This
page contains in-depth research and information about
the Barnby / Icegold / Netgold 'advance-fee' internet
lottery scam and its many variations |
|
Read
the 'winning notification' here. |
Catty Miller
|
One
of the
'Lottery Managers' at Barnby Worldwide Business Information
- see below for variations. |
Steven
Furtado
|
One
of the
'Client Services Managers' at Ice Gold Finance Ltd and Net
Gold Services Ltd - see below for variations. |
Barnby
Worldwide Business Information
9 Leapal Road,
Guildford
Surrey
GU1
4JX
www.barnbywbi.com
or
Paseo de Castillano 175 Madrid
or
22 Silver Street
Doncaster
South Yorkshire
DN1 1HQ
|
According
to 'Catty Miller', this company
is promoting the lottery. An apparently
dummy
website for
this company name appeared in May 2005 - the domain name
was registered on 22 February 2005. It appears to be based
on the site of TheRegister (an
established site that was registered in 1996) and uses
their 'vulture' logo.
There are many indicators that the Barnby site is a copy:
links that do not work ('Track Order', 'My
Account'), the addition of a 'LOTTERY' tab (only on the homepage)
in a different typeface (see screenshot below) and perhaps
the most
obvious, the
site still carried the words 'Welcome to The Register Retail
Store' (!)
The 'Lottery
Result' page carries
a paragraph written in the style of 'Catty Miller', stating 'If
you are selected do not be surprised or shocked, count yourself
very
lucky
and fortunate as this kind of opportunity does not occur
twice'. A reasssuring red warning, presumably to show
how 'genuine' this lottery is, states: WARNING
OF SCAMS! There
is currently a high wave of internet scams promising all
sorts
of bogus prizes... do not fall
for it as their aim is to wipe you clean and you would get
nothing in return...
Good advice indeed - see the full Lottery
Result text here.
This account was suspended on 3 June 2005 and
therefore the site is no longer accessible.
On the right are screenshots of the genuine TheRegister
site (top), the Barnby
version (middle) and the 'Lottery
Result' details as shown on the lottery
page of the Barnby site (bottom).
|
 |
Ice
Gold Finance Ltd
(IGF Financial)
Ice Gold Services Ltd
Electron
House
43 London Road
Reigate
Surrey RH2 9PW
www.icegld.co.uk
or
Electron House
25 Plaza de Toro
Madrid
|
This
company purports to be a finance house which houses funds for
the Barnby Worldwide
Business Information lottery and to whom 'fees' have to be
paid before the 'win' can be paid out. 'Steven Furtado' states
that he is the Client Services Manager of this
company.
The
UK address
used belongs to KMG
Financial, a genuine, well-established finance
company in the UK. The Ice
Gold website appears to be a dummy, copied from
the genuine
KMG site. The Client Services Manager at KMG is Steven
Furtado - it appears that his name is being used by the scam.
The www.icegld.co.uk domain name was registered on 8 March 2005.
This
account was suspended on 5 April 2005 and therefore the site
is no longer accessible.
On the right are screenshots of the genuine
KMG site (top) and
the IGF copy (bottom).
|
 |
Net
Gold Services Ltd
(NGS Financial)
Electron House
43 London Road
Reigate
Surrey RH2 9PW
www.netgldservices.com |
The Net
Gold Services website is another dummy,
again copied from the genuine
KMG site.
The www.netgldservices.com domain name was registered on
23 March 2005. Evidence that
this company name is being used in the scam started
to appear on 4 April 2005. The name is similar to Ice Gold
(even to the extent of dropped 'o's
in the domain names) and again, the Client Services Manager is
'Steven Furtado'.
This account was suspended at the end of May 2005
and therefore the site is no longer accessible.
A
screenshot of the NGS
site is on the right. |
 |
| x7pwyz2005 |
The
'Secret Pin Number' that has to be given to the Prize Transfer
Agent, presumably to prove that I was a lucky winner. However,
a search
of Google will
show that the number is hardly 'secret' and is also used in
related lottery scams such as Frans
Worldwide Business Information and Treasure
Chest Lottery. |
| BWBI:2551256003/73 |
This
is the reference number which also has to be given to the claims
agent and appears on the Prize Certificate.
