Escrow (UK)

[Hatz]

Hey I got an email from the "escrow" site and the seller. Although I looked to see if they were the same I am not sure if I am looking in the right place. If you would like I could forward the emails to you and you can do a little digging around. It's weird because the sellers emails is spread out alot and it seems to have a lot of code in it.........not sure what it means. Just PM you email if you would like them and I would be more then happy to let you at it.

Thanks again and keep up the good work.

Hatz

[pacmania_2001]

Could you send me the full headers of the email to my PM?

[Hatz]

Yes, I could do that. In fact I am going to send them to you and roundabout. One question though..........can't I just take a screen shot like you guys do and send that as a picture? Only problem is.....I don't know how to take one. I know there was a thread awhile ago but if you could just tell me really quick I would appreciate it. Preferably without any progam I have to install.

Thanks

Hatz

[Roundabout]

By now we've learned just how rampant the escrow site fraud is. It's all over the place, and after researching all of it, I know I won't ever buy anything on Ebay using a escrow service, apparently they are 99% fraudulent. Here's a link to other people that ac-escrow has tried to scam:
http://pub135.ezboard.com/fauctionnewsallfrm2.showMessage?topicID=124.topic
I hope they catch these guys before they get more people into their net. There are at least several carbon copy websites like the ac-escrow site, with different URLs and run by the same person. This is one of them:
http://www.uk-escrow.co.uk
The ac-escrow is just the newest one.
From the e-mail the "escrow company" sent to Hatz, there is this address:

>Here is our company agent that will recive the payment:
>First Name : Bonacina
>Last Name : Sergio
>Address : 348 High Road
>City/State : London
>Zip : IG 1QP
>Country : United Kingdom
>After efectuating the transaction, please send us the folowing information's about the transaction
>- sender name
>- MTCN number (money transfer control number)

Then look at this site, their accountant has the same street address: http://www.rman.co.uk/company.htm



Maybe someone in the accountants office is connected? Don't know if this is a legit accounting co. or not. The e-mail address they used in the domain reg of ac-escrow is odd: masaincur@yahoo.com - the name on the rman.co.uk site for the accountant is "Simia" Farra, the same first 5 letters - masaincur and simia farra (coincidence? maybe, but I'm suspicious). Will keep looking and digging...

[indolikaa]

Keep digging. It can only get better! :P

Crash that server! Crash that server!

[Hatz]

Ya Roundabout is doing one hell of a job here with this investigation. I would have never put 2 and 2 together like that. I wonder where these clowns are really from? You should get your own segment on 20/20 or Dateline talking about diff. forms of computer fraud.

You could actually tell the public something useful and how to be careful.

Hatz

[iooi]

Interesting to note the
Sir Robert Peel House bit....
Now just what did that guy start......Peelers aka Police...
That lot are taking the micky

From companies house web site
Name & Registered Office :
RENTMAN SOFTWARE LIMITED
SIR ROBERT PEEL HOUSE
344/348 HIGH ROAD
ILFORD
ESSEX IG1 1QP
Status :Active
Company No. :04741701
Date of Incorporation : 23/04/2003

Country of Origin : United Kingdom



Company Type: Private Limited Company
Nature Of Business (SIC(92)):
None registered




Accounting Reference Date : 31/03
Last Accounts Made Up To :
Next Accounts Due : 31/01/2005
Last Return Made Up To :
Next Return Due : 21/05/2004

So they reside in the same premises as the accountant

[Roundabout]

Interesting, iooi !

There is another business at that location too, AudiDiesels. I wonder how big this Robert Peel House is? I don't know if it's signifigant or not, that the software place is using the accountant's business address as their domain address. You'd think that they would use their own business address (14 High Street, Wanstead). Also, the fact that this is some type of software company makes it somewhat more likely that they could have something to do with it. Then the question comes up, "why would they use a real address of this Sergio Bonacina (if that's even a real person)? Maybe you have to present some form of valid I.D. to pick up the money at WU? If the name and address don't match, would WU refuse to release the money, even if you have the MTCN #?

The other thing: Bonacina = Italian surname, Audi = Italian Car
Maybe this crook is connecting some of these things but it still may or may not lead us to anything. He may have used the name out of convienience, something that came into his head if he works at AudiDiesels or Rentman Software. Could it be that we are close? Or way off the mark?
I'm racking my brain to come up with other connections, I want to look at some more fraud message board posts and see if there are more common threads there. That'll take a while, but I'm still looking.

