ADVANCE FEE FRAUD

 

 

Advanced Fee Fraud:

 

Boiler rooms and advanced fee fraud schemes are usually managed by very large international crime syndicates. When a boiler room closes, the victims’ contact and investment details are distributed to other members of the crime syndicate for further fraud attempts. They reason that if a victim lost money once, he is susceptible to losing more money again.

 

A single crime syndicate may only take a few years defraud 100,000 victims of several billion dollars. Total losses for the last 25 years are estimated at $300 billion. Some “reputable” banks and securities brokers secretly participate in the fraud, instead of reporting it to money laundering authorities as they are required. The closing of any particular boiler room, even by police, does not stop the crime syndicate – they can open 10 more if they wanted to. In this way, such crime continues on to the present time.

 

In advanced fee fraud, the fraudsters typically promise a high price for the worthless shares. When the victim appears interested, he is told he will have to pay an advanced fee for some invented reason, e.g. to remove non-existent restrictions or for some other fiction.

Advanced fee fraud flourishes because it is rarely prosecuted - the fraudsters feel safe! They take advantage of trusting people. The fraudsters may give fake addresses which have nothing there or perhaps only a secretary who redirects phone calls and letters, but knows little or nothing about the real business. The fraudsters are rarely at the address they advertise, and they often use phone lines which are redirected to another address e.g. in another country.

The fraudsters are completely ruthless and will take the last dollar of life savings from old people. Read this account for more details: Lifting the lid on 'boiler room' scams. London Police operateone of the few intelligence centres on Boiler Rooms.

Many official warning lists suffer from the weakness that it is generally too late by the time the warning is published, even if a potential victim knows where to check. The warning list published below is the most up-to-date that we are aware of regarding fraud attempts against our clients. We cannot guarantee or prove that all names on this list are fraudsters - generally that is only confirmed when it is too late and they have disappeared. Attempts to find these people at their advertised addresses generally fail. However, we strongly recommend you do not deal with any of these firms without consulting us first.

 

Advanced Fee Scammers Are Using Identity Theft: SEC

The latest SEC Report regarding Hanley Securities Corporation 

shows that they falsely used the names of:

1. A genuine broker-dealer firm called Hanley Securities Corporation (CRD Number: 10667; SEC Number: 8-25741).

2. A genuine entity called Enforth Inc., a Regulation D exempt filer (SEC file no. 021-69832) located in Burlington, Vermont.

3. A genuine registered securities agent named Don A. Romero – they even supplied a copy of his passport!

 

They encouraged their "target" to check that these were genuine, but since they had no relation to the callers, such a check would be useless.

Here are some warnings on official websites. The first two (from the SEC) includes links to many other useful official websites. 

How Fraudsters Try to Look Legit

Worthless Stock: How to Avoid Doubling Your Losses

FINRA warning about fake websites and stock brokers

Scamwatch Brochure

SEC FILES FRAUD CHARGES AGAINST SIX BOILER ROOM OPERATIONS FOR A SERIES OF "RECOVERY ROOM" SCHEMES

ASIC has put up a fake website: to show how easy it is for fraudsters to make a fake story look believable. Click on Buy Silver or Buy Bronzeat the "Invest Today" page to see the warning. 

Many official websites (e.g. securities regulators) publish lists of "unlicensed firms offering financial services". This mostly means that they suspect that they are fraudsters, but do not publish that because there is no criminal conviction against them. In general, you should not do any business with any firm advertised on an official website as an "unlicensed firm offering financial services". Here are links to some of the currently published lists:

Investor alerts from the Swedish Finansinspektionen (More recent alerts)

Investor alerts from the Swedish Finansinspektionen (Complete List)

Warnings: Isle of Man

Warnings: Spanish CNMV 
(Click on invester alerts on the right hand side)

Warnings: Netherlands Authority For the Financial Markets
(Click on warning lists on the left hand side)

Finansinspektionen have detailed accounts of Advanced fee fraudsters. We have 1500 companies which have been acknowledged by Advanced Fee Fraudsters over the years. This link below contains a list of the Advanced fee fraud Boiler rooms:

List of Warnings

Suspected Scams and Unknown "Investments"

Clients are strongly advised to consult with FRCS before sending money to any of the following organizations: 

Turner & Associates
101 S. Capitol Boulevard, Suite 806
Boise, Idaho 83702
Phone: + 1 (208) 441-4399
Fax: + 1 (208) 977-4839
E-mail Address: info@turnerassociate.com
Web Address: www.turnerassociate.com
To view the SEC report on this attempted fraud, click here.

Global Quest Emerging Fund LP
One Whitehall Street 15th Floor
New York NY 10004
Telephone No.: 1-646-6520720
Fax No.: 1-646-7864707
Email: info@gqemerging.com
To view the SEC report on this attempted fraud, click here.

Fraud attempts have been made claiming to come from:
United States District Court
ANDREW MCABE, Senior Investigator
Southern District of New York
E-mail: usadistrictcourt@newyork.usa.com
To view the SEC report on this attempted fraud, click here.