The sequence of ten numbers 2551256003 is very popular - a search
of Google Groups returns over 1,600 entries! The number has
been used by many scam lotteries - the Lucky
Day Lottery, Aldi
Lottery International, El
Gordo Lotteria and many more... |
Paul
Keane
Zenith Finance UK Ltd
96
High Street
Carshalton
Surrey SM5 3AE |
This
is an older version that appears to have been circulating in February/March
2005. The email was sent from The Lottery Department of
Barnby Worldwide Business Information using the same
9 Leapal Road address. However, although the 'winning notification' was
in the name of Catty Miller as Lottery Manager, the accredited Prize Transfer
Agent was Paul Keane at Zenith Finance UK Ltd. |
Francesca Blair
Dr Silber Barny
43 Traford Road
|
Evidence
that the scam had mutated again was discovered on 21 May 2005.
Catty Miller
seems to have been replaced by Francesca
Blair as Promotions Manager, whilst Steve Furtado has lost
his position as Client Services Manager to Dr
Silber Barny. The
address for Net Gold remains the same, with a small amendment:
43 London Road is now
43 Traford Road. |
Mary
Anderson
Trevor Harvey
|
A
further
mutation was spotted on 8 June 2005. The winning notification
is sometimes signed by Catty Miller although later emails are
signed
by Mary
Anderson. Steven Furtado has
been replaced by Trevor
Harvey. The 'reputable finance house' is Ice
Gold Services
Ltd
and uses the 43 London Road version of
the
address. This lottery 'is for non UK residents
only, if you are resident in the UK and you receive this
notification please kindly delete the email.' |
Helen Andrew
Sir Wella Washington
|
This
variation uses the Net Gold Services name and introduces Sir
Wella Washington(!) as their Client Services Manager, with
the winning notification in the name of Helen
Andrew (as this mutation was only reported 16 June 2005,
these names have not yet appeared on Google). Wella's name
changes to Sir Walla Washington
in later emails. And there's good news: 'This lottery
is for all residents, if you are
resident in the UK and you receive this notification
please you can as well partcipate in the email ballot lottery.' |
Carrty
Bilgate
Phill Bang
Paseo
de Castillano 175 Madrid
Electron House
25 Plaza de Toro, Madrid
|
This
version was first spotted on 1 July 2005 and the UK addresses
previously used have been dropped in favour of addresses in
Spain: Barnby Worldwide Business Information's address is now
Paseo de Castillano 175, Madrid. Ice Gold Services, as
the reputable finance house, are now conveniently located at
Electron House, 25 Plaza de Toro, Madrid. New offices obviously
require
new
staff - the winning notification is signed by Carrty
Bilgate (perhaps 'Carrty' is Spanish for Catty...) and
the Client Services Manager at Ice Gold is now Phill
Bang. The lottery 'is for non SPAIN residents only,
if you are resident in the SPAIN
and
you receive
this
notification please kindly delete the email'. |
Ipod
Worldwide Business Information Technology
Veronica Wallace
Susan Hart
Lisa Howard
Coker Kent
John Wood
Fred Graham
Tolbert Givens
Juliet Marrow
Stacy Adams
|
This
mutation appeared on 4 June 2005 and is a major departure
from previous versions: the company promoting the lottery is
now
Ipod Worldwide Business Information Technology, although the
company address remains 9 Leapal Road, Guildford, Surrey, GU1
4JX. Ice Gold / Net Gold do not feature as the 'accredited
Prize Transfer agents' - the agent for this version is either
John Wood, Fred Graham, Tolbert Givens(!), Juliet Marrow,
Stacy Adams or Anderson Coleman, also of 9 Leapal Road. The
lottery manager varies: Veronica
Wallace,
Susan
Hart, Lisa
Howard, Juliet Marrow, Coker Kent (Coker Kent
is also a name used for the 'Director of the Credit Control
Unit'
at
ABN Ambro Bank Amsterdam and he features in an advance
fee scam of his very own...) or Kathrina Ford. The 'secret
pin code' is still x7pwyz2005
(see above) and the reference number still
begins with the letters 'BWBI' and contains the numbers 2551256003
(see above). Interestingly, Tolbert
Givens is a name also associated with the Microsoft
Word Lottery UK scam (see separate entry in 'other
lotteries' section). |
Ipod
Worldwide Business Information Technology UK
Gold Land Finance Ltd
20-24 St Leonard's Road
Windsor
SL4 3BB
Edwards Lewis
Blant Thomas
|
This
version of the scam appeared mid-August 2005. The company promoting
the lottery now has 'UK' added to the name, describes
the lottery as 'Product Promotional
Lottery UK 2005' and still uses the 9 Leapal Road address.
