Information on romance scams and scammers.
by bewitched Sun Mar 03, 2013 8:36 am
Hi there, until 2 weeks ago I didn't know anything about love-scam, nor baiting - but learned quick.. through a german partner website called "Elitepartner" a guy called Mathieu Seifert contacted me. Quite distinguished, excellent English, artlover, half american, half swiss/german, living in Basle, MBA and Ing., Dammerkirchstrasse 38 with appartment in Berlin, CEO of two companies - admaxenergy.com and diamondenergies.com (one Goeckestrasse 23, the other Chausseestrasse 132).
Mails and chat were intellectually high standinig, very polite and "gentlemanlike". Has a son who studies Neuroscience at the Freie Universität in Berlin. So far o.k. - Phone number in Basle is listed in Swiss Telephone listing -. Then in October he has to go to Guangzhou, China, for business. Buying some big machine parts to produce BioFuel. Wants to come back just before x-mas. Suddenly - accident in Port of Guangzhou - machines crashed - has to stay there over x-mas and new years to "fix" insurance situation. At the end of january the mails get shorter and he talks of financial problems - indeed never asking directly for money. When I had enough, I asked him what the problem was - and oh yes - he needed 38'00 Euro to get the "new" machines out of China (tells me this had never happened before, that he had invested himself over a Million Euros etc.etc.). I then asked for papers i.e. Banking contact in Berlin, insurance papers about accident, shipping papers as well as a contact person in his company in Berlin. Which of course he couldn't give, because he had given "the original" to the Bank (Ha!! Which businessman nowadays travels without a portable scanner or at least a copy of important contracts??) ) So I declared to be bancrupt - came back a quite nice mail thanking me for "going the extra mile trying to sort out things for him" - declaring he'd like to see me when he would come back.....So - no mail for a few weeks - and then I see a documentation in TV about love scamming. Ok, ok - then I went to work: I found almost all of the pictues on his company websites (they are all fake - real people, whose name he changed, and one of them is even a laywer, professor in California, specialised in intellectual property ). Coming back from holiday last week - he wrote that he "took ill and had to be admitted to the hospital here in Guangzhou"...oh jeaaah?.... The address in Basle is fake - the ones in Berlin also - and there is another internet company greenfuelenergies.com with exactly the same people as management team, but another CEO. Also the industrial sites on the 3 pages are fake.... a post mailed invitation to Basle came back with "unknown". Only ONE Picture I couldn't find allover the world - his own - as well as about five others - private ones - he sent me. I feel pity for the man whose pictures he uses for fraudulent intention (at least that one looks quite sympathetic ) - and I'd like to be able to trace him - so I still write the one who calls himself Mathieu Seifert.... Does anyone know about these sites, about the guy - is he active on other sites? Or is this a newcomer who works alone??? Can anyone help me? Greetings bewiched
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by TerranceBoyce Sun Mar 03, 2013 10:43 am
He sounds like a more professional romance scammer than the average ones we see, and the best thing you can do is post his contact details, e-mail addresses and the phone numbers he uses. Of course, scammers can change them quite easily, but making their details publics slows them down a little and enables us to trace what other identities he uses and what other scams he's been involved in, as well as helping other potential victims Google him.

It would also help if you post up what are probably his standard mails introducing himself, less your personal details, as they are often a template they use again and again.

Tracking down who they are is difficult but not always impossible, whereas making them face the law is usually impossible as they are most likely outside the reach of Western law enforcement.

