Scammed by employment opportunity through ICN Trust Finance

As a note, all of this has already been reported to the necessary reporting agencies, including the FBI. Please forgive me as I try to be as vaguely specific as possible.

A friend was recently scammed by a work-from-home employment opportunity that found his resume online. They e-mailed him, conducted a quick interview over Skype, and had him working on training exercises that came from business school case studies that were very intensive. In essence, they used these case studies as distractions while having him ship laptops through international express USPS to their agents in Ukraine.

Unfortunately, ICN Trust Finance AG is a real company that had its information stolen. A fake website for them was set up, and the e-mail signature of one of their employees was stolen. They approached the interview claiming that they were opening a location in the area. The following is an example e-mail that came later in the process.

How are you today?
This is to confirm the receipt of tracking info and Case #7.
You've got 5 out of 5 for Case #7, excellent! Please, find attached
Case #8. Also, I have received final project this morning. Still no
changes, sir, same equipment, same budget, same shipping details.
We've added funds to the second account and you may use it (still have problems
with the first one we gave you, not sure why but we keep working on it).
Please, confirm.
Have a good day!


--
Best regards,
Mr. Nick Heidfeld
Senior HR Manager
ICN Trust Finance AG
Providence, RI Division, USA
+1 ######### - (Phone number fake)

The total loss came to about several thousands of dollars in laptops, and the case is still in progress. I suspect by the extent of this scam, that it may be a case of money laundering, in which case praise the Lord that we caught it early enough in the line to report it. We're not sure if any charges will be pressed against us, but documentation of this scam, emails, and the chronology have already been forwarded to the FBI and other government agencies. As I continue here, any advice would be most appreciated.

The scammers never asked him for his bank account information. In fact, they offered to give him "their" bank account numbers through Chase, Wells Fargo, etc. from which he could connect his credit card to make charges (now that we know this was a scam, the fact that they listed so many banks makes me believe this group may have many stolen bank accounts).

They asked for laptops to be sent through express international USPS shipping, which were bought using his credit card through the bank of his choice. He was able to make payments through the accounts that the scammers gave him, and gave the bank a call to ask if the funds were legitimate each time they were wired into his account from another account within the same bank. The bank confirmed the funds were legitimate. As a note, I was not aware that the bank could withdraw funds from one account to transfer them into another so easily. There were funds in the account, which was why my friend was not initially alerted to something fishy.

Anyway, the laptops were paid through the online Apple store, and were shipped out. Due to the case study assignments the scammers were giving him, it wasn't until three days later that my friend realized something was fishy. By that time, the laptops had already left the country, and could not be directly intercepted.

Eventually the sense that something was wrong led my friend and I to research, and we realized that we were being scammed. We sensed that if the bank accounts were stolen, then all of the payments were unauthorized and would be reversed. Immediately, the USPS was notified, and so was the bank. The bank refused to do any investigations although we were certain we were getting scammed, and it wasn't until 5 and 7 days after we notified them that the payments were indeed reversed.

At the same time, we approached USPS to try to return to sender the packages sent internationally. The USPS local office claimed that there was nothing they could do to return an international package. EMS services suggested that we should make an official request with USPS to return the package, as they could not do anything without an official request. USPS did not realize they could do that, and it took a lot of time to open case numbers on the packages. Several postal workers did not know they could even do this on an international package although EMS specifically stated they could not do anything until a formal request from USPS was given. In the end, some of the packages were delivered although there were case numbers already opened on them, marked as urgent.

In the end, the bank refuses liability for the transfer made between the stolen account and my friend's account, and expects my friend to front the charges made on the laptops and shipping. They refuse to do an investigation as well, although all of this was reported earlier in the line. In addition, I believe USPS's negligence would be protected under federal law due to their "mistake."

The scammer did many things that ended up complicating the entire matter, and unfortunately we are at a lost as to how to proceed besides having already contacted the relevant agencies. Again, all of this was reported relatively early, and we have the documents readily available to describe the chronology of the scam. I strongly suspect it's a large group laundering money considering the many safeguards they set in place. According to the tracking numbers, apparently the packages were flying to Ukraine (which may become a war zone... which complicates returning packages even further).

Again, any input would be appreciated.

Welcome to Scamwarners,

I am sorry your friend is a victim of this scam.

Once a package is sent out of country by the USPS it can not be recalled. Only packages mailed within the US to a US destination can be recalled. The USPS did its job and mailed the package as requested.

