Anyone fancy a crack at a UK-based scammer?

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419Eater is my life Joined: 15 Apr 2009 Posts: 296

Hey everyone, I haven't posted here for a while, but I just found out about a friend of mine getting scammed out of £840 by these bastards so I thought I'd bring them to the attention of my fellow baiters...

http://www.thezebraconnection.co.uk/

They're a "modelling agency". Except, of course, that they're actually not. If you're in the UK, you can see my friend's story here (starts 10 minutes in):

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0071mkv

Basically, they approach girls on the streets of London/Manchester, claim that they can get them immediate modelling work, and then book them in for a photoshoot. It's only when the girl arrives at the studio that things suddenly start costing a shitload of money.

The internet bullshit these guys have cobbled together is fairly impressive- a decent-looking site, fake forums with glowing testimonials, and frequent name-changes all serve to conceal the dodgy nature of the place from a casual investigation. One pissed-off guy has put together a list of useful sites/forms/facts here:

http://thezebracollection.blogspot.com/

So, that's what I know. Now, I'm aware this isn't an email-driven 419, but it still IS 419, and given these bastards are based in the UK they're subject to quite a few more restrictive laws than their Nigerian counterparts. It's certainly conceivable someone could get an arrest out of this... and, with that in mind, is anyone willing to jump on these scamming dickheads and teach them a valuable lesson?

Posted: Tue Jan 12, 2010 4:53 pm

Quote:

Domain name:
thezebraconnection.co.uk

Registrant:
Andrew Hall

Registrant type:
UK Individual

Registrant's address:
The registrant is a non-trading individual who has opted to have their
address omitted from the WHOIS service.

Registrar:
Fasthosts Internet Ltd [Tag = FASTHOSTS]
URL: http://www.fasthosts.co.uk

Relevant dates:
Registered on: 01-Oct-2009
Renewal date: 01-Oct-2011
Last updated: 08-Oct-2009

You're right, not 419, but it does extract money from people blinded by hope. This has been going on for decades. I wonder if Mr Hall's non trading staus would be enough to get his website pulled, as that's lie number one.

The victims' blog is a powerful tool, but hurts my eyes.

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