Americans watched Somali fraud rings steal billions in Minnesota.
But that's just the beginning of what's happening.
And one detective just exposed the foreign crime wave that has blue states covering their tracks.
Foreign Crime Rings Operating Like Uber For Fraud
A veteran blue-city detective who spent two decades investigating serious crimes just pulled back the curtain on something politicians don't want Americans to know.
Romanian credit card crews sneak across the Mexican border and work their way up the I-5 corridor hitting gym lockers.
They steal your credit card and phone, make a fake ID in their car with a printer, then walk into a jewelry store and buy a $40,000 Rolex.
When the bank sends an alert asking if you made the purchase, the thieves have your SIM card and reply "yes" before you even know what happened.
Chinese couriers who don't speak English run an Uber-style service for elder fraud.
Grandma gets a pop-up claiming Microsoft detected a virus, calls a number that connects to a call center in Moldova, and ends up handing $30,000 cash in a paper bag to a stranger on her doorstep.
"In my experience, nearly 100 percent of high-dollar, stranger-on-stranger frauds are committed by foreigners," the detective told Christopher Rufo in an interview for City Journal.
"I cannot think of one case of mine where a native-born American committed a fraud over $1,000 against a stranger. Not in my entire career."
South American theft groups conduct military-style operations on celebrities and professional athletes.
They do surveillance, gather inside information, then it's four guys with guns grabbing cash and jewelry.
Nigerian romance scams target Americans in emotional distress with ridiculous stories about soldiers finding gold in the Middle East who need export fees.
The victims empty their life savings and the money vanishes overseas.
Blue States Turned Into Fraud Paradises
Foreign criminals know exactly which states to target.
Sanctuary state laws prohibit police from contacting ICE even when they catch Romanian nationals with stolen credit cards.
"Politicians have passed 'sanctuary state' laws and reduced criminal penalties, which, in effect, are advertisements saying, 'We're open for business for fraudsters,'" the detective stated.
"You probably won't get caught. If you do get caught, you probably won't get convicted. If you do get convicted, you won't get that much time. And you never have to worry about getting kicked out the country."
The cases are so time-consuming and difficult to solve that 90 percent just get a report filed with no follow-up.
Money that leaves the country hits a dead end because investigators can't chase it to Moldova or China.
Democrats passed sanctuary laws protecting foreign criminals from deportation while reducing penalties to the point where stealing $40,000 gets you a few months.
They made it taboo to focus on criminal organizations operating out of foreign communities.
One-third of global wealth sits in America with just 4 percent of the world's population, and Democrat politicians advertised to every fraud ring on Earth that they won't enforce immigration laws or seriously prosecute property crimes.
Foreign criminals from Romania to China to Nigeria see Americans as "a big, fat target" because blue states rolled out the welcome mat.
The Somali fraud scandal in Minnesota that allegedly funneled money to Al-Shabaab terrorists isn't an isolated incident.
Blue state policies deliberately chose protecting political correctness over protecting American victims.
Trump's approach of enforcing immigration laws and deporting foreign criminals would shut down these operations immediately.
Blue state governors just need to decide whether they care more about Americans losing their life savings or their own leftist virtue signaling.
Sources:
- Christopher F. Rufo, "Foreign Fraud Gangs Are Ripping Off West Coast States," City Journal, January 13, 2026.