Topic 'Re: [Credit Card Fraud] fraud: www.prophotosland.com & www.phot' in forum 'Scam and Phishbusters' - dslreports.com

Re: [Credit Card Fraud] fraud: www.prophotosland.com & www.phot

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 18:36:46 EDT

Doctor Olds posted :

said by mrchris:

Why do these folks bother making these websites when you can find what you want for free if you looked hard enough on Google?

They are not making these sites to sell anything. If you had read any of MGD 's posts in detail you would see that the majority (if not all) of these fake web sites use a special ROBOTS.TXT file that hides them from search engines and web indexers on purpose as they really don't want people/customers going to their sites. They are fronts for a well organized and large criminal enterprise in the former Soviet Block than funnel up to $50,000 USD per month through each front web site making fraudulent charges to Credit Cards.
--
What’s the point of owning a supercar if you can’t scare yourself stupid from time to time?

Re: [Credit Card Fraud] fraud: www.prophotosland.com & www.phot

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 13:01:54 EDT

mrchris posted : Why do these folks bother making these websites when you can find what you want for free if you looked hard enough on Google?

Re: [Credit Card Fraud] fraud: www.prophotosland.com & www.phot

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 22:05:07 EDT

MGD posted : Looks like Godaddy has suspended mobileglobus.com for invalid whois data. Maybe the real Bill Hutchinson of 3100 Monticello got tired of fielding calls, about the domain that he did not register.

GoDaddy Whois results:

Domain Status: On-hold

Error Message
Server response:
mobileglobus.com

This domain name has been suspended due to invalid Whois information.

If you are the registrant of this domain name please contact us at: invalidwhois[at]secureserver.net

MGD

Re: [Credit Card Fraud] fraud: www.prophotosland.com & www.phot

Sat, 31 May 2008 18:50:22 EDT

MGD posted :

said by Almost Defrauded :

...... I mentioned this to the guy from the bank and he seemed disinterested, told me the charge had been reversed and got me off the phone before I got to the juicy stuff on this thread or had a chance to insist they cancel the account and issue a new card. ....

That is a common occurence because of the amount.

said by Almost Defrauded :

...... Should I expect them to continue to charge the account? ....

Yes, guaranteed to happen.

said by Almost Defrauded :

...... I'm guessing I should be getting the card canceled and a new card issued...

Yes, that is the only way to stop the process. They have your card data and will continue to use it.

said by Almost Defrauded :

...... I went back and saw no other fraudulent activity for the last year but I did notice an authorization about 9 months ago from FRONTIER EQUITI for $1.00 that never was charged. Has anyone else seen that entity tied to this crime ring? I'm guessing it was a check to make sure the card would work.

Thanks again for posting on this topic.

I do not recall seeing that name, however, you are correct in that the cime syndicate routinely pings a portion of the hijacked card where the current status is unknown. Over the years they accomplish this validation by routinely hijacking legitimate merchant accounts of small businesses to ping them. They will run several thousand pings, usually over the weekend when the business is closed, sticking them with a hefty bill for the process.

MGD

Re: [Credit Card Fraud] fraud: www.prophotosland.com & www.phot

Sat, 31 May 2008 15:31:00 EDT

anon posted : I noticed a charge this morning on my account for $2.56 from IMAGESPARADISE.COM that did not look familiar so I called my bank (Bank of America) to dispute it. When I finally got a live person I happened to be doing a google search on the site and came across this thread and others indicating the fruadulent nature of the company. I mentioned this to the guy from the bank and he seemed disinterested, told me the charge had been reversed and got me off the phone before I got to the juicy stuff on this thread or had a chance to insist they cancel the account and issue a new card.

So it looks like they are trying smaller dollar amounts now.

Should I expect them to continue to charge the account? I'm guessing I should be getting the card canceled and a new card issued...I went back and saw no other fraudulent activity for the last year but I did notice an authorization about 9 months ago from FRONTIER EQUITI for $1.00 that never was charged. Has anyone else seen that entity tied to this crime ring? I'm guessing it was a check to make sure the card would work.

Thanks again for posting on this topic.

Re: [Credit Card Fraud] fraud: www.prophotosland.com & www.phot

Sat, 24 May 2008 17:23:21 EDT

MGD posted : OOOPS !!, to see those empty contents when you click on the above links you will be redirected to a "secure login" The account is: user ID = test password = test.

Then click on "access gallery"

MGD

Re: [Credit Card Fraud] fraud: www.prophotosland.com & www.phot

Sat, 24 May 2008 17:17:22 EDT

MGD posted : If you recall in an earlier post, Mr. Allison told me that he knew of several people personally that dowloaded intangibles from the mobileglobus.com site and were "very happy" with the "products".

The problem is that there is nothing to download from the fraudulent site. The vetting standards are so low, or non existant, that there is no need to even complete the fake site.

A login gets you to here:

[att=1]

A generates a script error:

Warning: Smarty error: math: parameter y is empty in /home/content/g/d/f/gdfg34453/html/libs/Smarty.class.php on line 1095

The field set for a credit card number is assigned as a "text" entry, and always generates an error:

Card Type              Card Number

Note the "text":
Card Number
input name="card" type="text" id="card"

[att=3]

Sign in and review the available downloads, and you are greeted by, Nothing:

[att=2]

Links for all the empty graphics such as: »www.mobileglobus.com/themes/natu···t011.thm

yield:

[att=4]

You can bypass log in and see these for yourself:
»www.mobileglobus.com/index.php?a···e&page=2 Try any page number, any category, empty !!

»www.mobileglobus.com/index.php?a···=cartoon

»www.mobileglobus.com/index.php?a···abstract

»www.mobileglobus.com/index.php?a···y=animal

»www.mobileglobus.com/index.php?a···ery=land

»www.mobileglobus.com/index.php?a···ery=cars

This is all nothing new, In December of 2007, one brave soul used a virtual card to enroll in one of the fraud globus group sites just to see what was there. Of course as expected he found nothing to download:

quote:
JDDD

Re: Heard of Picture globus??

