Terrill Caplan

Terrill “Cap” Caplan – PI, EP/PPO

Terrill “Cap” Caplan is an internationally recognized authority on West African Organized Crime operations, Advanced Fee Fraud, internet scams, counterfeit negotiable instruments and the resulting international money laundering. He is a 30-year veteran of Information Technology and Security Management.

In 1999, Caplan developed the first scam-preemptive web application that logged and prevented scammers and bots from entering protected websites, forums and guestbooks. The resulting database and toolset is now used by international law enforcement and scam investigators around the world to pinpoint repeat scammer locations and provide real-time intelligence on scammer activities. He was also a pioneer in the charting of Advanced Fee Fraud scams to assist in conceptualizing the lifecycle of these criminal enterprises. His 419 AFF chart is the definitive work on the subject has now been translated into 8 languages.

In 2006, he began the development of Tactical Investigative Programming (TIP) methodology to replace the USSS’s scam reporting address and to create two other classified applications still in use today. TIP is designed to provide law enforcement with intel they need immediately and legally and leverages cutting edge technologies and procedures as well as those that corporate America and the public sector now take for granted.

In January of 2010, Caplan was brought to Washington D.C. to brief federal law enforcement agencies on the current operations of West African Organized Crime. In November of 2013, he received the FBI Director’s Award “in recognition of outstanding assistance to the FBI in connection with its investigative efforts”.

In addition to his Private Investigator and Close Protection practices, he is TCOLE (Texas Commission On Law Enforcement) certified to teach law enforcement on the subjects of West African Organized Crime Syndicates, e-fraud, money laundering and counterfeit negotiable instruments. These courses can be grandfathered for certification in other states.

He continues as a criminal case consultant to multiple federal, state and local agencies and TCOLE certified firearms instructor.


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