Advert was placed on Gumtree. They then wrote to ask for my phone number so that they can call to discuss distributorship for Smoke/Drug alarm detector system.
The scammer then called, identified himself as Neil Papworth (tel: 0424911326 - this is the same telephone number used in the other scam) and mentioned that it cost between 20k and 60k to be a distributor. Note that Neil's identity was stolen by the scammer. Money is totally safe, he says, as he has a lawyer (Paul Gibbons of Gibbons and Partners) who will keep all money in a trust account, such that I can get it all back if I am not satisfied in the first year of operations.
They set up two websites (intoworldtech.com & gibbonsandpartners.com) supposedly trading under the two legitimate ABN numbers: 33 601 997 611 and 77 074 514 873. Both these ABN checked out to be legitimate and to the right company names as provided.
In Australia, we cannot check the bank account name prior to depositing money into the account (privacy act). I thought I was depositing my money into "Gibbons Corp Trust" as per the invoice. When I enquired (very much later), I was told that this is not the account name.....too late for me to find this out.... but the bank was not allowed to tell me the name of the account.
Something was smelling fishy when their purported address did not exist. They also refused to have a facetime chat. They also gave me an email supposedly from NWS Trains ordering units from them. I called the person in NWS Trains and he was shocked as all he ever did was to enquire about the product from a guy named Sam. I now know who scammed me....SAM!
Two others are involved in the scam with SAM.......Paul Gibbons (tel: 02 8005 3875) and Robert Lade (0403281310). One of these guys must be Adrian.
When I called the original company in the UK, they mentioned that a court injunction has been placed on Sam and Adrian. Looks like it is not working, as these Scammers are continuing their "trade".
They have now removed their websites.
Paul
Stirling,#2Author of original report
Sun, March 11, 2018
To avoid confusion on the phone number. It is 0434911326. This is the phone number that has been used to scam several people throughout Australia. Be aware.