Okay, So i have one of those nifty options for my card to get a "temporary" card number for online purchases. I paid the $2.99 to see if the site was a scam. Sure enough it is. they claim to be a stock photo company. You pay a monthly fee and download as many images as you want. the charge is $9.99 a month so that is what they charged you for, 1 month of service. However (and this is the funny part) They are letting people register and sign up for subscriptions but they do not have a SINGLE image available. nothing, nada, zilch. So I would recommend staying away from this site and if you do decide to PLEASE DON'T GIVE THEM YOUR REAL CARD NUMBER AND INFO.

hope this helps save some of you some headaches.

REF: »community.mpix.com/forums/t/5825···eIndex=1

There is a posting on Fatwallet from early December 2007 where Allison's apparent partner Eric Robertson, IM's a member who complained of the fraud charges and asked him:

quote:
........I would also like to ask you to either remove the thread from the forum or delete our company's name from the topic name. We are just starting out and this thread is harming our business. I hope that you understand it is not our fault that someone used your card to register with us..........

»www.fatwallet.com/forums/finance/782097

It is hard to believe that almpst a half year later, one of these cyber-mules has not figured it out. Just searching under any of the mutiple names would produce pages of fraud data for them to see.

MGD

Re: [Credit Card Fraud] fraud: www.prophotosland.com & www.phot

Sat, 24 May 2008 16:25:01 EDT

MGD posted :

said by K Patterson:

Man, is he in for a surprise. .....

I hope it happens sooner than later.

said by K Patterson:

....One alternative would be to let Bill Hutchinson know how he has been implicated in this fraud. My guess is that he may have some ways of getting thru to Mr. Allison. It looks like it was his card that was used.

Kip

After reviewing my notes, apparently I missed listing one of the earlier sites on that list.

PHOTOMERIDIAN.COM »PHOTOMERIDIAN.COM

Was operating in the last quarter of 2007.
»www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=PH···e+Search


Registrant:
   Domains by Proxy, Inc.
   DomainsByProxy.com
   15111 N. Hayden Rd., Ste 160, PMB 353
   Scottsdale, Arizona 85260
   United States
 
   Domain Name: PHOTOMERIDIAN.COM
      Created on: 26-Aug-07
      Expires on: 26-Aug-08
      Last Updated on: 26-Aug-07

on 11/06/2007 a poster reported the link

quote:
Follow the link and get this message:

"This site is currently unavailable.

If you are the owner of this site, please contact us at 1-480-505-8855 at your earliest convenience."

Something's up for sure.

»www.dpchallenge.com/forum.php?ac···D=691308

Godaddy's failure to either promptly address these criminal's using their services for free, or keeping them from re-enrolling with fraudulent payments is totally irresponsible.

Worse yet, Mr. Allison's MOBILEGLOBUS.COM site is back up and running »mobileglobus.com courtesy of GoDaddy free hosting.

[att=1][att=2]

Support: Eric Robertson
e-mail: support@mobileglobus.com
tel: (210) 807-4272

»www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=210-807-4272+

Still not back is Mr. Allison's personal sites for Mike Allison Communications, LLC and
Mike Allison Consulting. Those are presumably the LLCs that the authorize.net merchant accounts are under.

[att=3]

Nor do we know the other two sites that Allison has running. Though I see photogeyser.com »photogeyser.com is still active.

Still no return calls from Allison, so his current activity status is unknown. However with the site going back up, it is presumed that he is still firmly planted in the crime syndicates corner. He may be considered a "dream catch" recruit by any organized crime syndicate.

MGD

Re: [Credit Card Fraud] fraud: www.prophotosland.com & www.phot

Thu, 22 May 2008 19:38:03 EDT

anon posted : Thanks, here is the PDF attachment

WhoIs mobile···obus.pdf

Re: [Credit Card Fraud] fraud: www.prophotosland.com & www.phot

Wed, 21 May 2008 15:37:59 EDT

Doctor Olds posted :

said by gant :

I have a PDF file that I printed off the GoDaddy WhoIs listing yesterday, to confirm what they were showing yesterday. Unfortunately I cannot see how to attach it to this post.

Type your post, hit Preview, and on the left is a new button that reads "+ upload attachments". Now click that and a new section expands with 4 spots for adding files. Browse to the file you want to attach and then click Upload attachment.

[att=1][att=2]
--
What’s the point of owning a supercar if you can’t scare yourself stupid from time to time?

Re: [Credit Card Fraud] fraud: www.prophotosland.com & www.phot

Wed, 21 May 2008 14:17:18 EDT

anon posted :

said by K Patterson:

That just doesn't make sense. Bill Hutchinson is a heavy hitter - Romney's campaign committee, for instance.

did ddigital get the site name wrong? There is only a placeholder at mobileglobus.com.
...

This I did not know. In case of doubt, I have a PDF file that I printed off the GoDaddy WhoIs listing yesterday, to confirm what they were showing yesterday. Unfortunately I cannot see how to attach it to this post.

A good friend in Florida was scammed this month from "mobileglobus.com" therefore I googled this name and followed the links - and then I found this (your) web forum with lots of useful information, Also sustained hard work by MGD - well done.

Re: [Credit Card Fraud] fraud: www.prophotosland.com & www.phot

Tue, 20 May 2008 22:34:09 EDT

K Patterson posted : Man, is he in for a surprise.

One alternative would be to let Bill Hutchinson know how he has been implicated in this fraud. My guess is that he may have some ways of getting thru to Mr. Allison. It looks like it was his card that was used.

Kip

Re: [Credit Card Fraud] fraud: www.prophotosland.com & www.phot

Tue, 20 May 2008 19:22:42 EDT

MGD posted : GoDaddy has apparently taken down mobileglobus.com. In the 05/17 post above by "ddigital" the domain was privacy cloaked by GoDaddy's Domains by Proxy, Inc service. When GoDaddy pulls a site and/or revokes the domain, they remove the cloaking service. The registration posted above by "gant" is how the criminals registered the domain back on 01/28. Probably paid for with hijacked card data, and registered in the victim's name. They they used the same card to pay for the domain cloaking service to make it harder to track and shut down.