The bank did its job and allowed money to be deposited. They are not responsible. Once the bank learned of the fraudulent deposit they took it back. The bank did not give out your friends bank account.

Tell your friend "do not give out his bank account information to anyone" Do not receive money from anyone he/she never met. Meet all future employers face to face.

You should also report it to IC3 http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx

Please post the scammers Skype ID and email address. Also of messages sent and any other information that might help others.

Was there a fake website?

How did you report it to the FBI?

Please post the complete phone number. Other victims may be searching for it.

Post the URL of the fake site too, so that we can kill it. Also post the initial emails, as they are script and prospective victims may be searching for text in them.

Welcome Culpae,

Thank you for posting this scam. Unfortunately it is a scam we see far too often--but the more it is posted, the more likely another victim will find out sooner.

What you are encountering (difficulty in getting accurate information) is unfortunately very common in this scenario.
The conflicting USPS information is perfect example. While you can open a ticket on an international shipment, as Bryon has said, once it is out of the US consider it gone. The reason for this is simple: USPS is a US-only agency, and its authority ends at our borders.

USPS does not provide delivery services in other countries. When you ship internationally, USPS delivers the package to an agency in the receiving country. What this means is that the package is outside of USPS custody long before it is delivered to the final address. Depending on the agency and the situation, USPS might be able to request it back but the other agency does not have to return--in general it is highly unlikely that it will be returned. If the package had already left the country, the fact that it was not returned was not a mistake or negligence on the part of USPS--it's a simple limitation of the process and they are not liable.

now that we know this was a scam, the fact that they listed so many banks makes me believe this group may have many stolen bank accounts

It is not uncommon for scammer gangs to buy and sell bank account info in batches of hundreds or thousands of accounts.

He was able to make payments through the accounts that the scammers gave him, and gave the bank a call to ask if the funds were legitimate each time they were wired into his account from another account within the same bank. The bank confirmed the funds were legitimate

All the bank was really confirming was that the account number was legitimate and the account contained sufficient funds to cover the transfer. They can't and don't confirm the legitimacy of the funds themselves. It's an important distinction to understand.
Transfers within a bank are much easier than transfers across different banks, because the bank can verify the funds themselves, which is why the scammers make an effort to have accounts at every major bank so they can use as many victims as possible. If the transfers come from another bank, the banks have extra communication steps, the process takes longer, and the fraud is more likely to be detected before the victim believes they have the money and sends the laptops.

The bank refused to do any investigations although we were certain we were getting scammed.

The bank has to respect the privacy and the rights of the other account holder as well. Could you imagine what would happen if an angry ex could report your bank account as used in scams, and he/she could cause your accounts to be frozen for an investigation based on their word? Often the bank's first step is to monitor for excessive or suspicious activity--and they won't tell you what actions they are taking.

Whether you open a bank account or any other form of credit, you ultimately take responsibility for following the rules and ensuring any deposits or payments come from a legitimate source. It's part of the TOS you accept when you open an account. Your friend did not know the source of the payments but chose to move forward anyway. Therefore he/she chose to take the risk of making a payment using an untrusted source, and is now faced with the liability. It may not seem fair to you, but it's standard practice and the only way that banks as businesses can possibly survive. They simply can't cover the cost of their customers' risky decisions. From the bank's perspective, if your friend wants their money back, he/she can contact the criminals directly and try to get it from them--after all, the criminals are the ones who received the goods of value.

As Bryon and VX said, posting the website and email addresses will be very helpful. Posting emails received from their domains (with any personal info removed), with full headers, will help our site killers to try to get their fake sites closed down. Posting the case studies they sent (which will just be stolen from a legitimate source) might help another victim who searches for that case study, even after the scammers change names.

And if your friend has not cancelled or replaced any credit cards used, he/she should do so. The criminals may not have asked for his info, but if money was transferred from accounts they control, they can see where the money went.

The employment opportunity with ICN TRUST FINANCE AG has struck again!!!

After 5 weeks of examining 'cases' concerning managment, business collapses, and other
leasing scenarios, Mr. Nick Heidfeld, Senior HR Manager, working from an email in 'Providence, R.I,
offered a convoluted banking funds transfer scenario, that asked for your personal credit card
to execute the purchases of MacBook Pro computers, (about $7,500) sent to addresses in Norway, Finland and the Ukraine - Kiev of all places!!!

They are very slick in praising all of your '5/5 perfect score work, recommending you to their superiors in Zurich, and sending their 'executive director' to a future meeting with you to offer you a full time position with ICN TRUST FINANCE AG. They even posted an address on a well known Cleveland street, announcing that would be the location of their new branch office.

