DESIGN FACTORY INC. Fraud
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This fraud should not be confused with any other company of the same or similar name - the website screenshot and the following fraud evidence refer to this company alone and no other. The website has been stolen from a genuine Russian company.
DESIGN FACTORY INC. scam screenshot 07-Jan-2010
DESIGN FACTORY INC. scam screenshot 07-Jan-2010

DESIGN FACTORY INC. is just one of the numerous fake Russian scam sites that exist solely to ensnare the unwary, whether it is to 'phish' for bank details or mainly to recruit money mules. The complete fraud website content has quite clearly been stolen from the verified genuine Russian company Home Design and modified to suit this criminal's purposes, in particular the addition of a 'Careers' menu option that doesn't exist on the genuine website and leads to the criminal's money mule job. The fake website was only recently set up, (for instance, the initial domain designfactoryinc.net was only registered with the registrar MELBOURNE IT, LTD. (Yahoo as reseller) on 06-Jan-2010 for the usual 'criminal's domain' minimum period of only one year) and contains a clear money mule solicitation of U.S. Representative/Financial manager under the Careers tab. Notice the illiterate line in the above screenshot "a member of the Europen Chamber of Commerce" - the 'Runglish' style of poor English and grammar is a common thread of these Russian criminals. Their other identical fraud aliases are/were Vidal Architects, Inc, Design Resources, Inc, Design Build Studio, Inc, Design 2 Studio LLC., First Design Group, Design to Perform, DESIGN BUILD INNOVATIONS, L.L.C, N Design Studio, Inc, Euro-Design Corp, The Design Studio, LLC (The Desugn Studio, LLC), DESIGN 4 ADVERTISING, INC., Design Pro Screens, Inc., International Design Center, LLC, HOUSE & DESIGNS, INC., Design & Promotions Corporation, The Design Agency, LLC, Design Products Inc., DESIGN +, INC., DESIGN ACCENTS, INC., International Design Source, Inc, Design For You llc, Design Engineering, INC and the DESIGN FORCE, LLC fraud among others - this is clearly a serial fraudster which is clear evidence of fraud in itself.
Evidence of Criminal Fraud:

i) The DESIGN FACTORY INC. criminal's website has quite clearly been stolen from the genuine genuine Russian company Home Design so any claims made in it are not relevant to the criminals, although they do carry the claim "Since our company’s founding in 1998, we have assisted numerous corporate and some private individuals around the world" under this 'Careers' menu option. However, the fact that their initial domain designfactoryinc.net was only registered with MELBOURNE IT, LTD. (Yahoo as reseller) on 06-Jan-2010 for the usual 'criminal's domain' minimum period of only one year is clear evidence of fraudulent misrepresentation.

ii) This fraud is simply an identical follow-on fraud to all their other identical aliases as listed above - clear evidence of a serial fraudster.

iii) As is usual for these criminals, despite claiming to have been in business since 1998, (as evidenced below), "DESIGN FACTORY INC." have no genuine Google internet presence at all, (ignoring their own fake website, of course - you'd expect to find that). Don't be misled by listings for other companies of the same name.

iv) The payload of the fake website is the following crystal clear money mule criminal solicitation under the Careers tab:
U.S. Representative/Financial manager Job

About Company:

Our company primarily deals in design activities for corporate and residential ground plans. Our business unit is experienced in both creation and implementation of plans conceived.

-       Accommodations

-       Premises design

Since our company’s founding in 1998, we have assisted numerous corporate and some private individuals around the world.  Although we are currently headquartered in Moscow, Russia, the arms of our innovation have reached the four corners of the planet. We maintain a direct and diligent marketing process in the United States, and repeatedly offer services that are ahead of the industry “curve” in both pricing and quality.  Our advantages lay in certain benefits our Europen clientele experience that only an overseas company can provide:

   1. We are able to offer similar products for lower than standard pricing; we are able to cheaply staff our Moscow office
   2. Our Home Office is staffed with industry experts with over 8 decades of combined experience 

Why do we need U.S. Representative/Financial manager?