The 'accredited Prize Transfer agents' are now Gold Land Finance
Ltd using an address of 20-24 St Leonard's Road, Windsor,
but there isn't a named 'client services manager'. Gold
Land Finance does not
yet appear on Google. The St Leonard's Road address is very
popular with lottery scams and is used as the address
for 'Link
Finance and Trust Ltd' - another finance company
that appears not to exist but is associated with scam lotteries.
The 'secret pin number' and reference number remain x7pwyz2005 and
BWBI:2551256003/7 as
above. The Spanish branch of Link Finance and Trust Ltd,
by strange coincidence, has a very similar address in Madrid
- 20-24
Calle Leonard's! The winning notification is again signed
in the name of Veronica Wallace. Other names connected with
this version of the scam are Edwards Lewis as Finance Director
(of Gold Land Finance Ltd?) and Blant Thomas who works for
the customer
services department of Express Courier Services, the courier
company who will deliver your prize cheque... |
Transworld
Security & Finance
Dr Enrico James
Carl Andrea
|
This
company is described as the 'Accredited Transfer Agent' for
Barnby Worldwide Business Information - Dr Enrico James is
the Director of Foreign Payments (in the Dr Silber Barny version
of the scam). The Wella Washington version has Carl Andrea
as the DFP. Transworld and Net Gold are apparently 'affiliates'.
The Director provides instructions on how to send the processing
fees using
Western
Union Money
Transfer
to Michael
Emerenini (see next entry). |
Michael Emerenini
Corso Allamano 42-44
Milan (Milano)
20145, Italy
|
Michael
Emerenini is the 'Director of Accounts' (presumably of Transworld)
and it is into his account that the processing fees must be
paid by using Western Union Money Transfer. |
Christal
Lottery International London-UK
Dr Martins Woodbridge
Diamond Mind Enterprises PLC
Electron
House
43 London Road
Reigate
Surrey RH2 9PW
Mr Dennise Brown
Elizeberth Owen
|
This
version appeared in early September 2005 and is a
'winning numbers' lottery rather than a 'product promotion'
lottery and is 'from the desk of the Promotions Manager, International
Promotions/Prize
Award
Department' quoting ref: WB/ML/16-ED2751145 and Batch No: 56/1477/LZN
- read the full 'winning notification' here.
The reference number was used as long
ago as May 2004 in a similar scam. The 'batch number'
is reasonably popular too - not only has it been used by the
'Melbourne
Sweepstakes Lottery', it has also featured in the 'London
Sweepstakes Lottery' and the 'Toronto
Sweepstakes Lottery' scams... The ticket number of 034-1416-4612-750
appears on Google Groups approximately
90 times, as does the serial number of 6521-11.
The 'lucky numbers' of 31-51-22-24-39-43 are very
lucky indeed! The claims agent is Dr Martins Woodbridge
at Diamond Mind Enterprises PLC, which is apparently based
at the Electron House, 43 London Road address in Reigate.
The text of the notification advises 'All correspondences
to MR.DENNISE BROWN, either by fax
or email,should have this EMAIL sent along with it' - although
it is not clear who Dennise Brown is. It appears that this
is an error - the name should have been Dr Martins Woodbridge
as the claims agent. The notification is signed in the name
of Elizeberth Owen as the Promotions Manager. |
UK
National Lottery Online Sweepstakes International Program
Alexanderia Reyes
Mrs Rose Wood
Steven Burtler
Sir George Harris
Femi Adeyomi
Robert Bruce
Sir Richard Wilson
Rice Crest
Scott Smith
Richard Freeman
Ice Gold Finance UK
Electron
House
43 London Road
Reigate
Surrey RH2 9PW
Trevor Watson
Walter Atkinson
Brent Fletcher
Calvin Edward
Alfred Wilmott
Mark Winters
Ticket number:
56475600545 188
45375600545
188
Serial number:
5368/02
Prize Certificate
|
This version,
which appeared mid-September 2005, is another major departure
from previous notifications - read the full 'winning notification' here (a
later html version is here).