I spoke with Mike Allison several days ago, thanks to info provided by mae_aa419 Mike was running merchant accounts for three websites including mobileglobus.com. He also ran merchant accounts for several of the previous "globus" sites that are now shut down. Mike is completely duped and insisted that he is running a legit operation. When asked about the fraudulent charges on all the previous sites listed for him that are now defunct, he stated that someone hacked into them and stole their products using dozens of stolen credit cards.!! Mike stated that he was expanding his operation by hiring staff, because the business was doing so well and expanding.

Mr. Allison was adamant that he was running a legitimate business operation in partnership with Hermeselectro.com. He refused to name the other two websites that are currently in operation. Also, he refused to state where he wires the proceeds, other than to confirm it is a foreign country. He did acknowledge that they all use authorize.net as a payment gateway. Mike also stated that he was aware of several people that had purchased tangible products from the sites, and were very happy with them. I told him that this was not possible.

I sent Mike several links to show him the robust documentation of the fraud, and the crime syndicate behind it. I also gave him contact information for a Texas police officer that he should call, who would corroborate what I told him. Mike was going to digest this information and then get back with me, he has not. He also has not returned any of my subsequent calls.

At the time I contacted Mike, both mobileglobus.com and Mike's personal site: mikeallisoncommunications.reliabilitymall.com were active. Without followup contact it is impossible to know if he informed the criminals and they convinced him to go into hide mode. if so, they may have him wire funds abroad daily, to keep the account balance low.

Go here: »www.data.bbb.org/houston/search.html and enter "Mike Allison" in the search box.

MGD

Re: [Credit Card Fraud] fraud: www.prophotosland.com & www.phot

Tue, 20 May 2008 17:28:44 EDT

K Patterson posted : That just doesn't make sense. Bill Hutchinson is a heavy hitter - Romney's campaign committee, for instance.

did ddigital get the site name wrong? There is only a placeholder at mobileglobus.com.

Edit: Looking at cached pages in Google, it appears that it once was a fraud site.

The whois was updated today. I wonder if somebody put Hutchinson's name in there as a red herring??

Kip

Re: [Credit Card Fraud] fraud: www.prophotosland.com & www.phot

Tue, 20 May 2008 17:06:38 EDT

anon posted : I turned up the following:

Registrant:
Bill Hutchinson
3100 Monticello
Dallas, Texas 75205
United States
Registered through: GoDaddy.com, Inc.
(»www.godaddy.com)
Domain Name: MOBILEGLOBUS.COM
Created on: 28-Jan-08
Expires on: 28-Jan-09
Last Updated on: 20-May-08
Administrative Contact:
Hutchinson, Bill BillHutchinson@live.com
3100 Monticello
Dallas, Texas 75205
United States
(214) 443-4225
Technical Contact:
Hutchinson, Bill BillHutchinson@live.com
3100 Monticello
Dallas, Texas 75205
United States
(214) 443-4225
Domain servers in listed order:
NS21.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
NS22.DOMAINCONTROL.COM

Bill is one of Dunhill Partners:
»www.dunhillpartners.com/team.html

Houston BBB info links another name to "mobileglobus":

Mike Allison Communications, LLC
563 Bird Song
League City, TX 77573
(281) 332-9334
www.mobileglobus.com
www.mikeallisoncommunications.reliabilitymall.com
Mike Allison Consulting
563 Bird Song
League City, TX 77573
(281) 332-9334
www.mobileglobus.com
www.mikeallisoncommunications.reliabilitymall.com

Hope this helps!!
Discalimer: All the above are of course entirely coincidental

Re: [Credit Card Fraud] fraud: www.prophotosland.com & www.phot

Sat, 17 May 2008 14:16:01 EDT

anon posted : I've been hit by the same scam, only it appears that there is a new domain *and* a new company to add to the mix.

The domain name is mobileglobus.com. A whois entry doesn't turn up much as they have registered it via proxy:

================
Registrant:
Domains by Proxy, Inc.

Registered through: GoDaddy.com, Inc. (»www.godaddy.com)
Domain Name: MOBILEGLOBUS.COM

Domain servers in listed order:
NS21.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
NS22.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
=================

The web site pattern matches the other scam image sites. The amount I was charged was $9.87.

The second charge was through a "P&P Services Inc". The link below (also mentioned earlier in this thread) makes reference to the same company:

»www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/3···6667.htm

The charge in this case was less; it was $5.56. Anyone have any ideas how to investigate this "P&P Services Inc" any further? A basic Google search doesn't turn up much.

BTW, great job on tracking all of this!

Re: [Credit Card Fraud] fraud: www.prophotosland.com & www.phot

Fri, 16 May 2008 08:36:41 EDT

JJBrannon posted : I was hit with a photosmix.com in my last billing cycle which I caught last evening while reviewing my accounts.

The charge stood out like a nudist at a church service because this account -- my oldest credit card -- has only been used for about the last two years for a 4% balance transfer I was paying down.

But the reaction of the card issuer's security department was worse than the charge. They sought to terminate the account and issue a new number without any guarantee that this wouldn't adversely affect my credit history.

As a former credit investigator for a credit card bank myself, I thought it likely that this action would erase my longest credit record and my FICO rating.

JJB

Re: [Credit Card Fraud] fraud: www.prophotosland.com & www.phot

Sun, 04 May 2008 15:23:18 EDT

anon posted : Don't know if it's relevant, but all of this reminds me of a scam I was reading about on the Paypal/ebay forums a few months ago. feebay removed the thread from their forum, but here's some background:

»voip-hype.com/voip-provider-beta···-a-scam/

Re: [Credit Card Fraud] fraud: www.prophotosland.com & www.phot

Fri, 02 May 2008 08:34:50 EDT

K Patterson posted : I took the liberty of starting a new topic, hoping that others will add text or links for each of the frauds listed and that it will be stickied.