When we initially started operations in the United States, we experienced some issues with US trade laws that can be summarized into two different problems:

   1. All financial services operations have to take place inside the USA
   2. Customers cannot make payments to a company don’t have offices inside the US, even if the company is an industry leader around the world.  Our Home Office is located in Russia, which is why customers are not able to directly transfer money (payments for our designs) to our office in Russia. Under US law, the funds must be deposited into the account of the Financial Manager of Staffing Solutions that resides in the USA.  Then, it is the Financial Manager’s responsibility to transfer the funds to our business in Russia. The company has to be registered in the US tax administration, which we have already finished. By maintaining a Financial Manager in the US, we are able to solve both of these problems and continue to help the companies that need us in the USA. 

Main duties include receiving payments from customers:

   1. Bank checks
   2. Wire transfers
   3. Certified funds 

Compensation:

The Financial Manager will be entitled to 5% of all completed transactions. The maximum turnover handled by a single manager is limited the by company’s policy and is set at $100,000 per month. Thus the maximum monthly pay will constitute $3,000-5,000. 

Type of Employment:

Agreement 

Time Commitment:

2-4 hours per week 

Important:

We also have a business proposal for US company owners and managing directors. Private US businesses can accept funds from our customers with no limitations with a monthly turnover of up to 500,000.00 US dollars. Their profit is set at 7.5% of the turnover and may constitute $40,000.00 monthly. Please apply if you have a legal running business and are interested in this offer. 

You can combine this job with your current job, because you'll spend no more than 3 hours per week. This job can become perfect addition to your current job.
v) You do not get a much clearer definition of the illegal 'part time' money mule function of receiving stolen funds to a personal checking account and transferring a balance back to these criminals via Western Union or Moneygram which on its own defines the company without doubt as criminal and bogus and is clear evidence of criminal fraud. The potential for absolutely massive fraud is self evident from the "business proposal for US company owners".

vi) No legitimate company is going to advertise for this sort of illegal part time, 'work from home' money transfer position among the untrained, inexperienced and uncertified general population overseas. The additional 'business proposal' shows the potential sheer scale of this criminal fraud operation - don't be part of it or you will lose a lot of money and perhaps your liberty.
vii) Fake staff: This 'Team' doesn't change between aliases, (except for the name of the fake 'director'). This time the same old face is Gregory Smolin, (Other identical faces from the above list of aliases have various different names as listed in the fraud documentation - clear evidence of fraud):

Team

viii) Another identical alias, another set of fake contact Details & fake certificates for this serial criminal from their 'Business Licence' page:

DESIGN FACTORY INC. 

RUSSIAN ADDRESS
348 Suvorova st.
Moscow, 422000
Russian Federation  

United States Business Name: DESIGN FACTORY INC.
Address: 19800 SW 103RD CT 101
MIAMI FL 33157 US
Tax ID (FEIN): 030473661
Duns Number: 78-738-0857
Reference Name: FLORIDA BUSINESS REGISTRATIONS
• - A Google search for the address "348 Suvorova st. Moscow" returns no hits for these criminals, (ignoring any occurrences of their own fake website, of course).
• - A Google search for the address details "19800 SW 103RD CT 101, MIAMI" returns no hits for these criminals, (ignoring any occurrences of their own fake website, of course).
• - A Google Maps search for the address details "19800 SW 103RD CT 101 MIAMI FL 33157" returns no hits for these criminals, (ignoring any occurrences of their own fake website, of course). (From the Google street view & search results it appears to be a low-rise apartment block - it is just a mailing address at best).
• - A Search of the D&B Database for the company "DESIGN FACTORY INC" shows no D&B listing for a company of that name in Miami Florida.
• - A Google search for the DUNS number 78-738-0857 returns no hits.

ix) A search of the Florida business entity register for "DESIGN FACTORY INC" shows a company of that name at the above address was only registered on 01-Jun-2009 which clearly doesn't tie in with the rest of this criminal's claims. Either the crooks have stolen a genuine company, (as they usually do), or they've started registering their own fake companies.
The above evidence clearly demonstrates beyond any doubt that the DESIGN FACTORY INC. website has been set up very recently by money laundering criminals purely for the purpose of spamvertising an illegal money laundering 'mule' job of receiving 'customer's payments' to a personal checking account and transferring a balance back to these criminals. If you are an abuse team that has received an abuse report regarding these fraudsters, please consider immediate termination of their services in view of the absolutely undeniable evidence of serial criminal activity - please don't delay - these criminals will not respond to any communication from you, (all their whois data is false), but will simply take advantage of any attempt at communication as a delaying tactic to allow them time to carry on their criminal activity and prepare their next network.
 