The notification purports to come from The
National Lottery and uses the UK National
Lottery's genuine address: PO
Box 1010, Liverpool, L70 1NL and logo. Read what the National
Lottery has to say about lottery scams here.
The winning ticket number is 56475600545 188
(45375600545 188
in some versions), which appears over
1,800 times in GooGle Groups and
is connected with various lottery scams - as is the serial
number of 5368/02 and
Alexanderia
Reyes, who is one of the 'Online Co-ordinators' of the
sweepstakes program. The reference number UK/9420X2/68 and
batch number 074/05/ZY369 are
also extremely popular. The 'win' is credited to file KTU/9023118308/03.
Some versions have Mrs Rose Wood, Steven Burtler, Sir George
Harris, Femi Adeyomi, Robert Bruce or Sir Richard Wilson as
the Online
Co-ordinator.
Femi Adeyomi also features in a scam
of his very own - where he is the
president/founder of 'Oil and Gas Ltd'. The 'Fiduciary Agent'
with
whom
the
winning
claim must be filed is either
Rice Crest, Scott
Smith or Richard Freeman,
both
at Ice Gold Finance UK, using the address Electron House, 43
Reigate Road, Reigate, Surrey as
above. Later versions advise the winner
to contact Trevor Watson, Brent Fletcher, Calvin Edward, Alfred
Wilmott or mark Winters as the agent, without disclosing his
'address'. A special
New Year
2006 version
stated 'This
Draw is part of our New Year Bonus to all
internet users World Wide' and had Steven Burtler as the
Online Co-ordinator with Walter
Atkinson as the Fidiciary Agent.
The 'winning
notification' email contains the following graphics to add
authenticity...
   
An example of a 'prize certificate' is shown on
the left: whilst this bears the various references, it is headed
'UK International Promotion Department Incorporated'. If you
respond to the initial notification, you will be sent a verification
form followed by payment
options.
There
appears to be many variations of this scam, all purporting to come from
the National, British or other Lotteries and there are many
'Co-ordinator/Fiduciary Agent' combinations, including (no doubt
there's many more!):
Mrs
Kate Davids / Mr Martin Dean | Brian
Hunt / Paul Smith | Alison
LeBanc / Dan Haper
Sir
Richard Wilson / Alfred Wilmott | Richard
K Lloyd / various | Maxwell Desmond / David
Brain
Bertron Hill / John Cole
May 2006 version: Ref: XYC/26500460037/08, batch
74/00319/IPD, ticket
number 56475600545188
serial number 5368/02, lucky
numbers
21, 32, 41, 42, 43, 46 (Bonus number 17), prize £1,173,072
credited to file XYC /26500460037/08, agent Mark Barry, online
co-ordinator Mr Bobby Bruce. The notification has the same images
of 'previous winners' as in the Xanga
lottery.