CAR ADVERTS - If a car seller mentions escrow - he's scamming you Never ever for any reason pay anything until you have seen and inspected the vehicle
by bewitched Sun Mar 03, 2013 11:06 am
Thanks - o.k., then:
mail-adress is [email protected] (Swiss fake adress: Dammerkirchstrasse 38, Basel)
I found out that one time the mails came from an IP in Germany, the other time somewhere in Kansas.... but I'm not a digital native - so - have no idea what that means....

swiss cell-phone is +41 76 285 38 06 (or for swiss citizens: 076 285 38.06)
"china" cell-phone is 0085 281 97 87 54

then homepages of companies:
1. http://www.diamondenergies.com (Chausseestrasse 132, Berlin)
2. http://www.admaxenergy.com (Goeckestrasse 32, Berlin)
3. http://www.greenfuelenergies.com (with another CEO - but exactly the same CV)

Besides I DID enjoy the chocolates he sent from ZChocolat, Aix en Provence, France for about 80Dollars :lol:

But it would relly be good, when he could be tracked in one way or another - just sad, that the "real" human being on the pictures probably won't be found. There is one on diamondenergies as well as admaxenergy. If you need others I'll send them.
by TerranceBoyce Sun Mar 03, 2013 11:57 am
I may have a name, but I need to do some more checking and those websites need some investigation too.
Last edited by TerranceBoyce on Sun Mar 03, 2013 12:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.

CAR ADVERTS - If a car seller mentions escrow - he's scamming you Never ever for any reason pay anything until you have seen and inspected the vehicle
by Dotti Sun Mar 03, 2013 12:13 pm
Please do post his early emails to you. Those scripts will very possibly be used again. As Terrance said, this is definitely more professional than average (though I have seen scammers with this level of professionalism a few times before.)

Besides I DID enjoy the chocolates he sent from ZChocolat, Aix en Provence, France for about 80Dollars

You may have enjoyed them, but the owner of the stolen credit card he would have used to buy them didn't. Scammers like this don't use their own money to buy things for their victims. They simply buy stolen credit card details on the open market and used those. Occasionally (though less often) they actually use the credit card of one of their own victims that they have convinced the victim to share.

At this point, the best thing you can do is cut off contact with this scammer. Post his information for others to find, but walk away. If he discovers you are still playing with him he could get angry and nasty.

As far as the owner of the photos goes, there is no real point in trying to track him down. The scammer has saved his photos; the owner cannot get them back. The real person is very possibly married, involved, or simply not looking for a relationship, and may not welcome an intrusion into his privacy. Learning that his photos are being used will inevitably lead to frustration over a situation he cannot control.

Terrance will look more closely, but taking a quick look at the websites, Diamond Energies and Green Fuel Energies are clearly the work of the same author. I also see cut-and paste from legitimate sites, like http://www.doctordiesel.com/

The registrations are even bigger clues. Why on earth is a German company domain registered in Nigeria?

http://www.diamondenergies.com
Registrant Contact Details:
Orbra I.T.C.
Ololade Otayemi ([email protected])
3, First Foundation close (beside adebola house) Opebi, Ikeja
Lagos
Lagos,234
NG
Tel. +234.07064460756


Domain Name: GREENFUELENERGIES.COM
Registrar: PDR LTD. D/B/A PUBLICDOMAINREGISTRY.COM
Whois Server: whois.PublicDomainRegistry.com
Referral URL: http://www.PublicDomainRegistry.com
Name Server: NS1.ORBRAHOST.COM
Name Server: NS2.ORBRAHOST.COM
Status: clientTransferProhibited
Updated Date: 17-oct-2012
Creation Date: 18-oct-2011
Expiration Date: 18-oct-2013
Administrative Contact Details:
Orbra I.T.C.
Ololade Otayemi ([email protected])
3, First Foundation close (beside adebola house) Opebi, Ikeja
Lagos


And here we have the typical new registration, one year only.
Domain Name: ADMAXENERGY.COM
Registrar: ENOM, INC.
Whois Server: whois.enom.com
Referral URL: http://www.enom.com
Name Server: DNS1.NAMECHEAPHOSTING.COM
Name Server: DNS2.NAMECHEAPHOSTING.COM
Status: clientTransferProhibited
Updated Date: 08-mar-2012
Creation Date: 08-mar-2012
Expiration Date: 08-mar-2013

Need to post photos? http://scamwarners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=3219
Are you a victim of a romance scam? Read here for advice and FAQ's.
by TerranceBoyce Sun Mar 03, 2013 12:32 pm
That's what I'm looking at Dotti, though some of the domains he's hosted appear legitimate.