"The FBI wants you to know:"

Re: [Credit Card Fraud] fraud: www.prophotosland.com & www.phot

Fri, 02 May 2008 07:18:57 EDT

pleekmo posted :

said by Zenith:

said by Doctor Olds:

As long as you credit it being authored by MGD and include a link back to the post,,,,,, ;) I would guess he would not mind, but I am guessing and cannot speak for him.

I would credit it to MGD for sure. MGD is doing a good thing and deserves all credit for the impact that's been made against the bad guys.

I copied and pasted the analysis into my blog but also noted that I'd cribbed it from here and gave links to this thread and another similar one here, as well. Though perhaps I should give a more explicit credit...
--
HCN: Because you deserve a rest!

Proud member of the Free Omelas Liberation Front.

Re: [Credit Card Fraud] fraud: www.prophotosland.com & www.phot

Thu, 01 May 2008 19:50:04 EDT

Zenith posted :

said by Doctor Olds:

As long as you credit it being authored by MGD and include a link back to the post,,,,,, ;) I would guess he would not mind, but I am guessing and cannot speak for him.

I would credit it to MGD for sure. MGD is doing a good thing and deserves all credit for the impact that's been made against the bad guys.

Re: [Credit Card Fraud] fraud: www.prophotosland.com & www.phot

Thu, 01 May 2008 18:57:42 EDT

Doctor Olds posted : As long as you credit it being authored by MGD and include a link back to the post,,,,,, ;) I would guess he would not mind, but I am guessing and cannot speak for him.
--
What’s the point of owning a supercar if you can’t scare yourself stupid from time to time?

Re: [Credit Card Fraud] fraud: www.prophotosland.com & www.phot

Thu, 01 May 2008 18:41:49 EDT

Zenith posted : I copied your "how it works post" and pasted it into a word document. Hope you don't mind. Would you have a problem with my pasting it on other forums that may be discussing these type scams?

Re: [Credit Card Fraud] fraud: www.prophotosland.com & www.phot

Thu, 01 May 2008 17:49:49 EDT

anon posted : My dad just got the photosmix.com charge and thanks to this post we're getting everything fixed. :D

Re: [Credit Card Fraud] fraud: www.prophotosland.com & www.phot

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 19:27:21 EDT

anon posted : Amazing post. Thanks for taking the time.

Re: [Credit Card Fraud] fraud: www.prophotosland.com & www.phot

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 18:16:47 EDT

MGD posted :

said by kooooo :

Can someone explain to me how this scam makes money? ....

To add to what pcdebb and Doctor Olds posted.

The essence of the scheme is that a considerable percentage of the victims may not catch the charge. It can easily be overlooked when an account has multiple cards that are in frequent use. In some cases a person may think their spouse made the charge, and vice versa.

The amounts of the fraudulent charges vary between $3 and $15 and are below the threshold where many people will actively pursue it. Several victims have reported that when they finally caught on, they went back over prior statements, and found several months worth of charges that went unnoticed.

For those that catch and pursue it, there is always a phone number listed on the line item charge, and also listed on the contact info on the hidden website. When a victim calls, the criminals will issue an immediate credit for the charge, and thus avoid the high chargeback fee. In fact, the banks unwittingly assist the criminals sustain each fraudulent operation by telling the cardholder to contact the merchant directly, first. That is exactly what the syndicate wants to happen if the victim discovers the charge, and pursues it.

That is why it is crucial that a victim report the charge as "fraudulent", and insist that it is classified as such. Besides triggering the card to be replaced, it will also generate a chargeback. It is the increasing chargeback ratio that usually causes the merchant account to be cancelled... eventually. Some of these individual sites have been in operation for well over a year. I have seen some that went down in a few months, it all depends on the mix of victims. If the criminals could issue credits to all the victims who complained then the account may never trigger an alert.

I am aware of one specific instance where the criminals were notified about the growing ratio of chargebacks. They responded that their site was being abused by "criminals" trying to buy items with stolen card data. The account rep's response was that after reviewing their website, they should institute an account enrollment policy where purchasers are required to enroll before being able to complete a transaction. He said that would be a deterrent to keep fraudsters away. The criminals responded that this was an excellent suggestion, thanked him, and said that they would immediately adopt that new procedure.

Copies of the criminals handbook/operational manual published in the other thread, show that the merchant account application for each fake site lists an anticipated mpnthly billing revenue of between $40,000 to $50,000 per site. One recent interception had records showing ~ $180,000 successfully processed in less than 4 months, and included a $20,000 wire transfer in the process of heading out to Cyprus being recalled. There can be a lag time of 30 to 60 days for all charge backs to filter through. A rough estimate is that 35 to 40, or more, sites are fully active at any given time. It is an assembly line process, new sites are being created all the time.

Once an operation is up and running, it is only excessive chargebacks that can bring it down, that, or the duped cyber-mule catching on. Because of the trivial amount, many victims are told by the issuing bank to contact the vendor directly "it is probably a billing error, or a purchase that you do not recognize".

Remember the criminals have perfected this operation over many years. They know exactly where the weak points are in the system and how to capitalize on them. One example of that, was a sting operation where potential roadblocks were created during the set up process, in order to confirm known theories of the operation. One of the fake websites that was already set up awaiting the cyber-mules merchant account approval, had the domain registered in a different state with a victim's card, and listed in their name. The syndicate was told that the merchant account approval was on hold, because Authorize.net had questioned why the related website was registered to someone other than the LLC that was applying for the account. The criminals responded that this could not be a valid reason for the hold up, because they knew that authorize.net nor the bank, never checks to see who owns the domain for the website that the LLC that was applying for the merchant account for.

Also, the criminals have recently began to address the excessive charge back ratio by submitting fake documents to the banks in response to dispute notices. They provide a false log of a user id and password including an IP address that the victim supposedly used to set up the account with. There is at least one recent victim report of the bank reversing and reinstating the fraud charge, upon receipt of those false documents.

MGD

Re: [Credit Card Fraud] fraud: www.prophotosland.com & www.phot

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 17:26:36 EDT

Doctor Olds posted :

said by kooooo :

Can someone explain to me how this scam makes money? Don't chargebacks cost a merchant $20-$30 per incident? Also, if your chargeback rates are too high, it's my understanding you lose your merchant account.