|
G8 Email Lottery
International Program
Francesca Richwald
Francesca Olympics
Dr Angelo Piero
Dr Mansell Enrico
Dr Enrico Mansell
Mr Matino Seriviado
Zenith Finance
|
Again,
this is another very different
variation but it shares some details with the Barnby /
Ice Gold scam. The winning notification comes
from
'the
desk of the Vice President' via Cordero Bruski 45/46 Milano
- read the full email here. A 'festive
version' appeared around Christmas 2005 headed 'Yuletide Session
Lottery Award'. The Lottery Co-ordinator is Francesca
Richwald (Francesca
Olympics in the Christmas version); the
claims officer is Dr Angelo Piero or Dr
Enrico Mansell (or Dr
Mansell Enrico in some versions). If you get
involved with this scam, you will receive an email from
Mr Matino Seriviado, who is the 'Director of Foreign Payments'
at Zenith Finance - a company name very similar to Zenith
Finance UK Ltd (see above). The email
will request the payment of 'procurement charges' to Micheal
Emerenini, Corso Allamano 42-44, Milan (Milano), 20145, Italy
- exactly the same name and address as the 'Director
of Accounts' at Transworld Security and Finance who were 'Accredited
Transfer Agents' for Barnby Worldwide Business
Information - see above. The ticket number
7804468845 and
serial number 0252393053 appear
to be 'new' and, as at September 2005, have only been drawn
a few times! The winning notification advises: Please
be informed
that NON RESIDENCE of ITALY will be required to
procure an Affidavits of Lotto Claim/Court clearance
certificate from the Court in ITALY prior to European
Gaming Board as required by the paying
Authority - no doubt this will result in a further fees... |
Suzana Vaye
Chris Nuel
Union Trust Finance
Electron House
43 London Road
Reigate
profile comparison
|
This
version appeared in mid-October 2005 and shows the original
'winning notifcation' details: from Barnby
Worldwide Business
Information
at 9 Leapal Road, Guildford with the usual pin / reference
number (see above). The Lottery Manager
is Suzana Vaye, a name that is associated with another
'advance fee' fraud where the email
purports to be from the widow of the late Deputy Minister of
Works in
Liberia, Isaac Nuhan Vaye. In this scam, Suzana Vaye requires
assistance to secure millions of dollars generated by her late
husband - presumably her role as lottery manager at BWBI
is a temporary position until her money comes through... The
Prize Transfer Agent is Chris Nuel at Union Trust Finance,
yet another finance company that is apparently operating from
Electron House, 43 London Road (see above).
Union Trust Finance is also a name that appears to be popular
with other scams (using different addresses) and appears
to have its own website at www.utfhng-ltd.com. This
domain was
registered in 2 August 2005 and appears to be a fake site loosely
based on the site of a genuine finance company, Mellon
Financial Corporation. Both sites have a Corporate Profile
on the 'Investor Relations' page and it is clear that the Union
Trust Finance details have been copied almost verbatim from
the genuine site - even to the extent that whereas MFC was
'founded in 1869 as T. Mellon and Sons' Bank', UTF
was 'founded in 1869 as Union Finance and Sons' Ltd' -
possibly the first instance of a company fathering children!
Ironically, the UTF site carries the byline 'business is
all about trust...' 'On the left is a comparison of
the two company profiles. Some of the graphics on the UTF
site appear to have been taken from another genuine financial
site,
Zenith
Bank, which has a 'scam
alert' on its site. There
appears to have been other UTF sites which are no longer accessible:
utf-ltd.com, ukftrust.com
and various others - see
the Artists
Against 419 site for a useful resource to check
for fake sites used in internet scams. |
22 Silver Street
Doncaster
South Yorkshire
DN1 1HQ
Mrs Dark David
Dr Bob White
William Mark
|
This
version appeared in early December 2005, uses the original
'Barnby Worldwide Business Information' winning notification
and offers £1,000,000. However, the company is now located
at 22 Silver Street, Doncaster
- presumably sharing the premises with Livingstones Nightclub
which is at
that address! The secret pin code x7pwyz2005 and reference
number 2551256003 are the same as outlined above.
The 'Lottery Manager' is Mrs Dark David and the Accredited
Prize Transfer Agent is Dr Bob White, using the Ice Gold Finance
UK details at Electron House, 43 London Road. If you respond
to the initial emails, William Mark from 'Paying Bank Security'
will contact you and request the payment of fees: initially
'processing and transfer' fees of £1,550 and if these are paid,
£25,000 (yes, twenty-five thousand!) 'gain tax' that has to
be paid before the win can be released. Copies of Bob's and
William's fake passports are shown on this
page
in
the 'Official Documents' section... |
Richard Brough Family Organization
22 Silver Street
Doncaster
South Yorkshire
DN1 1HQ
J & D Financial Company (UK)
30A North Way
Andover
SP10 5RW
United Kingdom
Mrs Carling Brough
Mr William Mark |
This
version appeared in early January 2006. Barnby Worldwide Business
Information has been dropped and the name 'Richard Brough
Family Organisation' has been used. This is a genuine organisation
that, according to its website, 'is
one of the largest ancestral family organizations in the world'.
The scam uses the same 22 Silver Street address
as the version above, the winning notification
email comes from 'LOTTERY WINNERS BWBI' and bears the usual
BWBI pin and reference numbers as above.
