In February 2000, leading members of Workers' Resistance began contacting various socialist political parties and internationals via the internet.
Most of the organizations were keen to develop links, and responded to requests for money to translate and print documents, purchase computer equipment or maintain an office.
This complex web of activity, and the small amounts of money actually obtained, has led to suggestions that the fraud may have been intended to discredit certain groups, or may even have simply been run for entertainment value.
The Coordination Council of the Workers Movement (a Maoist organization in Ukraine) attempted to alert the League for the Fourth International to the fraud, but were not believed.
In an attempt to cover their tracks, the fraudsters had produced documents in the names of members of the Coordination Council of the Workers Movement, but people who had met the perpetrators were able to identify them and they soon admitted the fraud.