Asking on behalf of relative

Unfortunately, with reference to the bank accounts that received money, correspondences were done over the phone and via SMS. I can give you the phone numbers but I don't know if they'll do any good.

+60 176954226 anuar the 'customs officer'

+60 176954298 haliza from the 'courier company'

When I typed them out, I noticed the similarity of their numbers. I've gone to her email account but all I could find pertaining to the transactions are from my relative herself sending the transaction receipts. There's a chunk of email missing between 22 May and 30 May so I'm assuming she just deleted them all.

This is all that I can extract pertaining to one of the transactions though there's no mention of the account numbers here:

To: ---
From: "Multilink Courier Group Plc" <[email protected]>
Date: 05/29/2009 05:46PM
cc: [email protected]
Subject: For customer 4465442

Dear valued customer , the attached file, is the invoice for the
payment of the insurance/vat for package no 4465442 to Malaysia.
This fee must be settled on or before Monday 1/06/09 or the package
will be sent back to its origin and withheld, so for further enquires and
assistance, Kindly contact Ms Haliza Zukifli on +60176954298 or via email
on [email protected]

Regards
MCG

The money to 'haliza' was sent to the following account:

Valeria Lau Kim Chai
A/c no: 111011245136
Maybank

The money to 'anuar' was sent to this one:

Anuar Ali Mohd Ismail
A/C no: 164052022141
Maybank

Transaction to 'anuar' was done about 2 days before the quoted email. After this email was sent, a couple of days later, relative told courier company to send parcel to a Malaysian address and she went down to Malaysia to receive the parcel but later that day was told over the phone that it has been delayed and was asked to fork over more money, a much more extravagant amount. Relative declined and complained to 'Mark Vin Brown', at that time she thought he's as much a victim as she is, and then he supposedly got his 'lawyers' to intervene and force the parcel to be returned to the UK.

Unfortunately mcglobalplc.com appears to be active again:

WHOIS - mcglobalplc.com
Registrar: DIRECTI INTERNET SOLUTIONS PVT. LTD. D/B/A PUBLICDOMAINREGISTRY.COM
Status: ACTIVE
Dates: Created 11-sep-2008 Updated 10-nov-2008 Expires 11-sep-2009

While the registrar shows that domain as active, it doesn't appear to be functional or hosted anywhere.

The email addresses listed in that email do not validate as working addresses:

Validating [email protected]...

Validation results
confidence rating: 0 - Bad address
error : RecipientRejected - Mail server rejected the email address.
canonical address: <[email protected]>

I just found this link that you may be interested to look at.

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/nati ... Taiwan.htm

I'll do some more digging myself to see what I can find, but it does have similarities with this case. Of course it's quite possibly different people working the same scam, as they do share 'formats' (that's what we call their propositions and tactics) but you never know.

One thing to mention is that I believe that Malaysian police are quite strict with these criminals and though, as ever, the problem is identifying and catching them, they'll usually receive a prison sentence if the case can be proven. When the scammers are located in West Africa, as many are, the local police are pretty unreliable.

Thank you very much GomerPyle!

I'm finally at my relative's office and accessing the Lotus Notes. Got hold of the email headers and ran them through an IP locater and all of them come from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Do you think I should go straight to the Malaysian Police to report what I've found? She has a report with the local police already so I'm thinking of adding on to that? Or are the stuff insufficient? What else should I have?

There's the bank account numbers, the telephone numbers but that's about it. Also, the guy is still contacting her actually received about 4 missed calls from him today but she was busy and couldn't reply.

Please let me know what I should do next, thank you.

I have made an offer/suggestion to Jillian but I am waiting to hear back if she thinks it's worth a try.

So please hold on for the moment.

I could go ahead but having people doing things independently could do more harm than good and create confusion.

Are the contacts still coming from Malaysia ? That would be very interesting to know. The phone calls I mean.

Alright thanks!

The incoming calls from the guy are all private numbers. The number she uses to call him is in the form of the UK redirect number.

