Money laundering - A question

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Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 10:21 pm

Forgive me if this has been covered elsewhere but I have been reading a lot and not found the answer.

A relative has been taken in by a romance scam (russian) and it started off by request's for money, he sent some and the request's kept on coming. (as expected). She then tried to send him money (from her "uncle" into his account), the money was transferred and his bank account imediatley closed.

If he had been a bit more savvy and realised that she really did not want to come and live with him (DOH) is there a bank account that he could have given the details for that has been set up by any british organisation dealing with money laundering so they could have taken it from there. I only ask as she is still trying to send money and seems like a wasted oppotunity to confiscate funds. (£4000 initally)

Any guidence would be appreciated.

AJR

Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 10:33 pm

So the Russian "woman" is trying to send money to your (male) relative?
it's obviously laundering of some sort and god knows who you're dealing with. My first response would be to contact the police as you're already involved with a fraudster and they have personal information about your relative. how aware is your relative of what is going on? What information has been sent?

Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 10:44 pm

He is now aware that she is a scammer, a quick google on her email address gave that info up.

She has all (and I mean ALL) his personal details

He is not the sharpest tool in the bag so he was taken in hook line and sinker. The bank were sus hence closing down the account but as far as I am aware no action has been taken by the police but they are aware.

I have spoken to a friend in CID money laundering and they get 50 of these a day. I have seen the tel number for the US dept (US Secret Service within the US Embassy in London.) I wonder if they would be interested in it as the money originated from the US.

AJR

Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 10:52 pm

Very possibly, ask them and see.

how much money has your relative lost? it's always ghastly to hear of a lad succeeding in his efforts, hence our works here.

Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 11:11 pm

He lost £250.00, I managed to stop him sending another £500 via WU as even after his account was closed he still believed that she was genuine hence the google search to provide proof.

AJR

Would it be against the rules to post her pic on the site to see if anyone else had come across her ? If so where is the best place to post ?

Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 11:31 pm

^^ I think you can post it here. However you might realize it's probably just a pic taken from a website for them to use for their scams. Your relative is emailing a scammer, likely a group of criminals who have downloaded a photo somewhere. Occasionally they use models for real life photo's, but that is very rare. Good thing you stopped this before this got out of hand. Ow, and welcome to Eater Very Happy

Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 11:58 pm

Thanks Dutchbait

She has spoken to him on the phone and his name is on the card, a close up does not look like it has been pasted on.

Quite a few times and he has phoned her so she is the main person in this scam........ I think ... poss

AJR

[/img]

Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2008 12:30 am

I had a quick look at the Exif data actually managed to reveal something. The photo was apparently taken in March of 2007, on the 21st - but then this date is only as accurate as the dates set in the camera or computer.

Her hand is blocking off part of the word 'you' - nice touch if it is an edit job. I am not sure what happens to the Exif data when a photo is edited by a program like paintshop (will have to try it some time) - but I think others will on the forum will be able to give you a fair idea if the sign is edited or not.

Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2008 12:50 am

Yes, I have also checked the other 20 or so photo's and they all have dates that match a camera bios if it had just had a new battery. Interesting thing is that a couple of the photo's are of her in front of a PC screen with chris's picture on it, the exif data is for a photoshop creation, no camera data whatsoever.

Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2008 12:58 am

And you say she is from the US possibly? I'm thinking she's Russian personally, but it is conceivable she took relative for his money, then used him to launder money from the US from yet another victim.

On another note, I hate those bleach blondes with the roots showing like that. Mad

Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2008 1:22 am

Her header info :

X-Message-Info: JGTYoYF78jEHjJx36Oi8+Z3TmmkSEdPt3Mi6GgUSv7yYKHQgGfDe+2wCW4LegkYQav29Pp7Mm4E=
Received: from n37.bullet.mail.ukl.yahoo.com ([87.248.110.170]) by bay0-mc3-f1.bay0.hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC(6.0.3790.2668);
Tue, 10 Jun 2008 21:40:04 -0700
Received: from [217.146.182.178] by n37.bullet.mail.ukl.yahoo.com with NNFMP; 11 Jun 2008 04:40:03 -0000
Received: from [217.146.182.191] by t4.bullet.ukl.yahoo.com with NNFMP; 11 Jun 2008 04:40:03 -0000
Received: from [127.0.0.1] by omp105.mail.ukl.yahoo.com with NNFMP; 11 Jun 2008 04:40:03 -0000
X-Yahoo-Newman-Id: [email protected]
Received: (qmail 17871 invoked from network); 11 Jun 2008 04:39:17 -0000
DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; q=dns; c=nofws;
s=s1024; d=yahoo.co.uk;

Domain Key deleted - fixed page blowout - SB

Received: from unknown (HELO COMP06)
(64.191.75.195 with plain)
by smtp005.mail.ukl.yahoo.com with SMTP; 11 Jun 2008 04:39:16 -0000
X-YMail-OSG:
X-Yahoo-Newman-Property: ymail-3
Date: Wed, 11 Jun 2008 06:58:49 +0400
From:
X-Mailer: The Bat! (v3.5) Professional
Reply-To:
X-Priority: 3 (Normal)
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
To:
Subject: Hi my loved!!!
In-Reply-To: <[email protected]>

MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Return-Path:
X-OriginalArrivalTime: 11 Jun 2008 04:40:04.0314 (UTC) FILETIME=[378913A0:01C8CB7D]

Traces to a US based provider but they operate in Russia as well.

AJR

Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2008 1:52 am

I believe it is possible you may have a US based scammer here. I'll wait for a more experienced opinion but she could very well be an American.

Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2008 3:28 am

It seems that when "the bat" is in use, the ip's mean nothing.

It is very likely the scammer hacked someones account and transferred the money. Then they ask for most of it back by western Union of course. The person whose account received the money could be will be charged with the theft.

Another version of the cheque scam.

Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2008 9:09 am

The use of The bat! combined with a provider also operating Russia indicates we're dealing with a vlad here. I'd love to see more photo's to come to a conclusion, but for obvious reasons: do not post pictures with your relative's face here. The photo's might be genuine though, some of the Boris'ses pay girls to pose for them. Looking at this one this might well be the case, it doesn't look like it was taken from a professional model website or so Wink

As others said: the GBP4,000 probably came from a hacked account, and your relative is used to launder the money. Has he contacted his bank yet? That should be his first action I think, ask them why the account got closed down, and have them advise him. The fact that his account was closed down indicates his bank is aware the money came from a hacked account, so the US victim should be safe now.

Also have your relative drop all connections with these criminals. Have him get a new bank account and a fresh email add for starters. If you can: accompany him visiting his bank so you can get an idea what is going on and how to handle the situation. I would be very interested in the outcome of that.

Besides this you might want to report the situation and the US account details to Alan. Explain to him what is going on, he will know how to handle it. Here's a linky on how to report it to him: http://forum.419eater.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=119780

Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2008 8:04 pm

He went to the bank and they were not interested, they just wanted to teminate his account. I spoke to m8 in CID moneylaundering and he said that the bank will not tell him the reason for closing said bank account as it would be "tipping him off" in the eyes of the law.

He has changed his bank account and email address. She emailed again today as I now have access to his old account. I will pass details onto the SS at the US embasy and see what happens. I will keep updated. I have attached a few more photo's her of her, my be a clue as some are deffo in Russia.

There are many other some outside with snow ! so certainly not Nigeria Very Happy

Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2008 8:18 pm

Photo #2, top left corner, see the christian icon painting on the shelf right above her head? That's pretty common in Russia and Eastern Europe, not very prevalent in most other areas except in some traditional Catholic households.

Here's a larger similar version of that picture:

Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2008 9:20 pm

bah. i was just going to post about the icon. sharp eyes Smile

Ignore the subject, roots, dumb smile and all. the giveaways are always in the background.

Helpfully, digital cameras have a very deep field of focus due to small CCDs and short focus lenses, so capture backgrounds very well...

Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2008 10:55 pm

^^ well spotted, guys. temporary conclusion: a vladette, it all points in the same direction.

@Arnold: If the bank isn't of any help I suggest you to contact local LEO to get an idea. Looks like a better idea than to wait for them to come knocking on your relative's door. Don't know if they will, but I'd rather be safe.

You control his former email account? Just send them one last email, write to them you will drop all contacts because you know it's a fraud, you might want to include some insults while you're at it to get things off your chest. They'll probably leave him alone after that. Just keep an eye on him, as you said he's not the sharpest tool, so there's always a chance they will contact him by phone or even snail mail and get him hooked again.

Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2008 2:30 am

The keyboard and desktop might give a language clue if the pics are big enough.

Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2008 5:58 am

Looks to be a Russian scammer. The fact that the money apparently was sent from an American bank account doesn't mean much, as dollars to doughnuts it came from a phished bank account (vlad and ivan gangs are heavily into account phishing). This is no different than love scammers using their victims to receive goods bought with phished cc details.

Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2008 11:23 am

Language wise, it looks russian. "I kiss you chris" is written in the present tense which points to the writer having just enough english to get the message through. It's not their first language.

Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2008 1:48 pm

AJR, Sorry to hear about your relative's financial loss.

As far as the ip goes, it's a web-hosting domain located in Scranton PA.

Quote:

Address lookup
canonical name 64-191-75-195.hostnoc.net.
aliases
addresses 64.191.75.195

That address is just a site hosting a mass mailer (The bat!), meaning the scammer can be located anywhere in the world.

A Google search of the ip reveals several other scam emails originating from that address, different email accts.
http://www.romancescam.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=29749&sid=9cda967c60da461c9a2641199b4b6724
http://www.mate4all.com%2Fblocked_personals.php%3Fpage%3D50%26limit%3D50&ei=mcdTSI3iNZXcigG5vIGJAw&usg=AFQjCNF7CyyyDvSEPxcVHGAGkGPQEldpCQ&sig2=zBTs76YeI3An4HW6krYPmg

Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2008 2:04 pm

I have no doubt it is a vlad, I haven't done Waynes exif data course but the pictures look like they may actually be of a live vlad.

A few of the others have hit the nail on the head, the money will be from a compromised bank account, the idea being that you forward money to the scammer after itis deposited into your account, once the bank account owner realises that money has been removed from their account they will contact the police who will then contact your relative who would have a heap of explaining to do.

We dont have a bank account to give them, we have discussed this same subject a few times, in a perfect world the banks would work with us and provide a bank account that the funds could be deposited into then returned to their rightfull owner, the reality is the banks are not working with us on this

This scammer looks like she may be fun to play with Arnold, grab yourself a new gmail addy and fire off an email to her.

Quote:

Hi my sweet,

I recieved a message from you a while ago but I unfortunately did not respond at the time as I was involved at the time with another woman.

Since then, the girl and I have parted ways and I am looking for love again.

If you are still single, please reply and perhaps we can get to know each other

I should add, if you are starting a new thread about a love scam you can do that in the romance section, some of our love baiters dont venture too far away from the love forum so you are missing out on advice from some of the more experienced love baiters.

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