New Asia Business Consulting

Clients of ours have been contacted by this organisation wanting to buy some of the old shares at a ridiculous price, in what they have termed a "hostile takeover" operation.
New Asia Business Consulting
32nd Floor, St. Luke's Tower, 8-1 Akashi-Cho, 
Chuo-Ku, Tokyo 104-8518
Tel: +81 3 4520 6303 Fax: +81 3 4496 6049
Email: info@new-asia-consult.com  

The following links show two examples of how NABC operate: 
 

NABC_Securities_Purchase_Agreement_102 
NABC_Non_Disclosure_Agreement_102_pdf

Jacoby & Associates, Plc

Jacoby & Associates, Plc has a website(www.jacobyassociatesplc.com) and uses the following address: One Liberty Place, 1650 Market Street,

Suite 1660, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103 USA.

 

Jacoby & Associates, Plc’s representatives contact investors by telephone and offer to buy their shares in TNST and PR shares. However, the investor must first pay a fee in advance, for “Legal Fee and Restrictions/Share”. This is an advance fee fraud scheme. Warning byFinansinspektionen (the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority).

Hanley Securities Corporation 

 

The SEC Report regarding Hanley Securities Corporation shows that they falsely used the names of:

 

1. A genuine broker-dealer firm called Hanley Securities Corporation (CRD Number: 10667; SEC Number: 8-25741).

2. A genuine entity called Enforth Inc., a Regulation D exempt filer (SEC file no. 021-69832) located in Burlington, Vermont.

3. A genuine registered securities agent named Don A. Romero – they even supplied a copy of his passport!

They encouraged their "target" to check that these were genuine, but since they had no relation to the callers, such a check would be useless.Hanley Securities Corporation documents can be downloaded here.

Zenith Research Group LLC

Zenith Research Group LLC has contacted clients regarding SICOR, Eurosoft and Roanoke shares. One client reported them to the SEC who have not heard of this company and warn that the offer appeared fraudulent. SEC also said the shares were worthless - their response is shown here. Sample documents sent by Zenith Research Group are shown here. 

Abacus Trading Corporation

Address: 8025 EXECLSIOR DR SUITE 200 MADISON 

WI 53717 USA.

Phone: + 1 866 978 6089  Fax: + 1 866 978 7740.

abacustrading@consultant.com

 

The SEC has advised that this firm is not the same as one registered with the SEC.(Read the full text of the SEC warning here):

 

The SEC's EDGAR database (http://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml)has registration information for a genuine entity called Abacus Trading Corp., a Regulation D exempt filer (SEC file no. 021-64737, received 04-19-04) located in Madison, Wisconsin.  But this genuine entity has NO connection with the pseudo-Abacus Trading Corp. that has contacted you.  The pseudo-Abacus Trading Corp. is an impersonator of the genuine entity.

 

Paterson & Co

 

6-3 Sumiyoshicho, Tokyo 194-0292, Japan.

Telephone: +813 5456 5289  Facsimile: +1 (831) 851 7234

www.patersoncoltd.com  info@patersoncoltd.com

 

Paterson & Co falsely claim to offer a scheme with no advanced fee. They require you to sign a contract which obliges you to pay a large (fake) fee to lift restrictions off your shares. More details are available here.

 

McKinley & Co., Ltd.
1-5-2 Higashi-Shimbashi
Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-7123, Japan
Telephone: +813 4496 4250
Facsimile: +813 4496 4251
www.mckinleycoltd.com
information@mckinleycoltd.com

One client reported: “I received a phone call from an American speaking man called David Nielsen that was looking to purchase my “very valuable” Callmate shares at a price somewhere between 10 and 20 dollars.”Incredibly, McKinley & Co. uses the same phone number as was given by Yamato & Associates who defrauded some of our clients a few years ago.

Imperial Quest Ventures Ltd, The Hancock Center 875

N Michigan Avenue

Suite 2600,

Chicago, IL 60611 United States.

Imperial Quest Ventures requests Buyout Taxes and De-Restriction Fees as part of its offer. 

Gold Medallion Trading (http://goldenmedallion.us) claims to have following address: 14001 N. Dallas Parkway, Suite 1400, Dallas, TX 75240, United States. It pretends that a de-restriction fee is required for Otis-Winston shares. It typically introduces itself in the following way: 

"We have an institutional client who would like to acquire your outstanding shares of OWTNF you purchased through another broker house which has been restricted to do further business. De-restriction is a process of making your units saleable in the open market since all of these are considered Regulation-S shares, or shares which are only tradable outside the United States of America."

Walkers Corporate Law Firm (Tel : +1 852 2865 5779) pretends to be a legal firm which offers $11 for shares in Geo-Alert which are trading at $0.0001 each. They don't explain why they pretend to offer $11 for shares you can buy for $0.0001. It claims to have a websitehttp://www.walkers.com which actually has no relation to its claimed business.