How can ANY legitimate company, American or Foreign, ask a person to use their personal credit card for the company's business?????This simple fact alone should be a loudly flapping LARGE RED FLAG, but it does not come until the end, when they have secured your confidence in their scam, Of course, they will name several recognized national banks, (US Bank, Citicorp, Chase) as holders of corporate accounts for ICN, and it is these funds which they 'give you 24- hour access to" which finance the purchases you are empowered to make with their 'corporate funds.'

Aside from the numerous hours spent on their 'theoretical and practical cases' I stopped dead at their request for the use of my credit card(s) for their purchases. The previous case cited here for ICN TRUST FINANCE AG went all the way through with credit card purchases - surely that person did not have their head screwed on right.

I will take this case to the Better Business Bureau, and report it to the Cleveland FBI office, since it involves an international company.

The scammer's email - Nick Heidfeld, <[email protected]>
The scammer's phone - 401-441-6808 (now proven a fake number with VM)

Outraged and Angry,

<removed name-dotti>
Cleveland Heights, Ohio

Welcome to scamwarners!

I'm sorry you lost so much time to these scammers, though glad you recognized the scam for what it is. As you already indicated, no legitimate job will require you use your own credit card.

I did remove your name from your post. While the risk of personal harm is low, these are criminals, and the last thing you want to deal with is petty retaliation because they are angry that you publicized their details.

Hello, I am going thru the same process and have shipped computers to the Ukraine. Can anyone help me with the next steps ? I am trying to stop the last shipment of computers and have registered a complaint with IC3 - internet crime complaint center Do you have a case number that is active with the FBI ? I made the purchases on my credit card which were paid by ICN later to be taken away. please help

You need to call your credit card company and your local police too. If you accepted any money from these people it was stolen $$$

Hello,

Unfortunately, I have been a victim of this fraud. I should have caught the scam early on, but I was blind sided by the fact that I was in desperate need of a new job. Below is the contact information of the person with whom I was communicating, although I realize that it is all fake. I would like to attach all case studies including the "Employment Agreement" form used to lure individuals into thinking it's a legit position. Please let me know how I can attach documents. I would be glad to reveal as much information as possible to alert others from these criminals. Also, please let me know if there are any other websites where I can post/file a complaint so the appropriate law enforcement agencies can take action.

Mr. Nick Heidfeld
[email protected]
Senior HR Manager
ICN Trust Finance AG
Providence, RI Division, USA
+1 (401) 441-6808

Jakob Grimm
[email protected]
HR Assistant
ICN Trust Finance AG
Providence, RI Division, USA
+1 (401) 441-6740

The assistant's name should tell you it's all a fairy tale

Sorry to hear you were scammed. icnfinance.com is email-only. Please post an email from the domain with complete headers. If you sent an email to the domain and got a reply, post both of them with complete headers.

I was approached about a month from this same company. My initial thought that it was a scam but I was never asked to give out any personal information which made just move forward with the cases "Nick" was emailed. Prior to that I even had an over the phone interview with "Jacob" and I tried to see if they were really going be leasing office space at the location they sent me here in Atlanta. I called the property management company but they could not give me that information. Just recently I was waiting to hear back from Nick but never received a response from the email I sent. I kept trying to search to see if the company was scam over month ago and couldn't find anything until this morning something in my gut said search again and today I see all the messages.

Although, I initially thought it was a scam I am a bit disappointed because I have been in Atlanta for 5 months been on so many interviews and nothing has come through yet. Sorry to hear about those who gave out their credit card information. I appreciate all of you sharing. Damn Scammers!!

Hello,

Unfortunately, I have been a victim of this fraud. I should have caught the scam early on, but I was blind sided by the fact that I was in desperate need of a new job. Below is the contact information of the person with whom I was communicating, although I realize that it is all fake. I would like to attach all case studies including the "Employment Agreement" form used to lure individuals into thinking it's a legit position. Please let me know how I can attach documents. I would be glad to reveal as much information as possible to alert others from these criminals. Also, please let me know if there are any other websites where I can post/file a complaint so the appropriate law enforcement agencies can take action.

Mr. Nick Heidfeld
[email protected]
Senior HR Manager
ICN Trust Finance AG
Providence, RI Division, USA
+1 (401) 441-6808

Jakob Grimm
[email protected]
HR Assistant
ICN Trust Finance AG
Providence, RI Division, USA
+1 (401) 441-6740