It's more complex than the average scam.

I need to look at the overall picture of what's going on.

CAR ADVERTS - If a car seller mentions escrow - he's scamming you Never ever for any reason pay anything until you have seen and inspected the vehicle
by bewitched Sun Mar 03, 2013 12:33 pm
here two of his early mails - but beware - they are horrendously long!

" Hello xxx, How are you today? I hope you are taking time out to enjoy the weekend. Yesterday was quite hectic for me as I had business meetings with clients up until late. It is nice that you could share a bit about yourself with me. I am sure we have all made mistakes in life but regrets do not do us any good. Your analysis of me is not far from the truth. Let me give you a brief description of my personality: I believe in directness and I'm usually very frank. I have accomplished many of my life's goals, but am by no means finished. I enjoy an active lifestyle that includes spending time in nature, enjoying the pleasures found within the city and going for a horse ride.
I regularly participate in a number of activities that include hiking, tennis and skiing. I am equally comfortable decked out for an evening on town or relaxing at home. I would classify myself as spontaneous as I like to say what is on my mind. Elitepartner is not a place that I expected to find myself, but I have learned that in life, you do not get to pick the hand you are dealt. What defines you is how you play that hand. I see every obstacle or problem as an opportunity for growth. I feel that the only thing in life that you can truly control is how you react in your everyday life. I see the world as my Country and Love as my religion.With each opportunity I encounter I strive to find the best possible outcome.
I take challenges as opportunities to learn and grow. I am a happy person and I love to have a good time but of course there has to be a balance to everything. I'd rather say "I WORK HARD AND PLAY HARD". I believe every experience shapes who we are in life and how we react to them is what charts the course of our life. I am a very confident man, it takes understanding your personal potential to achieve that.
This is as much as I can put down now. I still know very little about you and I hope you would write more about yourself and your perspective of life in your next mail. I am a very busy man but I believe taking time out of my busy schedule to get to know you is a step in the right direction. Take care.Mathieu

