KANSAS CITY, Mo. Real Wealth Inc. runs real scams, one of which is training customers how to run their own scams, the Federal Trade Commission claims in Federal Court. The FTC also sued Lance Murkin and eight other companies he runs out of Lee's Summit, Mo. Since 2003, the FTC says, "Defendants have brought in millions of dollars from marketing their schemes to at least 100,000 consumers nationwide."
Real Wealth runs two different types of schemes - work at home and cash grant. For its work-at-home scheme, victims are charged an upfront fee of $9.99 to $99.99 and promised enormous financial returns from sending out mailers, the FTC says. But the customers get nothing for their money except, sometimes, a booklet instructing them how to run their own deceptive schemes, according to the complaint.
"In the course of marketing, promoting, offering for sale and selling their work-at home schemes, Defendants represent, directly or indirectly, expressly or by implication, that purchasers of Defendants' work-at-home schemes will be paid for simply mailing items," the FTC says. "In truth and in fact, purchasers of Defendants' work-at-home schemes are not paid for simply mailing items."
In the cash grant scheme, customers also send in a fee, for which they get a booklet that lists contact information for government agencies or foundations that purportedly have given money to customers, or a booklet that claims to list contact information for millionaires and celebrities who are giving money away, the FTC says. Some of the rich people, however, are dead.
Haiti Victim Scams
14 January 2010
As the world looks for ways to help the victims of Haiti's earthquake, the FBI is now warning that there are also those who are looking for opportunities set up scams surrounding the latest disaster relief efforts. The FBI advises that people should be very skeptical of any unsolicited appeals they receive or find on the Internet. One month after Hurricane Katrina, the FBI said it was suspicious of most of the 4,600 Web sites soliciting money on behalf of those victims. Within an hour of the World Trade Center attacks, scam sites popped up on the Web.
Web sites are not the only way criminals try to get their hands on charity funds -- they might also send you an e-mail, a letter, phone you or even knock on your door. Here are some tips from the FBI and the Better Business Bureau on how to make sure your money goes to people in need.
• Be skeptical if someone e-mails you or contacts you through social networking sites claiming to be a quake victim or a government or charity official and asks for donations, the FBI says. Also, the agency says, do not click on any links within those e-mails. And do not click on attached files labeled photos or video because they may contain viruses.
• It's OK to be suspicious. Ask for the name, phone number and address of the charity. The American Institute of Philanthropy says honest charities encourage you to know about them and respond to your questions. Also, request that they put the information in writing.
• However, do not give them your personal or financial information, because that may leave you vulnerable to identity theft.
• Don't be misled by a charity name that "sort of sounds familiar." Scammers may change one word in the title to trick you.
• Ask what percentage of the money you give actually reaches the needy. You also can designate how your donation is to be used.
• Don't ever donate cash. Make the check out to the name of the charity, not the person asking for money. And get a receipt with the name of the charity on it. Do NOT give your credit card number to telemarketers or use it on a Web site of a charity you have not checked out.
• If the person seeking your donation asks you to give more, that may be a sign that something is wrong. Legitimate charities are grateful, not demanding.
Autographs From the Crypt!
In April of 2000 the legendary Metallica launched a lawsuit against Napsters founder Shawn Fanning for stealing their music and profiting from it. Now it seems Brian Burkel is the one using their name and forged signatures to make his fortune.
Recently I was contacted by yet another disgruntled client of autographsamerica.com regarding albums he had purchased that appear to have been signed by a deceased artist. To read more about this story and hear it in the words of the victim, click here.
You may also wish to read the story of Vince Pupillo, the man that managed to get a $20,000 refund from autographsamerica.com (via his credit card company). One of Vince's many purchases was an album signed by the deceased John Lennon signed almost ten years after his death.
Beware of AutographsAmerica.com
WARRANT ISSUED FOR CAUVINS ARREST, AGAIN!
26 November 2009
On November 13th Yves Cauvin faild to appear before a Washington State Judge on a Civil Court matter regarding a judgement against him. A warrant (PDF on right) with a $25,000 bail has been issued against Cauvin. Cauvin also failed to appear the next week for pre-trial motions in the Felony Theft case that was set to go to trial on December 1, 2009. Cauvins trial has been suspended until he can be located and returned to custody.
