Bedrock Bank Shut Down by Regulators...

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Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2004 2:10 pm

This story appeared in today's AP news:

Quote:

Regulators Shut Down Phony Bedrock Bank

August 31, 2004 10:24 AM EDT

DENVER - Federal regulators shut down a phony Internet bank claiming to be located in the tiny Colorado town of Bedrock - population 10 - near the Utah state line.

Through its Web site, the First National Bank of Bedrock offered deposit accounts, investments, debit cards and credit cards, according to the federal Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

The address listed for the bank - 7729 S. Granite Ave. - doesn't exist, said Bedrock postmaster Ruth Swain.

Regulators said it was unclear if the Web site was a joke, perhaps in reference to the fictional town on the old "Flintstones" TV show.

But the Web site could have been an attempt to collect personal information, said Kevin Mukri, spokesman for the currency comptroller's office.

"There are a lot of scams out there," he told the Los Angeles Times. "Usually, they're after the same thing, personal information and account numbers."

The Web site seems to have been registered under a fictitious name, the office said.

Bedrock, an old mining town, still receives mail for Fred and Wilma Flintstone and their cartoon pals, Barney and Betty Rubble, said Swain. She stamps them "Return to Sender: Fictitious Cartoon Character."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Copyright 2004 Associated Press.

Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2004 2:13 pm

Excellent. What's next? Are they going to arrest dinosaurs?

Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2004 2:20 pm

gotta love it when a fake bank is shutdown because it parodies a popular cartoon, but the same authorities sit idle when REAL people are losing their money because of ladbanks.

Baiting Guru Joined: 06 May 2004 Posts: 4012

This is simply ridiculous. These folks are so proud that they shut down a fake bank that they even wrote a press release?

I wonder whether they know that there are far more than thousand active fake banks somewhere out there...

Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2004 2:59 pm

We at aa419 have been discussing this. It was indeed Fred�s bank. And the whole affair is much more hilarious than that. The bank is still there, even though the article claims it has been shut down.

Here�s the story:

It all started when the United States treasury issued this warning: http://www.occ.treas.gov/ftp/alert/2004-19.txt
This was brought to our attention and I wrote them a little note explaining what the purpose of it was tried to explain to them briefly what scambaiting is and that we are targetting 419ers, because apparently governments and law enforcement can�t be bothered with addresing the problem.
I got no reply.
Instead news articles turn up:
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/ap20040831_770.html

I am seriously at a loss of words. There is *hundreds* of fake banks in our list and some of them stay up very persistently, yet they find Fred�s First National Bank of Bedrock and decide to spring into action immediately... Shocked

Seriously, what can we expect next? That they crack down with the full force of the law against us baiters for impersonating Hugh Jass and Ura Wanker? A mugu rehabilitation programme with an invitation to the United States, a meet&greet with Prez Bush and a free 3 day pass to Disney World? Evil or Very Mad

Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2004 3:00 pm

Funny. I live in Lakewood, Colorado which is a suburb of Denver. Sure enough, the town of Bedrock, CO is actually a very small place where you might find criminals on the run. Hence, the scam bank website.

I have in fact been to Bedrock, and let me assure you that if anyone on this website is even the least bit curious as to its containings, you're not missing a thing. It is a small, quiet and peaceful place, and a band that I used to be in stopped there to eat at the local diner while on tour. We were actually quite amazed at the fact oddly enough, the diner that we were eating in was called Betty's. Go figure.

Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2004 3:09 pm

This is a tremendous irony. However the US Feds can only control US banking and have no sovereignty in terms of fake foreign banks. They can exert influence on other countries to shut down fake banks, but that really means "bribes" because corrupt officials in say, Nigeria, usually only act when there is money, specifically US dollars, in it for them.

The US Feds have to do this unless you can affiliate with a legitimate law enforcement operation in a sting. Fred's bank was obviously so fake and its activities were stated here as a ruse that I can't see why the Feds can't accept its premise as a joke. One lesson: Always publicly state here what you are doing for the record.

Is Fred okay? Has he been arrested or fined? Can we write to somebody? I am worried sick about Fred.

And what of Drinkwater Financial Services? Am I next? I created DFS so that it has no way of phishing or collecting info, There is even no way to contact DFS at the site. I steered very clear of the line, or at least I think I did. Maybe I will make AP tomorrow:

FEDERAL REGULATORS SHUT DOWN FAKE TAHITIAN BANK OWNED BY IMAGINARY BILLIONAIRE POLYGAMIST

I wonder if some lads reported Fred in a get-even? How did the Feds even find out about Fred's bank?

Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2004 3:14 pm

Fred Flintstone is under House arrest in Bedrock and Bam Bam and Wilma are being closely observed by the feds. Not even Betty and Barney are allowed to see them. Very Happy

No seriously, what is wrong with these people? And btw, as far as I recall it, The Planet is a US host who claims to only act on fake banks upon official request by the authorities? When are they requesting that THEY shut down their "banks"?

UPDATE: The bank was indeed shut down. At least in the place they mention.

Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2004 3:24 pm

J. Dog Wrote:

Quote:

Is Fred okay? Has he been arrested or fined? Can we write to somebody? I am worried sick about Fred.

J. Dog, I'll let you know. I am on my way to Bedrock right now to find out what's going on with Fred, Barney, Wilma, Betty, Bam Bam, Pebbles and even Dino. I am also going to find out what will happen to the remaining balance that I had in my checking account at the First National Bank of Bedrock.

I never would have thought that it was a scam. Everyone was so nice to me via our emails, although I never met them. All of my transactions were done through WU transfers, and all of my receipts were sent from a @yahoo.com account. I thought that I was finally in for a good deal with the bank, even when they approved me for a home loan of $2,500,000.00 and my annual income is less than $55,000.00. I mean shit, they seemed to be on the up and up, and Fred was always very cordial to me.

I hope that my balance will not be affected by all of this tomfoolery, because if it is, the last words out of my mouth right before I rip Fred's heart out will be, "Yabba Dabba Doo, Motherfucker!"

Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2004 3:37 pm

If Fred needs any help, I would be willing to take custody of Pebbles and Bam Bam. Dino cannot stay at my place as I am not zoned for it.

Also, Wilma, being a married woman cannot sleep in the same house as a single Ibo/Igbo man without her husband's permission.

Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2004 3:39 pm

I bet that Fred's space-age friend "The Great Gazoo" will somehow help.

Name: The Great Gazoo
Nickname: Gazoo
Planet: Zaitox, aka Zetox
First Appearance: October 29, 1965
Premiere Episode: The Great Gazoo, Episode 145

Gender : Alien
Age: Unknown
Color: Green

Relationships: Friends Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble

Work and Hobbies: Occupation Assigned to serve prehistoric "dumb-dumbs" Fred and Barney

Preferences: Favorite Phrases "dumb-dumbs"

Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2004 5:29 pm

I'm guessing Aldo Svaldi drew the short straw down at the Denver Post, since he was the lucky guy who got to cover this story, instead of just using the AP report.

http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~33~2369715,00.html

Quote:

Stop in at the sleepy hamlet of Bedrock, Colo., and you might catch cartoon icon Fred Flintstone chatting it up with the tellers at the First National Bank of Bedrock.

Maybe - when pterodactyls fly again.

The First National Bank of Bedrock, a fictitious Internet bank that listed a bogus physical address in the town of 10 near the Utah border, was shut down recently.

Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2004 5:40 pm

This is starting to get bizarro...

Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2004 6:11 pm

indeed

If US people are so anxious to get fake bank busts in the news then we can happily supply then with... oh.... 1000+ banks or so.

:banghead:

Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2004 6:12 pm

Quote:

We have to shut down a lot of sites," said Brad Davis, a sales representative for Host Department, a Delaware-based company that hosted the site.

That's nice to know.

I wish they'd get back to me about http://www.lbplc.com.

I've contacteed them twice on thier chat (and one email to [email protected]) but after a brief chat I get:

Quote:

Chat session unexpectedly disconnected. Please try again in a few moments. Thank you.

Which makes me think they are shutting the chat down.

This happend when I talked to Eliza and Sonny

Still it's only been a few hours since I contacted them.

Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2004 8:04 pm

Quote:

I wish they'd get back to me about http://www.lbplc.com.

You must be wrong! It looks so much like... like... a real BANK!
I have had it. I am seriously fed up with all these wankers. The authorities, the hosters. The lot of them.

Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2004 9:00 pm

Thank God my Floyd's of London branch is on Pitcairn Island (post code M4U 1G9U), far from the long reach of the Feds.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 14 Jun 2004 Posts: 7

Well regarding www.lbplc.com you may want to contact Presidental Bank (looks real) and let them know that the lads are copying some of their web content.

Laiki's FAQ at http://www.lbplc.com/faq.htm
was copied from http://www.presidential.com/faq1.htm

Perhaps a larger aggrieved party might carry some more weight in stopping the scam. (thought it was odd that a Greek bank would require U.S. IRS forms like a W-8, hmmm)

Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2004 10:10 pm

And their "Contact Us" page steals an image from Hampsterdance.

http://www.lbplc.com/contact_us.htm

Have they no shame? Does Hampsterdance have pull with Host Department?