At $50,000 per month, they don't care that much until the Charge Backs freeze/lock/close the account and that makes them open ten (10) more sites with ten (10) new Merchant Accounts. They have a separate group that does nothing but recruit mules to setup these sites.
--
What’s the point of owning a supercar if you can’t scare yourself stupid from time to time?

Re: [Credit Card Fraud] fraud: www.prophotosland.com & www.phot

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 16:35:28 EDT

pcdebb posted :

essentially for every chargeback (read: each transaction that is caught by the account holder) there is, there is 100 that will go undetected. and they are probably registered with a merchant (authorize.net for example) that dont care.
--
a time for change... | 1st & 10 | Ham is good

Re: [Credit Card Fraud] fraud: www.prophotosland.com & www.phot

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 16:01:14 EDT

anon posted : Can someone explain to me how this scam makes money? Don't chargebacks cost a merchant $20-$30 per incident? Also, if your chargeback rates are too high, it's my understanding you lose your merchant account.

Re: [Credit Card Fraud] fraud: www.prophotosland.com & www.phot

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 21:09:07 EDT

acadiel posted : The Consumerist just picked this up.

»consumerist.com/385004/watch-out···comments

I wish they would have pointed here, because MGD has done quite a bit of work trying to find out who these scammers are.
--
acadiel's blog is here

Re: [Credit Card Fraud] fraud: www.prophotosland.com & www.phot

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 12:07:30 EDT

anon posted : Thank you for the information in this forum. I have just cancelled my credit card after seeing an item appeared in my Citiibank statement from PHOTOS PARADISE 214-7175031 TN for $8.88. The merchant category shows up as COMPUTERS, COMPUTER PERIPHERAL EQUIPMENT.

I found the following domain registration information which tracks with the culprits already listed in this forum:

Registrant:
HAITAO ZHANG
426 King's Road
Hong Kong, North Point --
Hong Kong

Registered through: GoDaddy.com, Inc. (»www.godaddy.com)
Domain Name: PHOTOSPARADISE.COM
Created on: 12-Jan-08
Expires on: 13-Jan-09
Last Updated on: 12-Jan-08

Administrative Contact:
ZHANG, HAITAO haitao.zhang44@yahoo.com
426 King's Road
Hong Kong, North Point --
Hong Kong
+852 8198 0611

Technical Contact:
ZHANG, HAITAO haitao.zhang44@yahoo.com
426 King's Road
Hong Kong, North Point --
Hong Kong
+852 8198 0611

Domain servers in listed order:
NS07.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
NS08.DOMAINCONTROL.COM

Registry Status: clientDeleteProhibited
Registry Status: clientRenewProhibited
Registry Status: clientTransferProhibited
Registry Status: clientUpdateProhibited

Re: [Credit Card Fraud] fraud: www.prophotosland.com & www.phot

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 19:34:22 EDT

Doctor Olds posted :

said by jskdn:

After reporting it I called back my credit card company to tell them about what I read here. I am afraid that they won't follow up on it through legal channels as they should. But they did try to sell me a service to watch my credit for $12.95 month.

Isn't that just so great of them. First they pass on all losses to the customer in higher interest rates plus higher base fees and then they want to charge extra to protect your account instead of changing their way of doing business that allows these blatant thefts of small amounts to go untouched and left alone as if it were OK to be done.
--
What’s the point of owning a supercar if you can’t scare yourself stupid from time to time?

Re: [Credit Card Fraud] fraud: www.prophotosland.com & www.phot

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 19:23:27 EDT

jskdn posted : I too just had charges on my credit card bill from Stock Image Planet Com and WISEE GOODS for the same amounts as Molly01. It appears that they are trying to steal small amounts from large numbers of people. After reporting it I called back my credit card company to tell them about what I read here. I am afraid that they won't follow up on it through legal channels as they should. But they did try to sell me a service to watch my credit for $12.95 month.

Re: [Credit Card Fraud] fraud: www.prophotosland.com & www.phot

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 04:28:30 EDT

Doctor Olds posted : I'm glad you found the fingerprinting on why they all showed up. I forgot to look at the robots files so thank you very much for finding the "in common" error. Hopefully they will continue to make these and other errors on the way to their eventual demise. ;)
--
What’s the point of owning a supercar if you can’t scare yourself stupid from time to time?

Re: [Credit Card Fraud] fraud: www.prophotosland.com & www.phot

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 02:58:21 EDT

MGD posted :

said by Doctor Olds:

Interesting results.....

.
Nice catch, what they all appear to have in common is a bad robots.txt file. They left out the forward slash ": / " after "Disallow", to specify "all", or the entire site. What that screw up does is disallow nothing, which yields an allow all. »stockimageplanet.com/robots.txt

A correct version, further above: »/r0/download/1···bots.png

Note to Igor in the Ukraine, being close, don't count.

MGD

Re: [Credit Card Fraud] fraud: www.prophotosland.com & www.phot

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 00:18:43 EDT

Doctor Olds posted : Interesting results.....

»www.google.com/search?q=%22Our+w···filter=0

[att=1]

Regards,

Doctor Olds
--
What’s the point of owning a supercar if you can’t scare yourself stupid from time to time?

Re: [Credit Card Fraud] fraud: www.prophotosland.com & www.phot

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 19:19:07 EDT

anon posted : Thank you so much for the information. I have never dealt with this before and have now been hit twice in two days within the last week. Once for LoadofPhotos.com for $9.87 and over the weekend from Wiseegoods.com for $4.95. You were very informative and even though I have a new debit card coming, I think I will definitely follow up with a complaint or hand-written letter to help draw attention to this ridiculous new fear invading our everyday life.

Re: [Credit Card Fraud] fraud: www.prophotosland.com & www.phot

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 21:19:04 EDT

SSSR posted : I just got hit on 3/26 from STOCK IMAGE PLANET COM for $9.87 and I also have a temporary hold from WISEE GOODS LLC for $2.95. I'll be calling my bank to report this fraud.