Cauvin is also on two years probation for stalking his x-wife Kim, and was just released from jail a week prior to vanishing. If you know the whereabouts of Julian Yves Cauvin contact the police immediately. He is a known drug addict with a lengthy history of violence with weapons.
UPDATE: Cauvin has been located and is currently schedule for trial in February 2010.
“In 2005, Marcia Smith was employed as a processor for Yves Cauvin, a.k.a. Julian Cauvin, a loan originator affiliated with Solutions Financial Group, Inc., a mortgage brokerage operating in Bellevue.
Cauvin convinced Smith to pose as a “straw buyer” in the acquisition of a property located at 4502 119th Ave. SE. Bellevue, WA. “
“Cauvin generated a loan application that falsely identified Smiths employer as “Platinum Computers”.
Click Image to Read Full Story
In fact, Platinum Computers was a shell company created by Cauvin, for which he is the registered agent.
Cauvin falsely described Smiths gross monthly income at Platinum Computers as $10,000 per month.
In actuality, Smith was earning less than $20,000 per year as a loan processor at Solutions Financial”- Prosecutor Dan Satterberg
BEWARE OF AUTOGRAPHSAMERICA.COM !
11/02/2009
Michael Jackson signed memorabilia and other artifacts have more then tripled in price and forgery's are on the rise. One of the most prolific forgery operations operating on the web is none other than AutographsAmerica.com owned by Brian N. Burkel of Maple Valley Washington.
I have interviewed dozens of victims of this company, and seen many of the forgeries first hand. It appears Burkel is even able to get fresh autographs from the dead!
Read more about this multi-million dollar scam inside.
Washington State's infamous Yves Julian Cauvin was sent back to jail not once, but twice while awaiting trial for Felony Theft via Mortgage Fraud. On July 7th Cauvin was arrested for stalking his x-wife while she was shopping; Cauvin violated a lifelong No Contact Order by having contact with her.
CC220
LAKE FOREST PARK
10.99.040
Bail
$5,000.00
VIOLATION NCO - DV
Cauvin was immediately bailed out of jail once again by Jill Morganpage (VP of Sunfresh Foods inc.) of Shoreline Washington for $5,000. Once out, Cauvin was placed under house arrest by the courts and ordered to wear a monitoring device; with the provision that he could only leave for work purposes if he obtained a job (which he didn't have). Cauvin then alledgedly concocted a plan to create a phony job via a business owning friend.
The fraud was quickly discovered by the courts, and back to jail he went on July 26th with a $15,000 bond. Cauvins trial is currently scheduled to begin in September 08th, 2009, having been postponed 4 tims since June. Cauvin recently fired his Public Defender in the stalking case, and requested that he be allowed to represent himself. His request was denied, and he remains in custody.
CAUVIN, YVES Custody/Facility: Main Correctional Annex Book Date: 07/26/2009 19:15 BA: 209026532 Release Date: IN CUSTODY Charge(s): FTC VIO COURT ORDER
A Lagos High Court, Ikeja has sentenced a 25 year-old Computer Science graduate of Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye, Ogun state, Adewale Arije, to 10 years imprisonment without an option of fine for defrauding an American company to the tune of N16million.
The Judge, Justice M.O. Obadina also ordered that goods recovered from the convict which were tendered as exhibits by the EFCC, be returned as restitution to the victim in the United States. (Read Full Story)
Adewale Arije
Information is Power!
Taiwan Man Cheats Boss by Posing as a Woman via Email
Wednesday 15th April, 2009
A Taiwan man has been indicted for posing as a woman and cheating his boss of money and gifts. Yeh Wei-che, 28, a clerk at the Chinatrust Commercial Bank, was indicted Tuesday on fraud charges, which carry a maximum seven-year sentence, the United Daily News said.
According to the News, Yeh hit upon the idea of fooling Chen, a deputy manager at the same bank, in October 2008 when he realized that Chen, 36, was single and desperate to find a girlfriend.
Seeing that Chen was not good at dating, Yeh introduced his cousin, who was studying in New York, to Chen. To create this fake cousin, Chen downloaded a pretty girl's photo from the Internet and emailed it to Chen and began to chat with Chen via MSN.
