What we have found is that roughly $60,000 dollars has allegedly been defrauded of innocent victims. The alleged acts of fraud have occurred for many years. The number of victims numbers in the dozens and that the true identity of the suspected people behind the fraud is known. In normal investigations, there is a central clearinghouse for this kind of information. That doesn't appear to be the case here. The information has been gleaned from dozens of people over the past several days.

In most major cases of a similar nature, there is a "voice" that represents the case. That does not appear to be the situation here. Generally, that voice provides the news media with relevant information that can be attributed. Providing the public with factual information serves three purposes:

1. Through public awareness, accurate news gets more eyes out looking for both the people involved and to help gather more information about past acts.
2. If those suspected of the crime see the news, they either turn themselves in to clear their name or, they run after becoming aware of their wanted status.
3. It provides a way for other victims to identify who or where they can go for help.

We are a responsible media that has been around for over 12 years. We do not have any interest in being a gossip column but we do have a sincere interest in reporting the facts to the community so that the readers will become aware of the scam and, if they have been scammed themselves, how they can try and remedy the situation.

After a couple of attempts at contacting the Yahoo group, Cybergrass asked some simple basic questions:

1. Approximately how many people were taken advantage of?
2. How may people are suspected in having run this fraud operation?
3. Since this forum is closed, who/where/how does one contact the proper FBI investigator on the case. The FBI will have an investigator assigned if they are involved. May I get his name and contact information.
4. How long was the scam going on before it was detected?
5. Why all the secrecy?

Thanks for your concern and questions. I am David Levitsky (goliathslayer on the JDBB) and I am working closely with the group that was formed to assist the authorities in their investigation of this matter, and to assist the victims recover their losses. We are providing all information we receive of potential value to the investigation to the appropriate authorities. I would urge your members to forward all information regarding any losses they may have suffered to you to pass on to us or they may contact me directly. If you are contact by law enforcement authorities with respect to this matter, we would appreciate your cooperation, and meanwhile, we appreciate any information you send.
David

The private circles make it more difficult to help those who have been taken advantage of. This is especially true for those just now finding out about all this mess. Not all resonator guitar players are active on the Internet. The private circles are also not aiding those in the media in getting the word out. Finally, the media can't really do any damage to the situation as that has already been done. What are these private groups really hiding? There has even been speculation that the reason for the closed circles is that if there are any funds recovered, that these will be split only among the elite few in the private circles. Questions abound but nobody is willing to provide any answers.

Apparently the alleged scams have been on-going for many years and all have focused around the resonator guitar. The scams have involved everything from workshops to selling calendars over the Internet and from selling illegal tablature to selling guitar strings and just about anything in between. Scores of people have reportedly claimed to have been taken advantage of however, we have not been able to access any real numbers. E-mails, private messages, phone calls and other requests for information have all gone unanswered. This also leads to questions about the very unusual approach being taken in this case.

If you believe you have been scammed, you're requested to get on a Yahoo! group however, that group won't allow you to subscribe. If you want to contact the FBI about this, the Internet address provided is only a generic web form that has nothing to do with any particular case or investigator. Again, if you've been taken advantage of, the closed private investigations leave you nowhere to go.

I'm convinced that the suspects are already on the run based on current research and other media stories that I've read and that the suspects are most likely fully aware of these private groups. They know what they've done so hiding the fact from them serves no real use. What are the reso-investigators hiding that the crooks don't already know? Probably nothing. So why are they hiding useful information from the public? That is yet another good and strange question!

We are sympathetic towards those who have lost hard-earned dollars and who have been taken advantage of. What Cybergrass wants to do is make others aware of the situation and to be sure those who have been victimized are not put through even more hardship. One way to do this is to get the word out that this is a serious situation and that real people - probably people we know have been hurt by someone who we thought was a member of our small music community. Our lives have been invaded and violated. Cybergrass only wants to put facts and truthful information into the public to help others. We're not interested in any private details but simple facts like contact information should be available to all. If you can participate in the Yahoo! Group, resospec, we certainly encourage you to do so but we (and the FBI) also believe that you should take it upon yourself to notify the proper authorities yourself and not depend on others to do it for you. We don't want to disrupt any on-going investigation however, the current situation is locked down too tight for new people who may have been victims to participate. Cybergrass will put all the information we can on-line to assist victims.

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