According to Suffolk County prosecutors, three individuals named Tim Mueller, Jared Widman, and Kenneth Martino were detained for allegedly stealing $5 million from investors in what they falsely promised would be the next great social media platform. What DA says is that the Trio Scammed $5M From Investors in a Fake Website
Tim Mueller- Three Men Involved in Social Media Scam Indicted
Following their indictment for alleged involvement in a multimillion-dollar investment scam, three men face grand larceny and scheme to defraud charges.
From left: Jared Widman, 32, of Pennsylvania, Kenneth Martino, 52, of Huntington, and Timothy Mueller, 54, of Greenport.
Following their indictment for alleged involvement in a multimillion-dollar investment scam, three men face grand larceny and scheme to defraud charges, according to Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota.
The defendants’ promises and assertions that they had built the next great social media platform and that their internet project was sponsored by the office supply firm Staples and the social media organization Myspace, according to District Attorney Spota, were the premise of the fraud.
Kenneth Martino of Huntington, Tim Mueller of Greenport, and Jared Widman of Harvey’s Lake, Pennsylvania are charged with several counts of grand larceny in the first, second, and third degrees, as well as two counts of scheme to defraud in the first degree, according to the indictment.
Tim Mueller pleaded not guilty today at his arraignment before State Supreme Court Justice Fernando Camacho to one count of grand larceny in the first degree, five counts of grand larceny in the second degree, three counts of grand larceny in the third degree, and two counts of scheme to defraud in the first degree. Mueller, 54, was granted cash bail of $250,000 or a bond of $750,000 by the judge.
Jared Widman, 32, pled not guilty to one crime of first-degree grand larceny, eight counts of second-degree grand larceny, four counts of third-degree grand larceny, and two counts of first-degree scheme to defraud. Widman was granted cash bail of $250,000 or a bond of $750,000 by Justice Camacho.
District Attorney Spota’s words- “By using high-pressure sales tactics, including claims that “short-term funding” was desperately needed to complete the project or it would fall apart, these defendants were successful in pressuring their victims into giving in excess of $5 million dollars.”
None of the funds were used for the business-related expenses stated by the defendants, and the defendants’ relationships with Staples and Myspace were false. According to the inquiry, the defendants utilized investor funds to pay for luxury vehicles, golf club fees, sporting event tickets, gambling expenses, and credit card bills.
Tim Mueller- What are social media scams?
Social media scams are a type of fraud that is committed on social networking sites. Scammers often create fake profiles, befriend innocent people, and send spam messages or links that lead to malicious websites
What is a fake website?
Scam websites are any illegitimate internet websites used to deceive users into fraud or malicious attacks. Scammers abuse the anonymity of the internet to mask their true identities and intentions behind various disguises.
How to Identify Scammers Like Tim Mueller?
Here are the following steps to identify fake websites:
- Examine the origin of the website connection.
The majority of website links originate someplace – search results, social media sites, friend communications, you name it. Fake website links are no different. And the origin of their links may be the best sign that the website is a forgery.
- Check the domain name and URL
You should also examine the URLs and domain names before opening the link. Information is especially important if you get information from an untrustworthy source, such as a spam email or a social network comment.
Some connections are not what they appear to be. Take a look at the following link, for example:
The fraudulent website could:
- Use a different top-level domain, such as.net rather than.com.
- Include additional punctuation in the domain name.
- Have an original name that is misspelled (a tactic known as typosquatting).
- Use a number rather than a letter in the domain name, such as a zero instead of an “o,” which will be less obvious when the URL is in uppercase letters.
- Examine the SSL/TLS certificate
Another thing to look for when inspecting the URL is whether the site has an SSL/TLS certificate. In the web address bar, it’s indicated by a padlock symbol before the URL and the HTTPS prefix.
- Examine the domain’s age.
Checking the domain age on the Whois Lookup page is useful. It’s also simple: paste the URL you wish to examine and check the “Dates” in the domain profile details. It specifies how old the domain is and when it was registered.
- Take a look at the website content
If the website has any of the following, it’s not a good sign:
- Poor language.
- Urgency or fear invoking calls to action
- Design issues.
- Intrusive pop-ups and ads
- Lack of important pages
- Lack of payment methods
- Look for online reviews and recommendations.
- Make use of a website checker.
Phishing scams and fake websites are a huge problem, so many tools are available to combat them. Therefore, you can always paste the URL of a website to one of the tools, for example, Google’s Safe Browsing Site Status tool.
Other Scams Similar to Tim Mueller
False acquaintances
It goes without saying that you should be cautious about who you connect with on social media. People requesting you as a friend and requesting money appears to be something that only occurs on American TV shows, but it is surprisingly common. The fraudster may even masquerade as one of your friends or send you a phishing link that leads you to a harmful website.
Downloads of free apps
These apps frequently request personal information from you. An app that appears to be legitimate may in fact download malware onto your smartphone. Before downloading new apps, consider whether you trust the source, conduct research, and avoid third-party app stores in favor of the one provided.
Quizzes
Online quizzes promising to reveal your personality type, which celebrity you resemble, or a too-good-to-be-true award contain hidden dangers. They typically include terms and conditions that allow the information you provide to be sold to third parties. It also means that the app developer can learn a lot about you from your profile, friends, and IP address. Avoid any short quizzes promoted on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.
URLs that have been hidden
Be wary about clicking on shortened URLs that conceal the entire URL of the webpage. They are very common on Twitter, and while they may innocently direct you to the correct site, there is always the possibility that they will redirect you to one that installs malware. Be cautious.
Conclusion – How to Avoid Scammers like Tim Mueller
Use strong, one-of-a-kind passwords.
All of your internet accounts, including email, should have unique passwords. People frequently use the same password for many accounts, which is risky.
Personal information should not be posted.
If you share your nicknames, pet’s names, and addresses, or when you’re on vacation, a fraudster is more likely to piece together your information.
Set your accounts to private.
Or only show a few details on anything that the public can see. Only trustworthy friends and relatives will be able to see anything you submit this way.
Do you think Tim Mueller is a scammer? Or do you think Tim Mueller is a legitimate person? Share your thoughts below:
My neighbor had faced a similar situation where he suffered heavy losses while believing in these fake platforms. He was unable to get their money back. Now he never put his money in any type of online trading platform. And I also believe these sites are a nightmare for the investors.
I believe that these fraudsters had deeper links with the country’s politicians, allowing them to easily obtain bail from the court. People must now raise this problem, and the government must take strict action against these financial crooks. I absolutely agree with the author’s point of view in the article.
It is the duty of the investors to research it properly about the platform properly whether the site is legit or not, and then go for further steps. The government should make some guidelines regarding this issue so, it would save the interest of the investors.
It is difficult to believe that fraudsters like Tim Muller still exist in society. He duped thousands of investors, and after they committed the crimes, these financial crooks effortlessly escaped. Now that I’ve read this, it’s evident that investing in online platforms will be highly risky.
These websites are trying to grab the personal information of the people. People give access to their personal devices and later they have to face lots of problems while dealing with these platforms. The main intention of these websites is to mislead investors and earn money.
These scammers were making fake profiles on social media in order to grab the attention of the naive investors in their trap. The regulatory authority took some strict actions against these scammers who were doing these scams and put them behind bars.
Nowadays Online scams are quite common many people put them on some of the fake platforms and later they will get nothing. In most cases, individuals were scammed due to they put their trust in fraudulent schemes and they don’t know the actual motive of these scammers.
These scammers were stealing the money of the investors with the help of deceptive marketing techniques and bogus websites. It is best to avoid these fake platforms as there is a great chance of losing money.