Known Website Domains

designfactoryinc.net
designfactoryinc.org
Registrar

MELBOURNE IT, LTD. (Yahoo as reseller) - 06-jan-2010
MELBOURNE IT, LTD. (Yahoo as reseller) - 20-jan-2010
 Host

Yahoo on IP addresses 69.147.83.187 69.147.83.188 98.136.50.138
Yahoo on IP addresses 69.147.83.187 69.147.83.188 98.136.50.138
Key:

Active
Suspended/Disabled
Parked
Domain Whois Data(The whois details for the following criminal fraud domains are fake or stolen and have been redacted to protect an innocent person).
Domain Name.......... designfactoryinc.net
Registrar:     MELBOURNE IT, LTD. D/B/A INTERNET NAMES WORLDWIDE
Status:        clientTransferProhibited
Dates:         Created 06-jan-2010   Updated 06-jan-2010  Expires 06-jan-2011
DNS Servers:   YNS1.YAHOO.COM  YNS2.YAHOO.COM 

  Creation Date........ 2010-01-07
  Registration Date.... 2010-01-07
  Expiry Date.......... 2011-01-07
  Organisation Name.... **************
  Organisation Address. **************
  Organisation Address.
  Organisation Address. Virginia Beach
  Organisation Address. 23456
  Organisation Address. VA
  Organisation Address. UNITED STATES

Admin Name........... **************
  Admin Address........ **************
  Admin Address........
  Admin Address........ Virginia Beach
  Admin Address........ 23456
  Admin Address........ VA
  Admin Address........ UNITED STATES
  Admin Email.......... **************
  Admin Phone.......... **************
  Admin Fax............

Tech Name............ YahooDomains TechContact
  Tech Address......... 701 First Ave.
  Tech Address.........
  Tech Address......... Sunnyvale
  Tech Address......... 94089
  Tech Address......... CA
  Tech Address......... UNITED STATES
  Tech Email........... domain.tech@yahoo-inc.com
  Tech Phone........... +1.4089162124
  Tech Fax.............
  Name Server.......... yns1.yahoo.com
  Name Server.......... yns2.yahoo.com
 Domain ID:D158145419-LROR
Domain Name:DESIGNFACTORYINC.ORG
Created On:20-Jan-2010 16:57:55 UTC
Last Updated On:20-Jan-2010 16:57:57 UTC
Expiration Date:20-Jan-2011 16:57:55 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar:Melbourne IT, Ltd (R52-LROR)
Status:CLIENT TRANSFER PROHIBITED
Status:TRANSFER PROHIBITED
Status:ADDPERIOD
Registrant ID:C126399785599787
Registrant Name:**************
Registrant Organization:**************
Registrant Street1:**************
Registrant Street2:
Registrant Street3:
Registrant City:**************
Registrant State/Province:MD
Registrant Postal Code:21911
Registrant Country:US
Registrant Phone:**************
Registrant Phone Ext.:
Registrant FAX:
Registrant FAX Ext.:
Registrant Email:**************
Admin ID:C126399785599784
Admin Name:**************
Admin Organization:**************
Admin Street1:**************
Admin Street2:
Admin Street3:
Admin City:**************
Admin State/Province:MD
Admin Postal Code:21911
Admin Country:US
Admin Phone:**************
Admin Phone Ext.:
Admin FAX:
Admin FAX Ext.:
Admin Email:**************
Tech ID:C126399785599786
Tech Name:YahooDomains TechContact
Tech Organization:Yahoo! Inc
Tech Street1:701 First Ave.
Tech Street2:
Tech Street3:
Tech City:Sunnyvale
Tech State/Province:CA
Tech Postal Code:94089
Tech Country:US
Tech Phone:+1.4089162124
Tech Phone Ext.:
Tech FAX:
Tech FAX Ext.:
Tech Email:domain.tech@yahoo-inc.com
Name Server:YNS1.YAHOO.COM
Name Server:YNS2.YAHOO.COM
DNS Lookup: designfactoryinc.net A record
Searching for designfactoryinc.net A record at b.root-servers.net [192.228.79.201]: Got referral to K.GTLD-SERVERS.net. (zone: net.)
Searching for designfactoryinc.net A record at K.GTLD-SERVERS.net. [192.52.178.30]: Got referral to yns1.yahoo.com. (zone: designfactoryinc.net.)
Searching for designfactoryinc.net A record at yns1.yahoo.com. [98.136.43.32]: Reports designfactoryinc.net.
Response:
Domain Type Class TTL Answer
designfactoryinc.net. A IN 1200 69.147.83.187
designfactoryinc.net. A IN 1200 98.136.50.138
designfactoryinc.net. A IN 1200 69.147.83.188
designfactoryinc.net. NS IN 86400 ns9.san.yahoo.com.
designfactoryinc.net. NS IN 86400 yns1.yahoo.com.
designfactoryinc.net. NS IN 86400 ns8.san.yahoo.com.
designfactoryinc.net. NS IN 86400 yns2.yahoo.com.