Re: [Credit Card Fraud] fraud: www.prophotosland.com & www.phot

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 05:06:31 EDT

MGD posted : Hermes Electro AKA hermeselectro.com was first discussed in the original forum thread on the "globus" group here: »pictureglobus.com, imaglobus.com, and templateglobus.com now In that thread it was identified as a Command & Control hub site, because it was from that domain that victims were sent the bogus records of how their cards were used for account enrollments. Hong-Kong Content Trade AKA hkc-trade.com was subsequently identified earlier in this thread as an identical second C&C hub site.

They both list addresses in Hong Kong along with local voice mail telephone numbers. It has not been determined if those numbers are relaying calls elsewhere, or if there is a local management mule fielding calls on behalf of the criminals. There is little doubt that the real criminals operating this division, are also located in Russia and/or the Ukraine.

New evidence for this image / pic group show that people with online resumes are being directly targeted for cyber-mule recruitment. Here is an actual unsolicited pitch sent from online resume trolling.

quote:
From: hzhang@hkc-trade.com

Subject: Job.com Position offered to VICTIM NAME - $70k/year - Independent Representative Position

Dear "Potential Cyber-Mule"

My name is Haitao Zhang. I work as a Local Advisor for Honk-Kong Content Trade Company.

Your resume, found on job.com has been chosen by our HR department, and I would like to offer you the position of an Independent Representative we currently have available at our company.

Bellow I have provided some general information about our company and position description.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
About Versum Electro Company
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Honk-Kong Content Trade is a fast growing company working on the international market since 2002. We are proud to announce that it has been over 5 years of our successful operation. During this relatively short period of time we managed to build strong business relationships with all of our clients as well as created a bright team of motivated professionals.

The main activities of the company in Europe include but are not limited to:

- Electronic wholesales and retailing
- Online e-content sales
- E-business systems development

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Independent Representative Position
----------------------------------------------------------------------
In connection with forthcoming expansion into the United States market we are hiring an honest, punctual candidate for the Independent Representative position.

The primary role of the Independent Representative:

Provide support for contract and agreement registration, required for on-line trade platforms. Manage funds and organize profit distribution.

The position which is being offered implies both part-time and full-time involvement thus allowing you to adjust your schedule and allocate enough time to complete the required tasks. We will be helping and assisting you during the entire work process, providing all the necessary information, technical support and expert guidance.

The salary consists of two parts and will grow depending on your performance.
1. Base salary of $2000.00 (three thousand) US
2. 1% from sales (may grow up to 5%)

On average you will be receiving 4-5 thousand dollars each month during the first few month of your work.

Payments are made twice a month.

If you are interested in this offer and would like to receive more information, please send your resume and motivation letter to resume@hkc-trade.com

You can contact me about this position by:
Email: hzhang@hkc-trade.com
Phone: (+10) 852 8198 0664

You are also welcome to visit our website at: »www.hkc-trade.com

Your prompt response on this offer would be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Haitao Zhang
Local Advisor
Honk-Kong Content Trade Inc.
hzhang@hkc-trade.com

Phone: (+10) 852 8198 0664
»www.hkc-trade.com

.

The fraudulent funds from accounts set up in this pic/image/ globus group are confirmed as being laundered via these recent wire transfers out of US banks

One routing sends the stolen funds to FBME Bank Ltd (Federal Bank of the Middle East Ltd) headquartered in Nicosia, Cyprus, with foreign branches loacted in Russia and Tanzania. »www.fbme.com/ and »www.fbme.com/index.cfm?id=104

The fraudulent proceeds were routed out of the country via Deutsche Bank Trust Company, New York, »www.db.com/index_e.htm

The specific wire transfer details are:

Beneficiary Account: Name: VIDESS S.A No.: 073725
IBAN: CY2011501002073725USDCACC001
Beneficiary Bank: FBME BANK Limited,
Nicosia, Cyprus
Swift Code: FBMECY2N
Correspondent Bank: Deutsche Bank Trust Company,
New York, USA Swift
Code: BKTRUS33
Account No: 04-053-863

Note the beneficiary name VIDESS S.A from non other than the Ukraine:

[att=1]

A single web page, appears to be a jack of all nefarious trades website.

VIDESS S.A, AKA »videss.org just oozing with legitimacy:

quote:
"VIDESS" was founded during 2003 with professional staff, making custom graphic, web and 3D design, for the Internet Industry and over. We have a great experience and huge creative potential. The central "VIDESS" office is in Ukraine, but our ties and works are successfully used with the companies all over the world.

The videss.org domain has a cloaked registration:


Whois Record
Domain ID:D104264057-LROR
Domain Name:VIDESS.ORG
Created On:23-Apr-2004 20:03:36 UTC
Last Updated On:11-Mar-2008 23:52:19 UTC
Expiration Date:23-Apr-2012 20:03:36 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar:EstDomains, Inc. (R1345-LROR)
Status:CLIENT DELETE PROHIBITED
Status:CLIENT RENEW PROHIBITED
Status:CLIENT TRANSFER PROHIBITED
Status:CLIENT UPDATE PROHIBITED
Registrant ID:PP-SP-001
Registrant Name:Domain Admin
Registrant Organization:PrivacyProtect.org
Registrant Street1:P.O. Box 97
Registrant Street2:All Postal Mails Rejected, visit Privacyprotect.org
Registrant Street3:
Registrant City:Moergestel
Registrant State/Province:
Registrant Postal Code:5066 ZH
Registrant Country:NL
Registrant Phone:+45.36946676
Registrant Phone Ext.:
Registrant FAX:
Registrant FAX Ext.:
Registrant Email:

They are hosted in New Jersey on Net Access Corporation (NAC.NET) on IP 64.21.13.112

A second recent transfer of funds from the fraudulent card billing of this group was sent to the account of BETA-METAL LTD located in Kyev, Ukraine, via a bank in Riga, Lativa called JSC Rietumu Banka »www.rietumu.com/eng.nsf/page?Rea···00372683

Beneficiary Name: BETA-METAL LTD
Beneficiary Address: Grushevskogo 28/2, Kyev, Ukraine. 01021
IBAN: LV55 RTMB 0006 0380 6245
(multicurrency)
Bank: JSC Rietumu Banka
Bank address: 54 Brivibas street, Riga, LV-1011,
LATVIA S.W.I.F.T.: RTMBLV2X

So far the only reference to BETA-METAL LTD that I can find is this: »64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:6L···=1&gl=us

Clearly, the names and addresses of the C&Cs in Honk Kong are a distraction, intended to throw the focus away from the real location. Find and follow the money !!

