 2022, leaving authorities tight-lipped on the matter. Whats known is that Natalie was brought back

into court in 2022, indicted for her husbands passing, and faced first-degree charges. With a not-guilty plea and the trial date still pending, its anybodys guess as to what will happen before its all over. Click to watch one of these next videos! Let us know in the comment section what youd rather do, catch a criminal who robbed you yourself, or have police catch him or her!