The wording of the 'winning notification' has been changed
slightly:
whereas
the
orginal notification stated 'We specialize in the
sales of cd-roms that enhance your
business growth', this version bizarrely has some extra
words inserted, presumably to cover the 'Richard Brough' aspect:
'We specialize in the
sales of cd-roms, Computers, A Family That Deals on Oil, that
enhance your
business growth'. The Lottery Manager is Mrs Carling Brough,
who is also the Managing Director of Web Tool Software Inc,
another company purported operating from 22 Silver Street (see
entry below). This
version also introduces a new Accredited Prize Transfer Agent:
William Mark (as used in the version above)
at J & D Financial Company UK at 30A North Way, Andover,
which
is
the address of a company named Orvis
UK which specialises in clothing and fly-fishing apparatus...!
|
Web
Tool Software Inc
22 Silver Street
Doncaster
SouthYorkshire
England
DN1 1QH
Carling
Brough
|
This scam appeared in early January 2006 and has
moved away from lottery wins to offering employment opportunities:
'Available Position: Part Time Representative - Up to $7,000
Monthly, Part Time Job' - read the notification email here.
The address of Web Tool Software Inc is shown as 22 Silver Street,
Doncaster - the same address as that used in the Barnby
Worldwide Business Information scams above,
but with a slightly transposed postal code. The
'opportunity' offers easy money for simply processing cheques:
'customers' of Web
Tools Software sends the worker cheques, who is allowed to keep
10% of their value as payment for processing them through their
bank... Read more about this scam here (where
Web Tools appears to be based in France!), and search Google
for examples of other similar employment scams
here.
The Managing Director of the company is Carling Brough, as seen
as the Lottery Manager at the Richard Brough Family Organisation
above... |
Katherine Hart
Floyd Martin |
This
version appeared early in January 2006, from Barnby Worldwide
Business Information using the
9 Leapal Road address and with Katherine Hart as the Lottery Promotions
Manager. The Prize Transfer Agent is Floyd Martin at Ice Gold
Finance UK, Electron House, 43 London Road. All other details,
including the reference numbers, are the same
as in previous BWBI notifications. |
Irish Web Lottery
47 Meadow Vale
Sligo
Ireland
J & D
Financial Company (UK)
30A North Way
Andover
SP10 5RW
United Kingdom
Carling Brough (Mrs)
Mrs Joyce Kelvin
William Mark
Mike Glaser
Steve Howard
|
This
version appeared early in January 2006, but does not mention
Barnby Worldwide Business Information. The
address is also different, being based in Ireland. However, the
Lottery Manager is Mrs Carling Brough and the Fiduciary Agent
is William Mark at J & D Financial Company (UK) - exactly
the same details as in the 'Richard Brough/Barnby' scam above.
The 'winning notification', which you can read here,
has a genuine heading taken from the Irish
Lottery website and also has a photograph that purports to
be of Mrs Carling Brough herself - although she bears a
startling resemblance to Eleanor Smeal, the President of the
Feminist
Majority Foundation. Some versions have Mrs Joyce Kelvin
as 'Online coordinator for The Irish Lottery', Mike Glaser
as the Fiduciary Agent, and this further
'borrowed' graphic. Some versions have a link to a genuine
National Lottery site www.lotto.ie that
oddly, isn't the Irish Lottery... The lottery is apparently
'registered under the Data Protection Act of
(Registration Z720633X), as are various
other scam lotteries. The notification has the usual batch
of numbers: Ref: LSUK/2031/8162/05, Batch: R4/A312-53, ticket
number: 56475600545 189, serial number 5369/05, winning numbers
13-18-24-28-34-38-15 and file KTU/9023118308/06, some of which
appear in the UK
National Lottery Online Sweepstakes International Program scam
(see above). The courier company is Swift
Courier Ltd as seen in the UK
Lottery Sweepstakes Promotions and
the Honda
Car International Promotion Program, with Steve Howard as
the delivery Officer. It
appears that this scam has been around for a
while, using different contact
names
-
read
about it here. |
| British
Gaming Board |
This
organisation is stated to have approved the lottery and is
shown on the Prize
Certificate as having guaranteed the prize payments. There
is no such organisation as the British Gaming Board, although
the Gaming
Board for Great Britain is often referred to as such. With
reference to this 'lottery' the GBGB advised: 'This
is a fraud. There is no such authority as the British Gaming
Board... there is nothing in British law, nor would there ever
be, that requires a prize winner to make any payment in order
to claim a prize... The Gaming Board for Great Britain and
its Officers do not in any way regulate, investigate, sanction
or condone any of the contents of these bogus lottery win communications... A
warning notice regarding these frauds has been placed on our
website at www.gbgb.org.uk' |
| The
International Association of Gaming Regulators (IAGR) |
This
organisation is stated to have approved the lottery (only mentioned
in initial email). |
Rothera
Dowson
2 Kayes Walk
Stoney Street
The Lace Market
Nottingham
NG1 1PZ |
The
Letter of Guarantee states
that 'the guarantee is made in good faith... and is witnessed
by our Company Attorney Rothera Dowson'. Rothera Dowson
is a genuine, well-established firm of solicitors in the UK.
