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The IMB aware of the escalating level of this criminal activity, wanted to provide a free service to the seafarer and established the 24 hour IMB Piracy Reporting Centre (PRC) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
A newsletter about fraud and global asset recovery from the office of International Chamber of Commerce's FraudNet. To read about key asset recovery cases and global compliance with anti-fraud and money-laundering laws, please click in the link above for the Newsletter PDF.
CCS offers a flexible membership arrangement based on the selection of predetermined membership packages. A prospective member can elect to join one or more Bureaux according to their requirements.
Losses due to official misconduct account for a great many maritime trade incidents. Each incident can be complex and wide-ranging in nature. It is therefore unlikely that any one company will have the knowledge and resources to be able to investigate it thoroughly.
Counterfeiting and piracy are a drain on our businesses and on the global economy. It has resulted in the widespread loss of lawful employment and a massive reduction of tax revenues.
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ICC's International Maritime Bureau is warning banks and shipping operators of a rash of false bills of lading in the Arabian Gulf area and South East Asia.
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Expert witness testimony provided by ICC’s Financial Investigation Bureau (FIB) has helped secure the conviction of a highly sought after Australian fraudster.
Expert witness testimony provided by ICC’s Financial Investigation Bureau (FIB) has helped secure the conviction of a highly sought after Australian fraudster.
FIB expert analysis confirmed that 64-year-old James Holley used fraudulent documents in a variety of financial scams aiming to rob investors of large sums of money.
As a result of this professional analysis and the efforts of the City of London Police, Mr Holley was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison by a UK court last month.
FIB Assistant Director Jon Merrett said: “For years James Holley has been listed in the FIB database in relation to several reports against him for suspected advance fee fraud. It was a pleasure to be able to assist the City of London Police in his conviction.”
Using advance fees as his calling card, Mr Holley attempted to take nearly $300,000 from a number of investors between October 2000 and March 2003. One of his targets was an Australian property developer who was introduced to Mr Holley by a broker based on Australia’s Gold Coast. Mr Holley agreed to broker a $50 million loan for the developer, but requested advance fees of $140,000 to facilitate the loan. Having received these fees, Mr Holley used a number of typical advance fee fraud stall tactics to play for time while demanding more money. Ultimately, the promised loan never materialized. The property developer reported Mr Holley to the Australian authorities, but Mr Holley escaped to the UK before an investigation could be launched.
As police would later discover, Mr Holley’s scams were many and varied. In a variation of a Nigerian 419 scam, he claimed to control £80 million worth of cash and diamonds belonging to a deceased Nigerian general. In another, he claimed to have been awarded a lucrative contract to supply 2 million bullet-proof vests to the Nigerian Government. In yet another scam, Mr Holley convinced an investor to pay him £30,000 to cover the cost of the chemicals needed to clean $32 million worth of stained bank notes. The fictitious bank notes were said to have been coated with a dye and smuggled into Europe from West Africa. The reward for the investor in this scam was a share of the “clean” money.
In Mr Holley’s court case, the City of London Police testified that the common thread running through all his schemes was the use of advance fee fraud.
Mr Merrett commented: “The role of the FIB in the court proceedings was the analysis of fraudulent documents and scam techniques used in Mr Holley’s criminal enterprises. We identified numerous common red flag phrases in the documentation and explained these terms in detail. The prosecution also used the FIB publication ‘Preventing Financial Investment Fraud’ to support its case, referencing a fraud model described in that document.”
Increasingly, the FIB is being called upon to provide expertise at trials involving financial fraud. This service is not only available for public proceedings, but can also be arranged for those wishing to pursue private prosecutions.
FIB is part of ICC’s Commercial Crime Services (CCS). For further information about FIB Expert Witness Service or to request a copy of “Preventing Financial Instrument Fraud: The Money Launderer’s Tool”, please contact FIB Assistant Director Jon Merrett, Tel: +44 208 591 3000 or Email: fib@icc-ccs.org.uk
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ICC’s Financial Investigation Bureau (FIB) is closely monitoring a sophisticated global advance fee fraud scam that targets companies facing financial difficulties.
