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Monday 26 October 2015

Fake seminar sites to avoid, registered to vravindhar@yahoo.com

A contact tipped me off to some fake financial seminar sites, all linked to the email address vravindhar@yahoo.com. They are promoted in spam emails similar to these:

From: rob.koster@fatcacomplianceinstitute.com [mailto:rob.koster@fatcacomplianceinstitute.com]
Sent: Wednesday, August 05, 2015 8:33 AM
To: redacted
Subject: FATCA Compliance - [redacted]
Importance: High

Dear Participants,

We are pleased to announce you that FATCA Compliance Institute is conducting a 2 day practical seminar on FATCA Compliance.

This seminar is going to be repeated and held thrice:
[redacted]

The seminar is open to all the Banking & Financial Professionals. The seminar particulars are attached with this mail.

Last date for enrolling your participation is [redacted], 2015.

Please contact for assistance.

Truly,
Rob Koster
Seminar Secretary
Tel:+31-800-020-0534(Netherlands and Other EU Countries) 
       +1-312-625-0112(All Other Countries)
FAX:+31-800-020-0534

And also..

 From: alfred@pacibankers.com [mailto:alfred@pacibankers.com]
Sent: Wednesday, February 11, 2015 11:50 AM
Subject: Asset Management Auditing and Internal Accounting Controls - [redacted]
Importance: High




Asset Management Auditing and Internal Accounting Controls - 2 Day Program

Dear Delegate
Pacific Standards (www.pacificstandards.com) would like to invite representatives from your organization to attend the above mentioned program scheduled for 2015. We are limiting the number of participants for each cluster to 20, as the courses are designed to be interactive and to encourage discussion and the exchange of ideas.

Program Dates:      Cluster I – February 25 - 26, 2015 
                                      Cluster II – March 9 - 10, 2015                                  
                                      Cluster III - March 18 - 19, 2015 
                                      Cluster IV- April 6 - 7, 2015
                                      Cluster V- April 15 - 16, 2015
                                 
Venue: {redacted}
We invite you to nominate individuals from your respective organization. It is also important to stress that all available slots will be filled on a first come first serve basis. Please advise your colleagues to attend and take advantage of this valuable and pivotal workshop.(Please see the attached brochure for complete course coverage).
Early Registration Deadline is February 15, 2015 
Last Date of Registration is February 17, 2015 


Looking forward for an early reply.

Thanks & Regards,
Alfred
Pacific Standards
Marketing Manager
Contact Number: +91-8801-990-204

Emails are sent from 159.253.145.90 (Softlayer, Netherlands). The registrant details look like this on most of the domains:
Registry Registrant ID:
Registrant Name: Ravindhar V
Registrant Organization:
Registrant Street: office:7, sushant lok , sushant estate
Registrant City: gugaon
Registrant State/Province: Haryana
Registrant Postal Code: 122002
Registrant Country: India
Registrant Phone: +91.9999960651
Registrant Phone Ext:
Registrant Fax:
Registrant Fax Ext:
Registrant Email: vravindhar@yahoo.com
Registry Admin ID:
The emails specifically target the finance sector with what appear to be relevant seminars and services, however once payment has been received there is reportedly no further communication and no seminars.

There are a large number of related sites, some using several different domains. There are virtually zero references to these "organisations" on Google, and a close examination of the sites shows several red flags.

Pacific Standards

Claiming to be in Singapore, but boasting an Indian phone number of +91-8801990204, this outfit claims to be part of "Grenoble Learning". Neither Pacific Standards nor Grenoble Learning actually appear to exist.


Domains used:
pacificstandards.com
pacibankers.com
pacific-compliance.com
pacificstan.cc
pacificstan.com
pacificstandards.org

Brown & Co

This claims to be based as 12 Flemington Street, Glasgow but quotes a US contact number of 1-800-BRO-CORP / 1-800-246-8115.  There are many, many companies in the UK with the name "Brown & Co", but where you would expect to see number 12 on that street.. there appears to be a car park.

Domains used:

beta-essentials.me
browncorpuk.org
browncorp.co
betaeventhub.org
betaeventhub.org
betaessentials.in

FATCA Compliance Institute

A quick Google search for "FATCA Compliance Institute" reveals exactly zero reliable references to this important-looking organisation, boasting contact details in both India and The Netherlands.
15-66 plot 101 Prabhu Nagar
Poranki 521137.
Tel:+31-800-020-0534(Netherlands and Other EU Countries)
FAX:+31-800-020-0534 (ONLY EU)
FAX: +31-20-524-1592 (ALL COUNTRIES)
USA Tel: +1-312-625-0112 (All other Countries)
Email: director@fatcacompliance.cc

Corporate Office:

Keizersgracht 209
1006 DT Amsterdam
The Netherlands
The Netherlands Toll-Free:
Tel:+31-800-020-0534
FAX:+31-800-020-0534