The letter purports to come from the Legal Department, and
uses
Rothera
Dowson's
address on the letterheading. |
Examples
of 'official' documents and winning certificates (all
'winners' names have been removed)
Click on images for larger versions, use 'back' on browser
to return here |
|
|
<< The cash prize can be sent to you by a courier of your choice
- but each method incurs fees (Fedex £817.28, UPS £738.20,
DHL £711.90) which unfortunately have to be paid before your
cheque can be delivered as 'the insurance company declined
reverse payment for the courier'... |
|
>> Alternatively,
simply send full details of your bank account (name, address,
telephone, account number!) and the £2,600,000 will be
conveniently transferred to you via Swift Bank Transfer. However,
the transfer
agent will charge a 'Commission Of Transfer' fee before the
prize will be credited to your account...
|
|
|
<< The
Prize Claim Certificate shows the 'Secret Pin Number' (see
above), the 'Prize Claim Track
Number'
and is
endorsed
by the President
of the 'British Gaming Board' - an organisation which does
not exist. However the Gaming
Board for Great Britain does exist - visit the
site to
read
what they have to say about this type of scam...
|
|
>> This
Letter of Guarantee, signed by Steven Furtado,
has
been
witnessed
by the 'Company Attorney' Rothera Dowson. Whilst the letter
uses Rothera Dowson's genuine address, this well-established
firm of solicitors have no connection with this 'lottery'.
Their name is inexplicably
beneath the seal of 'The Ministry of Justice and Home
Affairs'.
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<< This
certificate is much simpler, without a 'secret pin number'
or official endorsements of any kind: it just states that
that it has been presented to the 'winner' 'For Been
Selected For a CASH PRIZE'
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>> This
document has various alleged endorsements: a crest in the
top-left, the British Standards Institution Kite Mark in
the top-right (this symbol is also the main graphic on the
certificate), and the UK Accreditation Service Crown - very
impressive indeed. Unfortunately the small print at the bottom-left
isn't quite so professional: 'This is a legal Document
and as such do not expire. It is to show that Barnby Worldwide
Business Information has be officially Registered with the
UK Government and they have LEGAL BACKING to operate in the
UK. For more information's Call or Contact our Group Headquarters...'.
|
Cheque
for £2,600,000! |
<< A
cheque for £2.6m purportedly issued by 'Milan Branch'
of the Banca Di Roma, using the genuine
BdR logo (although it's a little squashed) and signed by
P A C Uye on behalf of Barnby Worldwide Business Information(s).
However,'Venuitano Avenue' does
not appear to exist - suggesting that the name is either
made up or spelled incorrectly. All the words on the cheque
are in English - branch, Italy, pay, 'or order' - which is
a little odd. P A C Uye's signature bears no resemblance to
his name and the cheque number is written in a standard 'computer-type'
font rather than an MICR
(Magnetic Ink Character Recognition) font, which have to
be very
precise. Interestingly, P A C Uye also represents the 'World
Lottery Organisation' and appears to bank with Lloyds in the
UK per this cheque ! By remarkable
coincidence, even though the banks are in different countries,
the account number and sort code are exactly the same... |
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<< A
third version of an award certificate - this one is associated
with the '22 Silver Street, Doncaster' version of the scam
(see above). This is a rather lazy attempt:
part of the address has 'South Yorkshire' spelled as 'Southyorkshrie'.
