This article coincided with Cox getting a tip from a friend that a task force had been put together at the Tampa PD to investigate him, and the case had just been handed over to the FBI for further investigation. Part of what gave Cox' scheme away at this time is that all the synthetic identities he had created were based on the names of the characters of Quentin Tarantino's gangster film Reservoir Dogs and had obvious last names such as Red, Blue, Green and so on. Cox had used these different identities to create a false impression of a quickly appreciating neighborhood, and was able to fool banks and appraisers into believing that homes that were worth $40,000 were actually worth $190,000.