The European Consumer Protection Bureau(http://www.europeanconsumer.org/) claims to have following address: 8 Exchange Quay 6th Floor Manchester M5 3EJ United Kingdom. It pretends to be an official organization. It typically introduces itself in the following way:
"Your details have been passed on to us by the assigned auditing firm whom are acting on behalf of several law firms pertaining to a securities fraud class-action lawsuit that was pursued on behalf of purchasers of securities through non registered financial firms. Several shareholder class action lawsuits have been filed against The Brinton Group, The Madison Group and its' associated officers and directors, for violations of the International Securities Act enforced by the European Consumer Protection Bureau. Specifically, the complaint alleges that throughout their period of trading, the said defendants violated the International Securities Act by using unorthodox and in many cases deceptive methods of trading, causing investors to suffer substantial financial losses. The Complaint also alleges The Brinton Group, The Madison Group and Affiliates of operating a non registered securities firm. The European Consumer Protection Bureau also oversees disbursal of seized funds to approved claimants."

Nelson Financial Group claims to have following addresses: • 7322 Southwest Freeway, Med Center, Houston, TX 77027. • 28 Maxwell Road, Red Dot Building 069120, Singapore. The Finansinspektionen warning states: "It has received information that Nelson Financial Group has approached investors in Sweden by telephone and offers the investor to sell his holdings of shares in an OTC company. But, the investor has to pay a fee in advance. A "legend removal fee". It is a matter of advance fee fraud scheme." The SEC investigated and reported: "Despite the alleged Houston, Texas address (among others) for Nelson Financial Group and the alleged Indianapolis, Indiana address for the so-called American Equities Agency (AEA), it is unlikely these entities are located in the USA. Given modern telecommunications technology, telephone call forwarding to offshore listings poses no obstacle to fraudsters." The full SEC report on Nelson Financial Group is available here.

Morrison & Kohler Associates  (http://www.morrisonkohler.com/) claim to be a New York legal firm which notifies TNST victims of a supposed settlement approved by a US Federal court. No such entity as Morrison & Kohler Associates is registered with the SEC. Despite the alleged New York address for Morrison & Kohler Associates, it is unlikely this entity is located in the USA. Given modern telecommunications technology, telephone call forwarding to offshore listings poses no obstacle to fraudsters. The New York State Secretary of State had no information or any incorporation records for any law firm called Morrison & Kohler Associates. In addition, the Securities Class Action Clearinghouse run by Stanford University (http://securities.stanford.edu/index.html) had no record of any such class action suit re: Trans-National Securities & Trust, S.A. (This is an extract from the response by the SEC to one client's enquiry.)

Compass Asset Management, Steven Rodriguez (Swiss phone No: +41 445 801 354) recommends an investment in International Child Care, ICCR. Website: http://www.compassassetmanagement.com/

Orbit International, claiming to operate from Panama. According to salesman Frank Thompson, a firm they represent wants to take over GeoAlert to obtain their patents, and wants to pay “around US$16-US$18 a share if the deal goes through” for these stocks. Fax +507 264 800. E-mail address: orbit_info@cwpanama.net. 

Cathay Asset Management, US Office 2530 Meridian Parkway Durham, NC 27713-5272 Phone: 1(919)741-4497 Toll Free: 1(866)273-9877Fax: 1(919) 287-2322 Email: contact@us.cathayam.com Web:http://www.cathayam.com/

Bengoshi & Partners in Japan, www.bengoshipartners.com

Tanaka & Tate of Japan, 

Miller Walker in Milwaikee USA, 

Balyor Byrnes Brackman Group Inc.www.bbbginc.com, 

First Capital Securities, 

Huntington Management (Steven Rodriguez), 

Sheffield, Silverman and Monroe, 9-20 Niskiki, 1 Chome, Naka-Ku, Nagoya460-0008,Japan.Telephone: 81 52 2698475 Facsimile: 81 34 496 5400 
Website: http://www.lawssm.com 

Paradigm Resources, Ltd. has used the SEC logo and a false “International Shareholders Protection Department” to promote a scheme called: Wealth Protector 50.

Select Capital Management Corporation is not licensed to provide financial services. The company has a website,(www.selectcapitalmanagement.com, created 2005-09-27, Tokyo, Japan), where it claims to have following addresses: 2-18-6 Nihonbashi Cyuo-ku, Tokyo, Japan and 14F Jinjiang Xiangyang Building, 993 Nanjing Rd Shanghai, China. Select Capital Management Corporation pretends to offer investors the opportunity to buy shares listed on the London Stock Exchange at an 8 per cent discount on market price.

Zenith Research Group LLC

Zenith Research Group LLC has contacted clients in regards to the SICOR/ERST shares and wanted  information regarding them. They stated that they had a way to get rid of the shares. The SEC in the US have not heard of this company. It is definitely an Advanced Fee fraud scam. The following documents show that this is the case. 

Yamato & Associates of Japan:
1-1-3 Marunouchi Chiyoda-ku, 
Tokyo 100-0005, Japan. 
Telephone: +81 3 5288 5249, 
Facsimile: +81 3 4496 4250 
E-mail: info@yamatoassociates.com
Web: www.yamatoassociates.com

Disclaimer: There may not be proof or even significant evidence that any of the above firms are attempting to commit illegal activities. All content of this website is information only and the reader must obtain his/her own independent advice before using or relying on any of the content published on this website