Looking up at the 2 designfactoryinc.net. parent servers:

Server Response
yns1.yahoo.com [98.136.43.32] 69.147.83.187 69.147.83.188 98.136.50.138
yns2.yahoo.com [66.196.84.168] 69.147.83.187 69.147.83.188 98.136.50.138

The criminal's host is listed as Yahoo Inc. on IP address 69.147.83.187, 69.147.83.188, 98.136.50.138.
***Latest News*** 7th. January 2010
Webpage created
***Latest News*** 8th. January 2010
The domain designfactoryinc.net has been terminated - please notify me of any active domains for this criminal.
***Latest News*** 9th. January 2010
The domain designfactoryinc.net which had been disabled yesterday by Yahoo has been reinstated - what on earth are they playing at?
***Latest News*** 22nd. January 2010
Information from site contact: The domain designfactoryinc.net has finally been disabled by Yahoo, (they refuse to tell me what action they have taken or even when, so it may have been active until this morning for all I know), and the criminal is now up on a new one - designfactoryinc.org, once again registered with Melbourne IT/Yahoo, (they know when they are on to a good thing...), and as usual hosted on the Yahoo network:
DNS Lookup: designfactoryinc.org A record
Searching for designfactoryinc.org A record at l.root-servers.net [199.7.83.42]: Got referral to b2.org.afilias-nst.org. (zone: org.)
Searching for designfactoryinc.org A record at b2.org.afilias-nst.org. [199.249.120.1]: Got referral to yns1.yahoo.com. (zone: designfactoryinc.org.)
Searching for designfactoryinc.org A record at yns1.yahoo.com. [98.136.43.32]: Reports designfactoryinc.org.
Response:
DomainTypeClassTTLAnswer
designfactoryinc.org.AIN120069.147.83.187
designfactoryinc.org.AIN120098.136.50.138
designfactoryinc.org.AIN120069.147.83.188
designfactoryinc.org.NSIN86400ns8.san.yahoo.com.
designfactoryinc.org.NSIN86400ns9.san.yahoo.com.
designfactoryinc.org.NSIN86400yns2.yahoo.com.
designfactoryinc.org.NSIN86400yns1.yahoo.com.

Looking up at the 2 designfactoryinc.org. parent servers:

ServerResponse
yns1.yahoo.com [98.136.43.32]69.147.83.187 69.147.83.188 98.136.50.138
yns2.yahoo.com [66.196.84.168]69.147.83.187 69.147.83.188 98.136.50.138

The criminal's host is listed as Yahoo Inc. on IP address 69.147.83.187, 69.147.83.188, 98.136.50.138.
***Latest News*** 24th. January 2010
The domain designfactoryinc.org has been disabled by Yahoo - please notify me of any new domains for these criminals.