ICC’s Financial Investigation Bureau (FIB) is closely monitoring a sophisticated global advance fee fraud scam that targets companies facing financial difficulties.
To date, at least five companies are known to have lost significant sums of money to this operation, and it is estimated that at least another three victims will face a similar fate.
FIB Assistant Director Jon Merrett provided details of the fraud: “We believe two teams of fraudsters are conducting the same or a very similar operation in the US, Europe and Australia. The fraud perpetrators appear to be pursuing companies in poor financial health, using a combination of media reports and intelligence gathered from third parties such as lawyers and accountants.”
Carefully selected victims are contacted and offered a way out of their difficulties, but in an interesting twist, they are not actively pursued. The assumption being that once a convenient exit strategy has been offered, only the most desperate will expend the time and effort needed to conclude the deal.
The offer itself is a form of advance fee fraud, deceptively termed a ‘self liquidating loan’. When it is clear that the victim has exhausted all avenues for resolving their financial problems, they are offered this ‘loan’. The financing is represented as offering deferred payment terms of up to 10 years, subject to an advance fee payment, representing 4% of the overall value of the loan. The fraud operators present the 4% advance fee as payment for an insurance certificate covering the loan.
In order to qualify for the loan, victims are required to register a new company in the Middle East. Once the company is registered and the advance fee handed over, victims receive a counterfeit cheque for the full amount borrowed. Upon discovery that the cheque and entire loan arrangement are false, victims find themselves unable to contact the ‘loan providers’. In some cases, the companies targeted had been seeking several million dollars in loans.
Mr Merrett added: “This scam has been assembled over a number of months, with the fraudsters carefully researching their intended victims. The scam operators appear to know, almost exactly, the amount of money to offer in order to relieve the financial difficulty of victims. Those stung by this operation have found themselves losing hundreds of thousands of euros and holding worthless insurance certificates.”
He concluded: “The FIB recommends that any loan offer appearing to have similarities to the fraud depicted above, should be treated with suspicion and avoided.”
FIB is part of the ICC's Commercial Crime Services (CCS). Full details of FIB membership benefits are available by calling +44(0) 20 8591 3000 or by email at fib@icc-ccs.org.uk
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The Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command has issued the following press release
The Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command has issued the following press release:
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MANAMA, Bahrain - The Commander, U.S. Naval Central Command has directed the establishment of a Maritime Security Patrol Area (MSPA) in the Gulf of Aden. A force of Coalition Navy warships will patrol the area, and aircraft will fly in the airspace above.
Commodore Bob Davidson (Canadian Navy), commander Combined Task Force 150, will command naval forces in the patrol area.
The MSPA is being established in support of the International Maritime Organization's (IMO) ongoing efforts. Coalition actions will give the IMO time to work international preventative efforts that will ultimately lead to a long-term solution.
Coalition ships are in the area as part of our continual presence in this region. While they have conducted routine operations in the area in the past, the establishment of the MSPA will focus the efforts to counter destabilizing activities in the region and improve security while long-term initiatives mature.
Coordinates of suggested corridor through the Gulf of Aden:
Waypoint: 12 15N 045E
Waypoint: 12 35N 045E
Waypoint: 13 35N 049E
Waypoint: 13 40N 049E
Waypoint: 14 10N 050E
Waypoint: 14 15N 050E
Waypoint: 14 35N 053E
Waypoint: 14 45N 053E
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The IMB supports this measure and strongly recommends all vessels to navigate through this corridor in the Gulf of Aden.
For further information please contact Capt Tom Hastings, U.S. Coast Guard
Maritime Liaison Office, Kingdom of Bahrain, Work: +973-1785-3927 Cell: +973-3944-2117 or the IMB Piracy Reporting Centre which can be contacted 24 hours a day, seven days a week on +603 2031 0014, or emailed on imbkl@icc-ccs.org
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