For the time being, she wants to talk to him still just in case he thinks something is up. That a good idea to continue talking? She really wants to catch this guy. Or guys I suppose.

I went through her Skype because much of their communication was over that program and in one of the latest conversations, he was very insistent that she open an empty bank account and send that account number to him. She has done so, thinking it's safe.

Is it safe? What are the possible things they'd be doing with it and how?

Many horrible and unpleasant things. Giving criminals a bank account to use is not wise.

The most likely purpose is for it to be used to funnel money from other victims to him. It is using your relative as a 'mule' and the account effectively for money laundering. She would then be asked to pay the money on by Western Union.

Scammers are aware that victims find bank accounts more acceptable and of course it isolates them from any possibilty of being tracked through it. Of course when the other victims complain, the police will come knocking on your relatives door.

Having done some reading on the 419 scam problem in Malaysia, it's quite possible that this is the work of a group, and that they are running various scam formats, everything from 'romance' to 'job scams', and getting hold of a bank account to make their work appear more respectable would be very valuable.

I would wait for Jillian, who probably knows more details from you, but I would feel inclined to get the account blocked - that is unable to receive or pay money. Receiving money may seem harmless, but if you could face having to make explanations to the police, it's best not to get involved. At the very least it could then affect your credit rating. No reason you should tell the scammer you've blocked it though - for the moment anyway, as that does provide a hook to control him to some extent.

Gillian can work as overall guide on this, and I'll just be a hunting dog.

Oh thanks I will let her know.

I haven't sent anything to Jillian, only to Peta and most of the information is on this thread already actually.

And thanks once again for your help!

If there is any way that you could get the victim to actually view this thread herself,do you think it may be enough for her to withdraw from the scam and cut all ties to these thieves ?

There is enough proof in this thread that has evidence to back it up that this is all a scam. All she needs to have is an open mind and she will see that our links and advice all stands up to close scrutiny. The fake websites that are either in the database or already dead, the redirected numbers that keep the real number hidden, the links to various repositories of scam related information, and the fact that if you took this information to any bank or police station - they will verify every single word said so far.

If we take stock and look at all this evidence infront of us, which as opposed to the scammers information, can be verified, and look at the fact that the victim is now opening bank accounts for people she has never seen face to face, it seriously is time to pull the plug on this.

Failing this, you may have to start considering taking matters into your own hands. Maybe have someone from local law enforcement pay her a visit on an informal basis just to explain to her that she is the victim of an elabourate scam carried out by professional fraud artists.

She may not like this, and even resent you for it for a while, but it is a damn site better than watching her get arrested for laundering money or sending thousands of dollars to these awful individuals and pushing herself deep into debt.

The fallout from what she may percieve as a betrayal of trust can be ugly and intense for a while, and you need to be prepared for that. We can help both you and her if this is the case.

The minute she opened up an account for the scammers is the minute it went WAY too far. She could get into some SERIOUS trouble if it is used. Please do not depend on the slim chance that the law would look sympathetically at this.

Please stop this before it gets wildly out of hand.

She wants these guys to be captured, essentially. I've already explained to her the dangers and she's okay with the blocking of the account. It's 2.48 in the morning here, she'll be contacting her bank in about 6 hours. Would closing down the account hinder any effort at an attempt to catch the scammers?

Alright, I've called her my 'relative' for long enough. She's my mum. She lost a significant amount of money and it pisses me off to see her like this. She wants some form of justice but I've already prepped her by saying that in many cases the scammers get away with the money. I just want to do whatever I can to at least get them to the police.