Surely there must be a journalist somewhere who would enjoy scooping Associated Press. Perhaps Aldo Svaldi, the Denver Post reporter mentioned by HomerJFong would be interested. His phone number and e-mail address are provided in the article Homer pointed to.

Quote:

Staff writer Aldo Svaldi can be reached at 303-820-1410 or [email protected] .

Posted: Thu Sep 02, 2004 12:23 am

Richard Gazinya - Presidential is indeed real (I'm a federal bank regulator).

Posted: Thu Sep 02, 2004 1:05 am

Maybe we should release a press release something like this about the First National Bank of Bedrock and send it to Aldo Svaldi. We'd need to attach a list of those fake banks on The Planet, and have someone well versed in fake internet banks give their e-mail addy as the generator of the press release and to receive any queries.

Quote:

PRESS RELEASE - NO IMBARGO

News that the fake internet First National Bank of Bedrock has been closed by Federal regulators has a number of people rolling in the aisles with laughter.

But not the people at www.419eater.com and www.aa419.com, nor anyone else who fights against internet advance fee fraud, also called 419 fraud after Section 419 of the Nigerian Criminal Code.

These scambusters, people who actually reply to those e-mails from Nigeria offering us a share of the millions of dollars in illgotten funds of some deposed West African dictator and waste the scamster's time and money, have been trying to get Federal regulators and U.S.A. based internet site hosts to close nearly 1000 fake internet banks. These fake internet banks are used by scamsters to extract money from their innocent victims.

So, the First National Bank of Bedrock has been closed down. It was really only a prank site anyway. It was a site developed to target 419 scamsters, because apparently governments and law enforcement don�t seem to be bothered with addresing the problem of fake internet banks.

While nearly a thousand fake internet banks, many of them hosted by U.S.A. based The Planet, continue to prosper, the First National Bank of Bedrock has been closed down. Rest easy in your beds, but don't reply to any e-mails which offer a share of millions of dollars in some bank in Nigeria.

Contact: xxx for details
Visit www.419eater.com or www.aa419.com for information on scambaiting

Posted: Thu Sep 02, 2004 1:33 am

Quote:

DEAR FRED FLINTOSTONE:

WELL I HAVE BIG PROBLEM WITH BANK OF BEDROCK. I HAVE ON DEPOSIT $65,000,000 (SIXTY FIVE MILLON US DOLLARS) ON DEPOSIT AS A LEGACY FROM MY LATE FATHER THE BELOVED FARMER JOSEPH MOBOTU OF MUGUSLAND. I DEMAND MY LEGACY RETURND TO ME OR DIRE CONSEQWENCES WILL ENSUE. I HAVE BEN CHEETED OF MY INHERATANCE BY FRED FLINTOSTONE AND HIS DIMWIT SIDEKCK BARNEY RUBBLE. NOW I AM DESTITUTE IN A CAMP. BUT AS I AM A CHRISTIAN I WILL SETLE THIS MATTER FOR $2,500 BY WU SENT TO ME AT ONCET PLUS TEN CARTONS OF RED MARLBORO HARDPACK CIGARETTES.

THIS INJUSTECE MUST NOT BE TOLERATED FOR THE BLOO DOF MY LAND CRIES OUT AGANST IT LIKE A BLEETING SHEEP AT LOW TIDE, YES? SO SNED THE MONEY NOW. I AM AN ORPHAN DADDY AND U MUST HELP ME.

FAITHFULLY I AWAIT YOUR BOQUEST,

JOSEPH MOBUTU, JR.

Posted: Thu Sep 02, 2004 2:50 am

I've sent Aldo a mail. Smile

Master Baiter Joined: 26 Apr 2004 Posts: 181

Nelsonsbattle wrote:

Maybe we should release a press release something like this about the First National Bank of Bedrock and send it to Aldo Svaldi. We'd need to attach a list of those fake banks on The Planet, and have someone well versed in fake internet banks give their e-mail addy as the generator of the press release and to receive any queries.

Your sample is nice, but I don't think that it's biting enough. I think that we should stick it to federal regulators and ISPs by stating that this act makes it appear as though they are actively working to promote acts of criminal fraud, endorsing such scams while trying to prevent people from hindering them.

419Eater is my life Joined: 12 Dec 2003 Posts: 482

Dear god, both the government and media have been taken over by 11-Watt lightbulbs. AA419 provides them with a database of 1,100 fake banks and they take down Fred Flintstone! ABC News dedicates a reporter to investigate it.

Just take all my money and flush it down the toilet. Oh, that's right I don't have any money, I gave it up to the government and for paying bills for cable so that I could get the news!

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