MGD
EDIT= formatting

Re: [Credit Card Fraud] fraud: www.prophotosland.com & www.phot

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 00:06:13 EDT

MGD posted :

said by GINAH :

Thank you for this information! Same thing happened to me. ........... I had a charge about six days ago from wiseegoods, llc with phone number 954-603-7710. I emailed the Fla. Attorney General's office and filed a complaint. I then found out that the Miramar Police Dept is investigating Wiseegoods and will likely be a federal case. ........

You are welcome, and glad that you posted.

You are the first victim whose fraud charges actually tie this Globus / Pic / image scam subset back to the main template Ebook group »Ebook websites, fraud charges, Devbill/DigitalAge/Pluto You have one fraud charge from each division. I assume they were on the same card, though there are victims who get hit on two different cards.

Thanks again, as this is the first time that I have seen a reference to Wiseegoods. Which apparently has been around since January of 2007, and is hosted on GoDaddy. I can confirm that they are in fact part of the main group, as there are several victim reports who also had additional fraud charges from other sites in the main group, Interactive designs, etc.

The domestic based portion of wiseegoods was set up by a duped US cyber-mule who was recruited via an employment offer.

wiseegoods.com AKA WISEEGOODS.COM LLC 954-603-7710
.
[att=1]

The domain is registered to the cyber-mule, which fits the pattern of the template group.


[wiseegoods.com IP 68.178.254.16]
.
Registration Service Provided By: NameCheap.com
Contact: support@NameCheap.com
.	
Domain name: wiseegoods.com
.
Registrant Contact:
   WiseEGoods.com LLC
   Basil Lynch (thewisemanster@gmail.com)
   +1.6109563936
   Fax: +1.5555555555
   16781 S.W. 36 Court
   Miramar, FL 33027
   US
.
Status: Locked
.
Name Servers:
   ns1.secureserver.net
   ns2.secureserver.net
.   
Creation date: 15 Jan 2007 07:56:35
Expiration date: 15 Jan 2009 07:56:35

In addition, Mr. Lynch would have registered an LLC in order to obtain a business bank account, and merchant processing account which uses Authorize.net / Cybersource.
.
[att=2]
.


Florida Limited Liability Company  
WISEEGOODS.COM LLC
. 
Filing Information 
Document Number L07000001015 
FEI Number 113800709 
Date Filed 01/03/2007 
State FL 
Status ACTIVE 
.
Principal Address 
16781 S.W. 36 COURT
MIRAMAR FL 33027
.  
Mailing Address 
16781 S.W. 36 COURT
MIRAMAR FL 33027 
. 
Registered Agent Name & Address 
LYNCH, BASIL
16781 S.W. 36 COURT
MIRAMAR FL 33027 US
. 
Manager/Member Detail 
Name & Address 
Title MGRM 
LYNCH, BASIL
16781 S.W. 36 COURT
MIRAMAR FL 33027
.  
Annual Reports 
Report Year Filed Date 
2008 03/07/2008

As usual, wiseegoods.com was set up exclusively to launder hijacked card data into cash, so it needed to be hidden from the rest of the internet, by blocking search engine archiving:

[att=3]

The cyber-mule, Mr Lynch, obviously would have been totally unaware of what he was setting himself up for. Once he is alerted, the merchant account should be closed immediately, the bank account frozen, and any recent foreign wire transfers of the fraudulent funds should try and be recovered. All communication with the crime syndicate should be stopped at once.

MGD

Re: [Credit Card Fraud] fraud: www.prophotosland.com & www.phot

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 10:20:16 EDT

anon posted : another victim...I check my credit card account on line and was surprised to see the charge, especially since I was at a funeral all day out of state...I have called visa and canceled my card and had a new card reissued. They have turned this over to their fraud department. I will also put a fraud alert with all the credit reporting companies and urge others to do so as well.

Re: [Credit Card Fraud] fraud: www.prophotosland.com & www.phot

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 06:08:37 EDT

anon posted : Thank you for this information! Same thing happened to me. I had a charge on my bank account via my debit card from Michael P Hamilton for $9.64. Thanks to your post I understand better how this sort of thing works. I had a charge about six days ago from wiseegoods, llc with phone number 954-603-7710. I emailed the Fla. Attorney General's office and filed a complaint. I then found out that the Miramar Police Dept is investigating Wiseegoods and will likely be a federal case. So I am guessing that Wiseegoods and Michael P Hamilton are scams run by the same or similar crooks. Folks, please watch out for Wiseegoods also. Thanks again!!!

Re: [Credit Card Fraud] fraud: www.prophotosland.com & www.phot

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 12:59:26 EDT

MGD posted :

said by Doug55 :

Please add LoadOfPhotos.com to the list. ...

Thank You, I have added them to the original list on the previous page

said by madneon:

Yes I too am a victim of Loadofphotos.com for 9.87 I have also replaced my card. I am VERY careful with my card any clues on how these people are getting hold of them and is loadofphotos a real web site because it it still up and running.

[att=1][att=2]

No they are a 100% fraud, fake site, just a front operation used to launder hijacked card data into cash. They are a subset of the larger: »Ebook websites, fraud charges, Devbill/DigitalAge/Pluto same modus-operandi.

It is very difficult to know for sure the source of the card data. It is doubtful that the data is coming from any recent e-commerce transactions since many of the cards are pre pinged before the charge. That tells us that they are testing the validity of the data before submitting the actual fraud charge. If the data was tied to actual recent transactions, that would not be necessary, since they would be known good data.