USA Tel: +1-312-625-0112 (All other Countries)
Email: director@fatcacompliance.cc

Domains used:

fatcacomplianceinstitute.org
fatcacomplianceinstitute.com
fatcacompliance.cc
fatcacompliance.net
fatcacompliance.org

Rightman Group

The web site here looks very slick. But if you Google for snippets of somewhat ungrammatical text (such as "But, one things remains unchanged – our dedication to doing the best work in the world.") you will find that there are hundreds of sites using the exact same template. Rightman Group has the following contact details listed:

Rightman Group
 United States
199 Scott Street
Suite 810
Buffalo, NY 14204
+1-716-217-2817
USA call charges apply.
---------
 Dreikönigstrasse 30
Zürich, Switzerland
----------
+41-43-508-1974 

The New York State Division of Corporations has no such company as "Rightman Group" listed.


Domains used:

rightmangroup.com
rightman.eu
rightman.cc
rightmangroup.net
rightmangroup.org

Swiss Dossier

I can only imagine that the name "Swiss Dossier" came about through an error in autotranslation. It lists several addresses:

info@swissdossier.com(General)
offices@swissdossier.com(Training Programs)

Tel:  +1-786-235-8424(USA)

Our Global offices are located at:
19th Floor, Prudential Towers(North Side)
Office no: 1901
Chulia Street
Singapore

Aeschenvorstadt, 405
Basel,
Switzerland

79 Thornall Street,
6th Floor, Edison, NJ 08837.
New Jersy
USA

70 Sheppard Avenue, Suite 301,
North York, Ontario M2N 3A4,
Canada

A Google search for "swissdossier.com" comes up with no independent and reliable references to this so-called company.


Domains used:

swissdossier.com
swissdossier.cc
swissdossier.com.co

Treasury Management Institute

According to Companies House in the UK, there is no company in the UK with the name "Treasury Management Institute". The contact details indicate that this is perhaps the workplace of John or Jane Doe:

Email : 
 jdoe@treasurymanagementinstitute.com
 jdoe@treasurymanagementinstitute.cc
Addresses:
01, Temple Quay, Temple Back East, Bristol, BS1 6DZ, UK
SWConsulting Group, Sec 42 Gurgaon, India(Institute operates under the licence of SWConsulting Group)
There are no independent references to this organisation existing in Bristol.


Domains used:

treasurymanagementinstitute.com
treasurymanagementinstitute.cc
treasurymanagementinstitute.org

Financial Models India

Sharing the same contact details as some of these other highly questionable sites, and hosted on the same infrastructure, Financial Models India would appear to fail the Duck Test.

79 Thornall Street,
6th Floor, Edison, NJ 08837,
New Jersy,
USA

19th Floor,
Prudential Towers (North Side),
Office no: 1901,
Chulia Street, Singapore

Aeschenvorstadt, 405,
Basel, Switzerland

70 Sheppard Avenue,
Suite 301, North York,
Ontario M2N 3A4,
Canada

DLF Square M Block,
Jacaranda Marg DLF City, Phase II,
Gurgaon 122002, INDIA  

Domains used:

financialmodelsindia.com
financialmodels.co.in
fmtsglobal.com
unitedcapital-financialmodels.com
unitedcapitalglobal.com

Virat World Wide

This appears to be the firm or individual behind these sites. The "About Us" page says:

Ravindhar.V - Managing Director

Mr. Ravindhar is an able administrator and change master. He has rich experience in thearea of Financial Information Technology(FIT). He has developed financial software products and Information Technology management solutions for financial institutions and banks in more than a fifty countries and for top global Banks and companies. His qualification is Master of Finance and Accounting with a track of computer applications in Finance and Accounting(MFA). Mr.Ravindhar comes from Business Family of Poranki Sugars and his family is a legacy of entrepreneurs based in India. Group is widely respected by the industry.
I'm guessing the the "V" stands for "Virat", making him "Ravindhar Virat". The contact details list an address in the... errr. UNITED KIGDOM.

Global Support
+919-618-921-876
customersupport@virat.consulting
120, CENTRAL STREET
CLERKENWELL
LONDON
UNITED KIGDOM
This address is actually a hotel. The +91 telephone number is a number in India, not the UK.


Domains used:

virat.consulting
virat-transitionalhunts.biz
virat-th.co.in

Other domains

The other domains (mostly now defunct or with no content) also appear to belong to the same operator:

financialmodelsglobal.net
fortunicia-munich.org

europiafintech.com
europiafintech.net

fisher-n-moreglobal.com
fishernmore-global.org
fmg-singapore.org

intrinsic-pulse.com
intrinsic-pulse.asia


baselknowledge.net
clarklc.com
luthanskane.in
panarab-consulting.in
porankisugars.org
profectuspartners-singapore.com
proximitycorp.org
rfb-research.net
sino-overseasholdings.org
stermarc-worldwide.com
vertasbar.net

If you have any experiences with any of these "companies", feel free to leave a comment.






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