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Police determined the original target Fuentes set out to kill “appears to be a fictitious person that is part of Fuentes’ mental health issues.”

Ginsberg sent $2,060 to the aptly named Linda Shady, who was supposed to be a shipping agent based in Fond du Lac, Wis. She turned out to be a fictitious person who apparently used fake identification to cash the money order before Ginsberg was told by his bank that the $6,210 check he had received — more than he asked for — had not cleared.

Most of the cases start with an email from a fictitious person, a subset of the surge in phishing that has greatly increased the vulnerability of communications online.

Prosecutors said in court documents that Ali referred to Fuller as his direct supervisor but Taherzadeh later admitted during questioning after his arrest that Fuller is a “false and fictitious person.”

As the satirical story puts it, quoting a fictitious person: “Who could have known that ‘We’re Going All the Way’ actually meant something else?”