No fun at all.

[Drsolly <drsollyp () drsolly com>]

I've just spent a few hours with someone I've known for a long time, used
to work for an antivirus company, looking at an investment he made, and
coming to the conclusion that he's been the victim of a scam.

I've never met someone who got scammed like this before; I always thought 
it was stupid people and/or gullible types. This guy is very bright, and 
I'd never have thought of him as gullible.

Here's how the scam worked.

He bought some shares on an OTC company a few months ago. That turned out 
to be a fraud, and he lost about $300,000. Those people were based in 
Spain. The UK police are already involved on that one.

More recently, he was contacted by a company (based in the USA) who said
they had a buyer for these shares, but that he'd have to spend another
$30,000 first. I didn't pay too much attention to the details of the
reason given, my brain was already screaming "advance fee fraud".

He paid them, and now they want another $30,000 for some other reason they 
gave. Again, the details about why the additional money is needed, aren't 
important, I think. He isn't going to send that money, after what we 
discovered this afternoon.

What made the scam plausible?

Well, they gave him the phone number of a "government" department, who
confirmed that it was correct. I checked out their web site, it's a copy
of several other similar web sites. I phoned the SEC, they haven't heard
of this organisation either. This "government" organisation has a domain
name registered to someone who lives above a bookshop, with a yahoo.com
email address.

So, this "government" organisation is as bent as a nine-dollar bill. And 
therefore, so is the "broker" who is arranging all this and who gave my 
friend the phone number of the "government" organisation. There's also 
two people in England who are willing to vouch for this all being kosher. 
I told my friend that this didn't mean anything other than "there's two 
people ..."

He left my house in the knowledge that he's been defrauded out of pretty 
much all his money, and he's retired, so there's not much income. It's 
awful.

And, presumably, these fraudsters now move on to their next victims.

Is there anyone on this list interested in an investigation of these 
people, with a view to a future criminal prosecution? If so, please email 
me.



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