"Hello xxx, It was nice to read your email. I find it interesting that our perspectives are quite similar. You see life from a positive view and I like that about you. As I told you earlier, online dating is not my ideal way of meeting a life long partner but when one gets quite busy with work and doesn't have too much time to socialize, it becomes necessary to try another method of meeting someone. I never set unrealistic expectations, neither do I believe in fantasy stories. I believe that whatever life throws at us, as long as we see things with positive eyes and remain optimistic, we would be able to handle anything. I know that nobody is perfect. I am just looking to discover a lady that sees life from an open perspective. Someone that can accept the imperfections in me and be able to communicate her innermost desires with me. Finding a partner for life is not some sort of programmed game. It takes commitment, honesty, mutual respect and trust which has to be earned over time. The way you write tells me a lot about you and from what I know about you so far, I can tell that it would be interesting to finally meet you when I am back from my business trip. My flight to Guangzhou, China is on Tuesday.
Thanks for taking the time to explain your work to me; from your mail, I can easily tell that you are dedicated to whatever you believe in. How did your conference go? I hope you take some time off work to relax and pursue your hobbies. My weekend has been quite busy as I have been packing my luggage in preparation for my busi-ness trip. How did you spend yours? I like the fact that you paid careful attention to my email. It shows that you are very attentive to detail. I am glad that you are open and forthcoming. You strike me as a woman that speaks from the heart. Since I would be away for a few weeks, I have decided to give you some history about myself. I was born in Lausanne. My father being Swiss and my mother Half American- half German (her mother was from a small village north-east of Berlin). My mother, like many at the time, got married at a young age and had me when she was only 23 years old. When I was 4 1/2 yrs we moved to Minneapolis in the United States for a year and later to Florida where we lived for almost 9 years, until I was 14 years old. Both my parents were teachers (mom - high school math and dad history at the university). I loved my childhood dearly, being in the States, going to an International School and having friends from all over the world. Vacations were spent in Germany with my German cousins (of which I have lost contact with most of them) and travelling around with my parents and school friends to all kinds of very interesting places (my 8th grade class trip was to Rome).
Unfortunately, my parents marriage was never very stable - my father had many affairs and spent money like mad so we were always on the poor side. My parents finally got divorced the day after I turned 18 years old and my father left without warning. The years that followed were difficult but luckily my grandparents (my mom's parents) helped us through and my mother and I became very close. While I tried to keep in touch with my father since the divorce, he remarried shortly thereafter and contact occurred less and less (I did not like his wife nor did she like me). After a few years all contact was broken off, which I think was for the best for both of us and I was able to move on without some kind-of-shadow hanging over me. I can say that even though my parents divorce was painful, I was quite lucky .... those experiences helped me to evolve into who I am today teaching me to appreciate life with its imperfections. Unfortunately, my Mom passed on a few years after my first degree.
For undergrad, I attended Stanford University, did a study-abroad program at the University of Essex in the United Kingdom and still graduated within 4 years even though I worked throughout.... either as a waiter, cleaner, receptionist and campus recruiter. I got my degree in Mechanical Engineering. After my Undergrad, I went on to Grad School at Stanford and received a Masters Degree in Applied Technology and Business Administration. I got a job with a small Engineering firm at that time and decided to settle in. Things were not going too well at work then and the pay was next to nothing. That was a very difficult period in my life. I had to look inward for happiness and learned a lot of lessons the very hard way. I later quit my job after three and a half years of being static with little development of my personal potential. After a few years of jumping from one job to the other in search of exposure; my big break finally came when I got a job with Boeing. That kick started my career and after a few years, I started handling key positions and establishing contacts. I quit my job with Boeing and later formed a partnership with a friend until late in 2004 when I decided to work independently. Since then, I have been the CEO of my own company and I have handled various projects around the world.
On the love front, I got married to my wife immediately after my Masters degree. We had a lot of wonderful moments together. We were married for 19 years but after her struggle with cancer, she passed on in 2004. It was a difficult period for my Son and I. I have had two serious relationships after my wife passed on and to be frank with you, I was looking for an exact replica of her so things did not just work out. I am over that now as I have learned that making comparisons with past relationships is not healthy for a relationship. We are all different people with different mindsets. I have also learned that love is not by finding a perfect partner but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly, accepting them for who they are. I do not live in the past and I have taken a decision to live in the NOW! TODAY is a gift that is why it is called PRESENT!
While my job is important to me, I am happy with my current state and could care less about material things. I am independent - neither Republican nor Democrat (although I vote mostly democrat) nor conservative or socialist (though I am a big environmentalist and social advocate). I do not pay too much attention to outer beauty - what is important and just as beautiful is what is in a person's heart, mind and soul. I like to think that what one may lack in outer beauty they make up with inner beauty and I like to view myself that way - beautiful from the inside out. I believe that happiness is a decision one makes and while there have been many ups and downs, my decision has always been to be happy. I always try to find the light at the end of the tunnel or a window to open (to take a line from the movie Sound of Music) ... Which is why I signed up for Elite Partner (but I want to save this part for another day to tell). I'm interested in many things including: history, humanity and world cultures. I love hiking in the mountains and by the sea. Nature is a healing and uplifting influence upon my spirit, and in its beauty, I feel connected to the Universe. I consider myself a practical individual who is at times complex but grounded in good values. Am I perfect? Hell no! Who is? But my sincere desire is to learn how to improve my imperfections in order to become the best that I can be as an ordinary functioning human being.
My decision to move to Europe came as a result of the changing bio-fuel environment among the EU nations. After handling a few projects in Switzerland, the Netherlands and Germany, I fell in love with the environment and after undergoing feasibility studies, I decided to permanently relocate here. Locating my Company in Berlin was due to legislation on bio-fuel usage in Germany. My Company has benefited both technically and economically from the incentives provided by the German Government to encourage the use of cleaner and more environmentally friendly energy. I am looking to establish a branch of my Company in Basel within the next few years.
I approach life with a sense of openness to new experiences and adventures with humour and wit, willing to try things previously unattained, while engaging all my faculties to absorb all that I can, because I happen to have an insatiable appetite for understanding the mechanisms of our reality. In this regard, I have travelled extensively around the globe - Africa, Europe, Turkey, Japan, India, the Middle East, South America, around the U.S., Canada, South Pacific Islands, Caribbean Islands, I was recently on a 2 weeks cruise around the Caribbean (my 2nd around the islands). Travel; which gives value to time spent on this planet, is continuously giving me new perspectives that are filled with exciting experiences and much spiritual and cultural enrichment.
Hopefully this mail is not too 'deep' or too long for you. I want to be open and share with you who I am .. what "makes me ... me." I would very much like to read from you again. You can also read more about my professional life on my Company Website. It is http://www.diamondenergies.com. I hope you do not find it too technical and boring. I would try to keep in touch. Enjoy your start to the new week. I would give you a call by 9pm tomorrow. I hope it is not too late to call you then.Kind Regards,Mathieu."
by bewitched Sun Mar 03, 2013 12:41 pm
And some more info for you - just to complicate the matter a bit more :
On the professional network "linkedin" Seifert appears as President and CEO of diamondenergies.com
but
Bernard Flores funnily also as President and CEO
then there is
Trevor Eriksen, Austria - also President and CEO of Diamondenergies
as well as
Trevor Mayer, Gothenburg, Sweden who seems to work with Diamondenergies
also quite interesting:
almost all of those have the same or very similar CV....
by Dotti Sun Mar 03, 2013 1:35 pm
Either this scammer is using all of those names in those scams, or multiple scammers are using the website to support their scams. He could be part of an organized group, which could also explain the better-written scripts.