Somewhere behind this operation is a domestic cyber-mule who would have set up the merchant and banking accounts to process the fraud payments. What makes this this criminal operational group so disturbing is the complete lack of any vetting process whatsoever. The ability to set up and intergrate with the financial card processing system with such obvious fraudulent credentials is outrageous.

The websites are registered using GoDaddy's cloaking "hide a criminal" service called "Domainsby Proxy". That enables them to mask a clearly fraudulent domain registration. The sites contain no contact info, such as the business name that the merchant account was set up as. Just a bogus individuals name and voice mail phone number. Combine that with the fact that they are supposed to be selling an "intangible product", nothing to ship, and it just SCREAMS FRAUD. There isn't even any folders on the sites that contain graphic images that they are supposed to be selling. being blocked form search engines so no one could find them is just icing on the fraud cake.

We can go back and look at one of the earlier failed sites for an example of the deliberate obfuscation of the business registration chain.

The domain itself was cloaked via GoDaddy. they also own the cloaking service Domains by Proxy, Inc:


Registrant:
Domains by Proxy, Inc.
.
DomainsByProxy.com
15111 N. Hayden Rd., Ste 160, PMB 353
Scottsdale, Arizona 85260
United States
.
Registered through: GoDaddy.com, Inc.
Domain Name: ZENITHGRAPHIC.COM
Created on: 04-Oct-07
Expires on: 05-Oct-08
Last Updated on: 04-Oct-07

On this one only, the contact detail on the website included the name of the related LLC:

[att=3]

listed under the bogus names was:


Support: Alex McGuire
e-mail: support@zenithgraphic.com 
tel: (504) 208-4860
.
General: Edris Hoover
info@zenithgraphic.com
tel: (505) 350-8506
.
Jupiter, LLC    -------> LOOK
8210 Robin Ave NE
Albuquerque, NM 87110

So the suspected recruited cyber-mule would have registered a cover LLC from that 8210 Robin Ave NE, Albuquerque, NM 87110 address. A check of the New Mexico Division of Corporation's database confirms this:


New Mexico Public Regulation Commission
----------------------------------
JUPITER, LLC 
SCC Number:  2937704  
Tax & Revenue Number:   
Organization Date:  SEPTEMBER 18, 2007, in NEW MEXICO  
Organization Type:  DOMESTIC LIMITED LIABILITY  
Organization Status:  EXEMPT  
Good Standing:   
Purpose:  N/R  
----------------------------------
.
ORGANIZATION DATES
Taxable Year End Date:     
Filing Date:     
Expiration Date:     
.
SUPPLEMENTAL POST MARK DATE
Supplemental:     
----------------------------------
MAILING ADDRESS
8210 ROBIN AVE NE ALBUQUERQUE , NEW MEXICO 87110 
PRINCIPAL ADDRESS
8210 ROBIN AVE NE ALBUQUERQUE NEW MEXICO 87110 
PRINCIPAL ADDRESS (Outside New Mexico)
----------------------------------
.
REGISTERED AGENT
BUSINESS FILINGS INCORPORATED 
.
123 EAST MARCY STREET SANTA FE NEW MEXICO 87501 
 
Agent Designated:    
Agent Resigned:  
----------------------------------
.
COOP LICENSE INFORMATION
Number:     
Type:     
Expiration Year:     
----------------------------------
.
ORGANIZERS
BUSINESS FILINGS INCORPORATED    
----------------------------------
.
DIRECTORS
Date of Election of Directors: 
----------------------------------

.
Since there are no reports of fraud charges under the zenithgraphic.com name, I assume the cyber-mule who registered Jupiter on behalf of the criminals dropped out before it got off the ground. All of the other sites hide that business information in order to preserve the fraud. No merchant account provider performing even minimal vetting would not authorize an account set up based on this configuration format.

It is bad enough that consumer's card data cannot be kept secure, but to then provide open door access to the merchant financial system so that the hijacked data can be readily laundered into cash, is nothing short of incredible negligence.

MGD

Re: [Credit Card Fraud] fraud: www.prophotosland.com & www.phot

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 12:08:17 EDT

jswanson posted : I would suggest to all victims who filed their fraud complaint only via the telephone to follow up with a letter addressed to the fraud department of your credit card company.

A physical letter addressed to you credit card company's fraud department will insure that your complaint is investigated as fraud vs. secretly "disputed" and swept under the rug. I would also suggest that in the letter you state that you have also filed a complaint through ic3.gov. After receiving my letter my credit card company immediately changed my charge reversal from "adjustment" to "fraud adjustment".

I know it is a lot of effort for $10 but if the credit card companies are forced to report this as fraud they will eventually work towards stopping the criminal operation.

Also, on the security forum there is more information on the Hannaford data breach. The credit card information was intercepted at the store during the transaction and then sent overseas...

»www.boston.com/business/articles···_grocer/

Re: [Credit Card Fraud] fraud: www.prophotosland.com & www.phot

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 08:25:38 EDT

madneon posted : Yes I too am a victim of Loadofphotos.com for 9.87 I have also replaced my card. I am VERY careful with my card any clues on how these people are getting hold of them and is loadofphotos a real web site because it it still up and running.

Re: [Credit Card Fraud] fraud: www.prophotosland.com & www.phot

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 13:51:06 EDT

anon posted : I just recieved my cc statement and noticed the unauthorized charge from stockimagemix.com for $9.87. I called the number listed next to the charge and of course, it is not a working number. I immediately reported the fraud to my cc company. They credited the charge,flagged the account,cancelled the card/account number. I also filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau (»www.bbbsoutheastflorida.org) and ic3.gov.

Without an address, I had to list the provided phone number(SE FL prefix)and URL. An address is required -- simply "Unknown" those areas of the form. Definitely provide the URL for this forum in your complaint.

I highly recommend that all victims follow up and do the same -- with enough pressure, HOPEFULLY, something will happen and these awful creatures will be stopped.