The background has what presumably should be the words 'Barnby
Worldwide Business Information' repeated - but 'BARNBY' is
shown as 'BAMBY' on some of the lines and 'BOMBY' on others
(this is shown enlarged and enhanced on the left). I suspect
'BAMBY' has been used because someone has misread the 'r n'
of 'Barnby' as an 'm'. Bomby is harder to explain - perhaps
in addition to the rn/m confusion, the 'a' was misread as an
'o'... The certificate is signed by the Chairman and General
Secretary of Barnby Worldwide. |
|
>> This
Lottery Result Certificate also shows the
'22 Silver Street' address and has the mis-spelling of 'South Yorkshire' as 'Southyorkshrie'.
The certificate has exactly the same 'Lottery Result' text as was shown on the
(now suspended) Barnby Worldwide Business Information website (click here to
see the text as shown on the BWBI website). The certificate shows the pin code
number and reference number (see above) and is signed by Chairman
of BWBI
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<< This
is the 'Winners Certificate' from the 'Richard Brough Family Organisation'
version of the scam (see above), also using
the '22 Silver Street' address. 'South Yorkshire' has been spelled
correctly rather than 'Southyorkshrie' (see previous entry), but
South Yorkshire now appears to be relocated in London. The certificate
bears the usual 'winning number' with a very
slight amendment: X7PWYZ2005 is now X7PWYZ2006. The
reference number is the previously used BWBI
2551256003/08. The certificate bears Mrs Carling Brough's name
as Promotion Manager and has an unreadable signature as 'Director'. |
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<< This
document is purportedly a scanned copy of Dr Bob White's
passport. Bob is the 'Accredited
Prize Transfer Agent' in the '22 Silver Street'
version of the scam (see above). The
document was supplied by Bob to verify his identity...
|
|
>> This document
is purportedly a scanned copy of William Mark's passport.
William works for the 'Paying Bank' in
the '22 Silver Street' version of the scam (see above).
The document was supplied by William to verify his identity...
|
<< The
name detail (left) clearly shows that 'Bob' and 'William'
have (very) simply added their 'names' to someone else's
passports. Both passports show the first name and last name
transposed (rather than the last name being shown first,
as is usual on a passport). Confusing first/last names is
a hallmark of scam emails and fake documents.
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<< This
document is purportedly a copy of the 'Confirmation of
International Wire Transfer in Great Britain Pounds' as
issued by the '22 Silver Street' version of the
scam (see above). The document indicates
that £1,000,000 has been transferred to the 'winner's'
account and has the IBIS (Item Banks Infrastructure
Study) logo in the top-left corner. 'IBIS' is not
actually a bank - the Item
Banks Infrastructure Study brought together individuals
and institutions in the UK with key expertise in areas
relating to item banks in order to produce a report - the
logo has simply been used to give the document an authentic
look. The.document appears to be based on a Washington
Mutual wire transfer confirmation slip - click here to
see a copy of a genuine Washington Mutual document alongside
the fake one. However, certain information is not present
on the fake document - significantly the transaction reference
number, the correspondent bank and account number... The
document shows 'William Mark' as the 'representative' (amended
from 'FC/CBC representative' on the genuine document).
The 'winner's' details are duplicated in both the 'sender's'
and 'receiver's' fields, whereas the sender's details should
be in the bottom section of the boxes.
|
>> Unfortunately,
before the £1,000,000 reaches the winners account
(see entry above), the UK Tax Authorities notice that 'gain
tax' has not been paid on the win. The document on the
right is allegedly a fax received by IBIS Bank from HM
Revenue
& Customs advising the Bank to 'put the fund on hold'
until the winner has paid the appropriate gain tax, which
is
2.5% of the win (amounting to £25,000 in this case). However,
the 'fax' has no header details whatsoever, has a badly-copied
HM Revenue & Customs logo and is worded very poorly. Of course,
the 'tax' has to be paid in advance by Money Transfer and cannot
be taken out of the 'winnnings'... |
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