The English is good, but he does make subtle mistakes here and there that are not consistent with an author who was raised in the US.

Much of it sounds a little too good--in many cases, it reads like he has simply strung together pieces of quotes, like the "perfect partner" quote which is actually from Sam Keen: http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/178984.Sam_Keen

Need to post photos? http://scamwarners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=3219
Are you a victim of a romance scam? Read here for advice and FAQ's.
by TerranceBoyce Sun Mar 03, 2013 3:12 pm
http://www.admaxenergy.com has gone down in the last few hours, but evidence of its prior existence is still available on web cache.

Domain name: admaxenergy.com

Registrant Contact:
Admaxenergy
George cohen ()

Fax:
docklands business centre
canary wharf
london, london e14 8px
GB

Administrative Contact:
Admaxenergy
George cohen (@yahoo.co.uk)
+44.08456431351
Fax: +1.5555555555
docklands business centre
canary wharf
london, london e14 8px
GB

Technical Contact:
Admaxenergy
George cohen (@yahoo.co.uk)
+44.08456431351
Fax: +1.5555555555
docklands business centre
canary wharf
london, london e14 8px
GB

Status: Locked

Name Servers:
dns1.namecheaphosting.com
dns2.namecheaphosting.com

Creation date: 08 Mar 2012 11:57:00
Expiration date: 08 Mar 2013 11:57:44

Registrar Info
Name ENOM, INC.
Whois Server whois.enom.com
Referral URL http://www.enom.com
Status clientTransferProhibited

Important Dates
Expires On March 08, 2013
Registered On March 08, 2012
Updated On March 08, 2012

Name Servers More Info
dns1.namecheaphosting.com 74.81.65.92
dns2.namecheaphosting.com 69.160.33.71