Looks like a pretty sophisticated group operating out of Malaysia. I will summarize some of the key points here:
Summary:
Romance scammer contact info:
Name: Mark Vin Brown
Email: [email protected]

Address and telephone numbers from the courier company's invoice letter. There are different sets of numbers to call victim.
1 North Parade Paronage Gardens
Manchester m2 3nh England
Contacts: 07031746156, 0750654290

Fake courier company in aa419 database and appears to be dead:
Multi Link Courier Group PLC (UK)
Suite 7011, Menie Park Lodge, Menie Estate
Balmedie, Aberdeen, AB24 8YE
Phone:(+44) 0703-182-254
Fax: (+44) 0150-669-1422
Email:[email protected]
Website:www.mcglobalplc.com

Fake bank - Active site not in aa419 database:
From: "INTERNATIONAL REMITTANCE DEPARTMENT,GOLDCREDIT FINANCE & SECURITIES UNITED KINGDOM,TELE/FAX+447005947018,+447092849082" <[email protected]>
http://gocfinance.com/contactus.htm

canonical name gocfinance.com.
addresses 69.65.42.1
Domain Name: GOCFINANCE.COM
Registrar: DIRECTI INTERNET SOLUTIONS PVT. LTD. D/B/A PUBLICDOMAINREGISTRY.COM
Whois Server: whois.PublicDomainRegistry.com
Referral URL: http://www.PublicDomainRegistry.com
Name Server: NS1.SLASHOST.ORG
Name Server: NS2.SLASHOST.ORG
Status: clientDeleteProhibited
Updated Date: 08-apr-2009
Creation Date: 08-apr-2009
Expiration Date: 08-apr-2010

Peta found two other identical sites:

I have taken a quick look at gocfinance.com and found that it appears to be almost identical to gcfsgroup.com and crfinancesecurities.com

http://www.gcfsgroup.com/ is in aa419 database and is active.
http://www.crfinancesecurities.com/ is not in the database and is active.

Other characters:
Fabian Dyke - [email protected]
Haliza Zukifli [email protected] +60176954298
'Frank Morris' and 'Dr Jacob Che'
[email protected]
[email protected]

Malaysian scammers and their bank acc numbers:
Banda Richard
A/c no: 15751005476
Hong Leong Bank

The money to 'haliza' was sent to the following account:
Valeria Lau Kim Chai
A/c no: 111011245136
Maybank

The money to 'anuar' was sent to this one:
Anuar Ali Mohd Ismail
A/C no: 164052022141
Maybank

Other comments from OP:

They operate out of Kuala Lumpur, the country's capital. I'm convinced that this is a Malaysian scam.

I also have the I/C number and bank account number of the customs official, I'm sending his information to the Malaysian Police.

Lastly, the two persons 'Frank Morris' and 'Dr Jacob Che' are definitely the same asshole because 'Frank Morris' forgot to replace the signature 'Dr Jacob Che' at the bottom of his email. Copy and pasted I suppose. Nonetheless, their email addresses:

[email protected]
[email protected]

Unfortunately, with reference to the bank accounts that received money, correspondences were done over the phone and via SMS. I can give you the phone numbers but I don't know if they'll do any good.

+60 176954226 anuar the 'customs officer'
+60 176954298 haliza from the 'courier company'

Lily, I am so sorry to hear about the situation, especially with it being your Mother.

Sincerely, I hope she recovers quickly and does not let these bastards take her mind as well as her money.

Im pleased to hear that there is no chance of her sending any more cash to these thieves.

Me personally, I am but a scam warner and counsellor to a degree. I have no idea how to actually compile enough evidence to form a case against these people to uncover them and prosecute.

Maybe some of our other members are better versed in these matters and can offer more guidance, but the only thing I can suggest is to contact the police asap. Your Mum has done nothing wrong at all, even by opening the account. Its if she uses it to move money around that she becomes an accomplice.

If there is not enough info for law enforcement to take matters further, they at least should either tell you both if there is anything more you can do to gather more intelligence on the scam, or they will have people that will do it for you.

Again, this info may be superceded at any time by someone with more experience of how to catch these scammers and I would liten to them more than you listen to me on this, but as you said, dont hang your hopes on arrests as they are hard to come by.

If all else fails, take comfort in the fact that together, you worked it out and came to us. Sure, your mother lost money, but she has you and you have her. It could have been a hell of a lot worse.

Again, im sorry.

SM

Thanks for the support Steven. She has already made a report actually but at our local police. Will be adding on with the new information once she's awake.