Trading Brand LLC

Victim Location 53575

Total money lost $73,500

Type of a scam Online Purchase

I was contacted via email by this company that had an employment position for a "Purchasing/Supply Chain Agent". They offered a base salary plus commissions. They supplied very convincing, but false, information about the company including a website, address in Miami, FL and business registration information. The way the scam worked was that they requested me to purchase items locally for wealthy clients with my credit card. I would then send them the purchase receipt showing the items bought and the total. They then supplied me with a CitiBank bank account and routing numbers. Using this information, I was instructed to do an "On-line Funds Payments" on the Bank of America (BOA) website and transfer the funds to cover the purchase. Once the funds had been transferred and approval by BOA, I then packaged and shipped the items to a Hong Kong location as instructed. I was then instructed to make another purchase, transfer funds, and ship the items. This happened 3 times over a 3-week period. Near the end of the third week, the Bank of America reported that the last funds transfer was being returned due to over-payment. I think this event alerted the CitiBank to look into the account being used and they discovered that it was stolen account. They then went back and denied the 2 other previous funds transfer that had been made over the 3-week period. I was then informed by BOA that I had been the victim of an elaborate fraud. The thieves try to exploit this loop-hole in the banking industry. They steal and then use then bank accounts to transfer funds until the bank notices that transactions. I was unaware that the funds could be transferred without the account owner approval and thus was relying on the banks to ensure that once the payments were made, the transfer could not be revoked. This is very important for everyone to understand. Although a funds transfer is marked as "approved", it can be revoked for up to 6 months later, depending on how often the account owner audits their accounts. This is especially true with larger companies that have many accounts that are not tracked very closely.

Victim Location 76177

Type of a scam Employment

Have received various emails and phone calls referring to this offer of employment. All obviously foreign speakers, difficulty to understand them, offering very high salary for work from home, saying they will need a background check and credit rating check.