Jail-House Babes: Cyberlove or Cyberfraud?

Group Members: Ana, Ray, Jenny

Internet fraud is a crime in which the perpetrator develops a scheme using one or more elements of the Internet to deprive a person of property or any interest, estate, or right by a false representation of a matter of fact, whether by providing misleading information or by concealment of information.

deceit, trickery, sharp practice, or breach of confidence, perpertrated for profit or to gain some unfair or dishonest advantage.

What is Jail-House Babes?

• Website of female inmates seeking pen pals
• Jailhouse-Babes.com began as Gabby's Lounge BBS in 1989
• There is a one-time cost for her to place an ad ($5.00)
• There is no cost associated with you retrieving her mailing address
• These ladies do not have access to the Internet
• Their only means of contact with the outside world is by the United States Mail system
• In the early days of Gabby's Lounge, the owner began receiving personals ads from inmates
• This prompted the categorization of Jailbabes to seperate them from other personals ads.

Becoming a Pen Pal

• Those hoping for inmates to contact them will place themselves on the mailing list
• The mailing list is one page of names and addresses (13 rows and 3 columns)
• A short description about the person is also listed with his/her mailing address
  • example: SWM, 30, 5'11"/180/Brn/Blue
• As a new row of names are added, the older row comes off
• A name will stay on the list for about three months, though it one's mailing informations can go around the prison system for months or even years
• A copy of the mailing list is sent to inmates upon her request, or when the owner of the website (Gabby) returns an inmate's photos.

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Fraud on Jail-House Babes

• Fraud is committed in multiple ways on Jail-House Babes
  • Inmates post old pictures that make them look much more appealing than they currently do
  • Inmates lie about the reason for incarceration, or leave it blank
  • Inmates will get pen pals to send them money in promises of meeting up, once freed
  • Inmates send in photos of other inmates
  • Inmates will describe themselves in ways physical characteristics, that are untrue
    • For Instance -
      • Inmates have been known to put a date of birth, which makes them younger
      • Inmates will lie about race, weight, release date, and crime
• Typically Gabby, the Web Owner monitors these deceptions and will post what one's mugshot looked like if they posted an old picture, add in a what their charge really was (sometimes posting links to news articles re: their crime), post the actual release date if one lied, etc.

North County TimesVoice of San Diego

• Susan Dianne Eubanks describes herself as "optimistic in life" and leaves the section, asking for her reason for incarceration blank
• Susan actually murdered her four children
• This important piece of information about the inmate was added in by the Website owner.

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A Message from Gabby

In her letter she expressed gratitude for helping her to attain financial assistance. She more or less bragged how "one guy sends $600.00 per month and several send $200-$300 per month". What bothers me is that she's making me an accomplice to fraud and I don't appreciate that.

I'm tempted to remove her ad, but perhaps she's honest and up front with all the people who're sending her such large sums of money. Are there really that many men willing to casually donate $200.00 to $600.00 per month to female inmates with no expectations for anything in return? If there are, let me offer for sale of Jailhouse-Babes.com web site!

I've read so many times how men feel they're ripped off by women in prison who seemingly make promises they do not expect to keep. This woman seems to be one of them, to me, but how would I know for sure if she's playing games with men's compassion?

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NOTICE ON WEBSITE (TEXAS INMATES)

NOTICE
When writing to inmates in Texas, you MAY be a potential victim of fraud according to a letter I received from the Safe Prisons Coordinator, Sgt. Doane, that was postmarked August 26th, 2008. The complete letter is downloadable __here.__
Following are excerpts from this letter:
"The correspondence will often include false information about the offender's age and appearance (often using photographs of other offenders who are younger, thinner, and more attractive than the author), the reason for incarceration, and the length of sentence and parole information."
You can verify the accuracy of an inmate's race, sex, age, location, projected release date and reason(s) for incarceration by going to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice web site and look up the offender by name or TDCJ Number. The address for the TDCJ site is: http://offender.tdcj.state.tx.us/POSdb2/index.jsp

Texas State Offender Locator

Other states have similar sites, other inmates have similar fraud scams going on. It's up to you to decide how much trust and truth you're sharing with the inmate you're writing, not up to the state or me or anyone else.

Ways Female Inmates Commit Fraud

The Mask	nis the idea that female inmates commit fraud by lying about their physical features and other aspects of themselvesnincludes posting a false picture, lying about measurements, and racial identitynlying about their age nthe reason for incarceration
Psuedo Mutualism	othe idea that female inmates will benefit from pen pals without giving something in return. oFor example—receiving money, write letters and telling pen pals they will meet with them, and then breaking thier promise.

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Irene Gordon
[Warning: This inmate submitted an ad text and photo presenting herself to be a young white woman who would be released in 2009. Upon investigation with the Florida Department of Correcions, her information has been changed to reflect her true identity and information.]

Race:		Black					Sexual Preference:
Date of Birth:		11/07/1969					Age:		38
Projected Release Date:		Life sentence					Marital Status
Height:		5' 11"		Weight:	223 pounds		Measurements:
Hair Color:		Black					Eye Color:		Brown
Children:							Religion:
Education:
Occupation:
Reason for incarceration:		1st degree murder/premeditated or attempted

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Examples Of Fraud

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Arizona
Desert Diva (Lisa Harris)

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This is the picture she place. This is her mug shot

Arizona
Looking For Pen Pal (Loretta Ann Greer)

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This is the picture she place. This is her mug shot
FloridaAll Over
Brazilian/Greek Goddess (Robin Lunceford)

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This is the picture she place. This is her mug shot.
From Gabby:
[Caution: This inmate provided false information on her form, so I went to the Florida DOC web site to verify what she provided. Below is her mug shot. She stated her date of birth as 11-4-72 and age as 38, but in fact she's 10 years older. She also says she has been "sexually assaulted by the officers...it's BAD here, NO ONE will Help US".]

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Mayme Clemens

I am a sexy, fun loving, energetic, down to earth, honest, loyal, faithful, devoted, warm hearted lady who is in search of an honest, loving, caring man that would possibly be a knight in shining armor for me and a possible long term relationship.

If you are looking for a true, loving, sincere lady, then please contact me.

Thank you and God bless.

Mayme Clemons

Mug shot:

Mayme Clemons

Race:		White					Sexual Preference:
Date of Birth:		01/08/1958					Age:		50
Projected Release Date:		06/06/2012					Marital Status
Height:		5' 5"		Weight:	147 pounds		Measurements:
Hair Color:		Brown					Eye Color:		Brown
Children:							Religion:
Education:
Occupation:
Reason for incarceration:		Exploiting elderly/disabled
Willing to relocate?							Home City & State:		Fort Pierce, Florida

Sources

oCowTownInfo.com—Jail-House Babes

oDead Men Posting—Voice of San Diego Article

oFemale Prisoners Go Online to FindLove—KHOU article

oISO A Femme Fatale?—Houston Press Blog

oJail-House Babes Yahoo Group

oTexas Live News Investigation

oJury Chooses Death forCamacho—North County Times ArticleoAlexa.com