After Chen had been lured in, his “girlfriend” began to ask for money and gifts under various excuses, such as that her room had been burglarized, she needed money to buy a gift for her mother, needed a notebook computer and her mother was seriously ill.
Knowing that Chen's father owns an instant-noodle company, this cousin said she wanted to eat instant noodles and asked Chen to send her a carton of instant noodles. Chen was asked to give all the money and gifts to Yeh, so that Yeh would pass them over to the woman. The 'girlfriend' asked Chen to give Yeh 10,000 Taiwan dollars ($300) as a reward for introducing them. In the last six months, Chen gave his non-existent girlfriend 250,000 Taiwan dollars ($7,400) and many gifts. He became suspicious after his “girlfriend” recently said she was hospitalized and asked Chen to wire her $300, but would not let him fly to New York to visit her. Chen alerted police. The messages were tracked to Yeh who was arrested.
Oprah Offers Reward in Email Scam!
April 2009- Thousands of people across the U.S. have recently received an email saying that the Oprah Winfrey show wants them to attend a future "Oprah Millionaire Contest Show" episode, at which Oprah will give one lucky fan $1 million dollars.
The red flag was waved when senders were asked to eventually purchase a travel ticket of some sort and a ticket to the show itself. Although tickets to the show are extremely tough to get, they are free.
The FBI and the talk show queen warned fans that such an episode does not exist and is nothing more than just a scam. Oprah has offered a reward of $100,000! Click here for details
419 Scammer Nets 19 Year Prison Sentence
March 20, 2009 -A college student in Nigeria has been handed a 19 year prison sentence for scamming an Australian woman out of $47,000 online by pretending to be a widowed businessman in love with her.
A court in Ikeja in SW Nigeria ruled that Lawal Adekunie Nurudeen will have to pay back the 56-year-old woman by selling the two plots of land and the Honda Prelude he bought with the stolen money.Nurudeen was enrolled as an engineering student when he met the woman in 2007 online, according to reports by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Nurudeen pretended to be a 57-year-old British engineer working with a company in Nigeria. He told her his wife and only child had died in a road accident in Lagos, the former capital of the country. The woman agreed to marry him.A few weeks later, Nurudeen called the woman pretending to be a doctor. He told her that her fiancé had been in an accident and needed money for treatment. The woman sent the money. After two weeks, he then called the again, thanking her for her compassion and telling her that he would like to visit her in Australia. He asked her for airfare, cash for customs clearance and other necessities. He conned the woman of a total $47,000 before his arrest.
One scammer down, a million to go! - Allscams.us
Editors Note
Welcome to AllReaders.net, also known as AllScams.us. This site is dedicating to exposing the various scam artist's that use the art of writing to defraud billions of dollars each year from unsuspecting victims.
The most well known is the 419 scam; which delivers millions of "Readers" to email accounts across the globe each day with the hope that a small percentage of the recipients will take the bait. (See the 419 Scam page for the history and details of this scam)
"Please don't mistake my mail to other scam messages" - Mohammed Abacha
Various other scams are presented here; some are public record, some not. We've added a section on vacation scams as well as the most recent news out of Nigeria regarding prosecutions of Scam Artist.
Each month I uncover new scams, collect thousands in fake money orders, and attempt to uncover the true identity these scam artist. It makes truly entertaining reading material. I hope you enjoy the site, if you wish to learn more about Mohammed the Scammer (above right), just click on his picture.
If you would like to send information you have on a scam for consideration of being exposed, feel free to do so. Visit the Legal Aid section for victim assistance if you have already fallen victim to a scam artist.
See below to learn how you can assist us in our efforts to fight crime, and expose fraud throughout the U.S. and abroad with a small donation. AllReaders.net is an affiliate of both Google and Amazon.com.
Michael W. Creel Editor
AllScams.us a division of AllReaders.net
Scammer Confesses!
"sometimes in this life some must be honest to his or her self"
Once in a great while, a scammer comes clean and admits to me that they are in the 419 game. Rose Williams is one of those people.
She has sent me pictures and had discussions with me that have convinced me she is real, and she is being honest.
Read about how this came about, how she got into the game, the lies she was told, and her sincere desire to change her life and leave the 419 game behind.
"they promiss me that nothing is gono happing to me that i am protected"
