Scammers abusing stolen photos of Yehuda Zafrani

[Robbiesmum]

Yehuda Zafrani managed Hot Tourism, a consumer club. Formerly the manager of the Ofir Tours chain, acting chairman of Tel Aviv Port, Tadmor and Mikvah Israel. Poet. Lecturer at Bis for Tourism, University of Haifa.

Hi, I fear my elderly relative has become the victim of another romance scam. In brief, she "met" an American named Scott Richard via an online word game and he got to chatting with her on WhatsApp last year. I think she blocked him but then he phoned her May this year and they started chatting again. At some point he got her on to Telegram. Long story short, he is supposedly working in Rome, something went wrong with a contract he was working on and his US bank account has been locked. He is being taken to court over this contract and needs money and my elderly relative is the only person he trusts to help him. He managed to convince her to open an account in an online bank called Fame Trust Bank which he said was in Australia. He sent her a link https:/ /bclofameco.com. He told her he was going to put 300,000 us dollars into her account but in order to access the money she had to pay a COT fee and then a TAX fee and another COT fee etc etc. She sent several thousand pounds in the form of apple gift cards and physical cash to a UK address and still no sign of the money. Obviously. The bank are demanding an extra £200 a week for every week that she is late with the fee and she has now run out of money. I have told her this is a scam and it's a fake bank but she doesn't believe me. This man has told her that they are going to be together and she is clinging on to that. From what I can see about the domain, it was only set up on 30/5/24 and looks definitely dodgy. I can find no record of Fame Trust Bank on FCA or on Google, apart from their about pages. From what I have read this seems like a further advance scam. Has anyone else come across this bank or this man? Thanks.

[Big Al]

This has all the signs of a common Romance scam.
The "Bank" is a fake one that the scammer controls.
He likely sent her there and had her make one transfer to a fake account on his behalf.
Then the account locking up was his doing. (Had to create a crisis)

Can you provide more information about the Scammer?
E-mails, E-mail addresses, Link to the fake bank, Phone numbers, Photos and fake documents, the address she sent the cash to?

[Robbiesmum]

I have asked for phone numbers, email address and photo but my relative is reluctant. Still trying to convince her. All I have is a screenshot of the conversation where he sent her the link. I have redacted her name. Will add more info when/if I get it.

[Big Al]

You're on an uphill battle.
It will be hard to break her away from the scammer after all this time.
Whatever you do, do not give her any money and do not let anyone around her give her any money.
It will all go to the scammer.

[firefly]

That bank claims to be Fame Trust Bank on their main page and Givens Hall Bank on their "about us" page.

The routing number shown on the fake bank website is stolen from a real US credit union not associated with any of the names given on the website.

Looking to their location on the fake website:

The Harbour Center, 42 North Church Street, George Town, Cayman Island

Cayman Island should be Cayman Islands.

The bogus bank claims to be active for over 80 years; still no bank named Fame Trust Bank is legally registered anywhere in The Cayman Islands.

Last, but not least, the domain name was created in May 2024.

[Robbiesmum]

Thank you. I actually found the real Givens Trust bank details and the address is different and they had a proper Caymen Islands phone number. The phone number on the fake Givens Trust Bank is I believe a UK mobile number?

I have found some more information out. My relative initially set up an account with Excellent Trust Bank. Can't find anything out about them or even a website. That was before supposedly opening the account with Fame Trust Bank.

I have some personal information on the scammer, name, dob, phone number (which I think I have traced to Missouri, USA) and a photo. Could I email this info to you? My relative still thinks he is for real so I don't want to publicly post about him until I know more. Who should I contact about these fake banks? Presumably the US authorities? Thanks.

[Big Al]

I sent an E-mail to the address your registered to the site with.
Feel free to send any additional information you feel is relevant to me there.

[Big Al]

More information from Robbiesmum:

The Scammer used the name Scott Richards. I couldn't find anyone of that name that matched the photo she sent me and I have since discovered that he has deleted his instagram profile that he directed her to.

Since I posted I have discovered that he has stolen the photos of Yehuda Zafrani. He has sent several to her and via FacecheckID and scamhatersunited.com who pointed out to me who the real photos are of, I have been able to convince her that he is not real. She said she had a video call with him in the early days but it was bad quality. I don't know if they can fake videos? Zafrani has quite a lot of public videos due to his business interests.

He told her he was born on 28/8/1953 and comes from Alabama. All lies I imagine. He calls her via WhatsApp, the phone number is 1(417)596-2520. I looked this up as USA, Missouri? Presumably though as WhatsApp is an Internet service, the number doesn't mean anything?

She sent cash to a UK address in Dudley but she has no record of the address now. The rest of the money was sent as apple gift card numbers using Telegram!!! His suggestion.

No emails between them apparently. She did send me one from the fake bank which I can forward if that would be useful?

I have located the contact details for the real Givens Hall Bank with what looks like a real Cayman Islands phone number. The phone number on the fake Givens Hall Bank looks to be a UK mobile number.

I passed more information than this to Action Fraud on the previous romance scam and nothing has come of it, so I am not even sure it's worth reporting this one.

Photos to follow.

Best wishes

Robbiesmum

Gallery: https://scamsurvivors.com/piwigo/index. ... egory/4338

Phone: +14175962520 - WEST PLAINS MO - CenturyLink Landline

[Big Al]

Thank you.

I have attached a couple of screenshots from WhatsApp.

The first is instructions for a completely different bank - Excellent Trust Bank, which was supposed to be an Australian online bank. This was the first fake bank in the scam. I have a couple of emails relating to this, which I will forward.

Then she was told to switch to a different bank - Fame Trust Bank. The screenshots is of the conversation where she was given the link. I also have a couple of emails from them which I will forward.

Many thanks,

Robbiesmum

[Big Al]

From: chat from etbcuonline.com <wtzoqq0seaeuq986gkudfszhectjntq1-ff3ba944e8d14034@tidioreply.com>
Date: Thu, 27 Jun 2024
Subject: chat from etbcuonline.com replied to your message
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Hello madam?

On Thu, 27 Jun 2024 <helpdesk@etbcuonline.com> wrote:
Why the mistake