Indolikaa - Wish I could crash the server, but it's run by Yahoo and I don't think they'd appreciate it , however I did e-mail them about the fraudulent site they are hosting. Haven't heard back from them, and when I checked this morning, it was still up and running. I'll keep you posted.

Hatz, Thanks for the PM. If you can think of any other ideas, by all means let me know, I don't want to run out of ideas to look into. Someone has to stop these people sooner or later. They must have ripped off thousands of people for perhaps millions of dollars! You've done a lot of good bringing this to the attention of everyone on this forum. No one on here will lose money because of these dirtbags!

[RabidDog]

OOii stopit! I'll go round there and take a look. Audi is NOT an italian car, their german, part of the VAG (volkswagen audi group). Robert peel house could be a large building with many floors and many comapnies renting space. I might actually go round there( holland park) as I am in central'ish london. Taking photos of pople coming in and out of the russian embassy... 8) I really think not!! V. good detcetive work...

[Roundabout]

O.K., that was my mistake, about Audi. I'm just looking at all angles and was mistaken on that one. There's so much of this escrow fraud going on that I've spent hours reading about scammer sites and it seems most are run by Romanians, with Russians being a close second.

Some more good information to know:

They don't hack into ebay. They HIJACK accounts.
They do this by sending out fake emails that only *look* like they are from ebay and these emails generally threaten to suspend your account if you don't Verify, Confirm, or Update some information. They either supply you with a link to a fake ebay log in page and try to milk as much info as they can from you or they just have a log in page.

Some emails are just a log in box and they ask that you confirm that your account is active and the subject line usually says something like "security check".
That's the number one way they hijack accounts.
Ebay will NEVER ask you for your password or anything else thru emails.
They don't need it your password. Their servers already know you when you log in!!!

Once they have access to an account, they either put up auctions (most with Pre-approved bidder only)
for items they neither have or intend to ship.
Some are more sneaky. They only watch legit auctions and when they see a bidder bidding on something they
send them a "too good to be true offer" for the same or similar item. Again, they do not have these items and never will! If you check the ID, it might have great feedback, but remember it's not really their account and many times if you look closer, the ID ONLY bought before and never sold a thing!.

They are just using these good accounts to convince you that they are honest.
If you don't bite immediately then they go to the next plan.
They send out fake emails telling you that they are insured by ebay, that ebay says they are safe to deal with, that the item is in an ebay warehouse.
Ebay DO NOT have warehouses.
Ebay DOES NOT recommend any seller.
Ebay DOES NOT have any seller insured.
It's all lies and all fake emails!

As a matter of fact, if you look at some of the safe trading tips, ebay specifically says NOT to use Western Union as a payment form.
They also state that if that is the only form of payment the seller wants, to not pay and to report them.

They tell you stories about being on vacation, visiting a sick grandma, they're on business or some other lame story about why
their ID registration says USA, but they want CASH sent by Western Union or Money Gram to some country in Europe or some fake escrow website.
REAL escrow sites won't ask for cash by WU.
They offer traceable payment options.
WU is like leaving your money in a bag in a dark alley.

The real scoop about western union.
They DO NOT NEED THE MCTN!!!
They ONLY need your name and amount.
They can collect the money at thousands of locations, just about anywhere in the world.
Where you send it and in who's name has ZERO to do with it. You can put payable to GOD on it, and they'll get their thieving little hands on it!
Western Union offices in many countries are little places that are PRIVATELY owned and these guys get bought off to just hand over the money. Some have been arrested, but NOT enough!

Another thing they like to do is steal your identity.
If you log into their bogus website and give them any real info, you're likely to be the next domain name registrant of their next new fake escrow website or fake ebay log in page.
PLUS if you used the same password for ebay or your email account or anything on the web, they'll have access to that account as well.
NEVER use the same password on more than one website.
NEVER !!!

That's probably how the guy in Florida's name came up as the domain registrant for ac-escrow.com - he was probably a victim of one of these scams himself.
"Western Union - The fastest way to send money to criminals!"

[RabidDog]

I would suspect that even if they give you a traceable payment option thAT your likelihood of gettting something back is pretty low. Go with the credit card option, it makes them jointly liable. beware of Nigerians trying to make you rich on Govt contracts. 8)