CAR ADVERTS - If a car seller mentions escrow - he's scamming you Never ever for any reason pay anything until you have seen and inspected the vehicle
by bewitched Sun Mar 03, 2013 3:32 pm
oops - things happen fast... if you need a screenshot: I did one a few days ago and still have the pdf.
by TerranceBoyce Sun Mar 03, 2013 4:55 pm
No need bewitched. I know some places I can get copies if needed but now it's down, that's all that we'd do anyway.

http://www.greenfuelenergies.com

Domain Name: GREENFUELENERGIES.COM

Registration Date: 18-Oct-2011
Expiration Date: 18-Oct-2013

Status:LOCKED

Name Servers:
ns1.orbrahost.com
ns2.orbrahost.com

Registrant Contact Details:
Orbra I.T.C.
Ololade Otayemi (@orbrahost.com)
3, First Foundation close (beside adebola house) Opebi, Ikeja
Lagos
Lagos,234
NG
Tel. +234.07064460756

Administrative Contact Details:
Orbra I.T.C.
Ololade Otayemi (@orbrahost.com)
3, First Foundation close (beside adebola house) Opebi, Ikeja
Lagos
Lagos,234
NG
Tel. +234.07064460756

Technical Contact Details:
Orbra I.T.C.
Ololade Otayemi (@orbrahost.com)
3, First Foundation close (beside adebola house) Opebi, Ikeja
Lagos
Lagos,234
NG
Tel. +234.07064460756

Billing Contact Details:
Orbra I.T.C.
Ololade Otayemi (@orbrahost.com)
3, First Foundation close (beside adebola house) Opebi, Ikeja
Lagos
Lagos,234
NG
Tel. +234.07064460756

Registrar Info
Name PDR LTD. D/B/A PUBLICDOMAINREGISTRY.COM
Whois Server whois.PublicDomainRegistry.com
Referral URL http://www.PublicDomainRegistry.com
Status clientTransferProhibited
Important Dates

Expires On October 18, 2013
Registered On October 18, 2011
Updated On October 17, 2012

Name Servers
ns1.orbrahost.com
ns2.orbrahost.com


Funnily enough the strategies page here

http://www.greenfuelenergies.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=52&Itemid=61

is the same as the one here

http://diamondenergies.com/strategy/

the next web site I'll be looking at.

The company overview pages are the same too. :roll: They even share some of the photos on the Home Page.

Though it doesn't claim to be an incorporated company, and doesn't fulfil the legal requirements of an incorporated company on the website, it claims to have a CEO, which is rather unusual.

It hasn't built any of the plants it claims to have built and neither would anyone give a contract to an unincorporated company to do so.

I notice that http://diamondenergies.com has already achieved the accolade of an entry on the aa419 database, so its days are numbered. No need for further research.

In summary bewitched, the three websites you were shown were fakes. I suspect that they were built for some ambitious fraud which was way beyond their abilities, so the scammer reverted to standard 419 options.

In technical matters they make silly and basic mistakes and will never fool competent experts in technical fields like bio-fuel technology. Building a basic website is something they still struggle with.

CAR ADVERTS - If a car seller mentions escrow - he's scamming you Never ever for any reason pay anything until you have seen and inspected the vehicle
by smuehl Thu Apr 04, 2013 5:15 pm
I am very glad that this issues with Mr. Mathieu Seifert is closed and over! I was also receiving the mails, and phone calls on a regular basis as well as cards from China... but did not send any money . The scam was very well played!
I had also made a bigger background check on the person one's the request for money was expressed and found out, that all websides (note registered companies), addresses in China (thanks to google maps), address in Switzerland etc. were flawed or something was wrong.
The letters you got sound very familiar ... good wrinting and nice try...
Congratulations to not falling into the trap and thanks for all those that helped to clear this scam.
by jolly_roger Fri Apr 05, 2013 2:25 am
This scammer has graced the forum previously in early twenty eleven. The script on viewtopic.php?f=1&t=16859&p=107115 looks strikingly similar.
Thankyou for submiting the report because others will not get burnt by it.

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