While that may be a possibility, I find it odd that they keep using area codes from one particular state-South Carolina. It makes me wonder if this is a home grown scam.
I believe this Scam started as a "home grown" one BigA. It quickly spread out of control. I'm aware of one clown using it, using the 803 AC, that was tracked down in CA. Another was traced back to the Ukraine. Copy cats are picking it up all the time. It's my belief that they're spoofing SC area codes to give themselves some deniability if caught. That's the domestic ones anyway. The foreigners are using them because they're not bright enough to pick better ones. They see the SC area codes as winners because they've heard of successes.
The domestic frauds attempting this Scam are treading on very thin ice. If caught the penalties can be extremely harsh. This type of extortion violates more state & federal laws than they can imagine. You can bet that any idiot attempting these Scams will already be familiar with courtrooms. Being convicted of the charges that would accompany running one of these extortion schemes would result in some serious time in a federal facility. Particularly for a repeat offender with prior felonies. This sort of thing is "Big League Crime!"
Live Well.
Gunnar
You two are far more knowledgeable of this than I am, however, I find it difficult to believe such a knucklehead would be located within the States. As Gunnar stated, it's a big league crime, and these people are idiots as we all know. What's odd is that those who've reported speaking with the fraudsters have said they're dealing with Americans, most often linked to SC and the POF website. It sounds very much like an African scam with the Ukraine a great possibility as well.