Minara Company Fraud
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Minara Company scam screenshot (01-Jun-2009)
Minara Company scam screenshot (01-Jun-2009)

Minara Company fraud is is just the latest of the numerous Russian scam websites that has been set up to form a front for a money laundering fraud job spam campaign. Its function is to con you into believing that they are a legitimate company when the evidence clearly demonstrates that they are crooks. Their website appears to be based on content stolen from the genuine Fortis Escrow, (part of Fortis Bank), and modified just enough to prevent Google from picking up on text searches. Their domains minaraincorp.com and minaraescrow.com were only registered very recently for the usual criminals domain one year minimum period. Their management 'team' are in fact past or present Fortis members of staff. Minara Company is not a registered company at their supposed US location. Would a supposed US Company have a Russian domain registrar and Russian host as this fake company does? I think not. This fraud is hosted on the same NETCLUB-NET (Moscow NetClub) IP (212.158.167.16) as the IDS Solutions Inc. fraud and an attack site - top100videoz.com.
This fraudster should not be confused with any legitimate company of the same or similar name - the above website graphics and the included money laundering job clearly identify the fake website and these fraudsters.

Minara Company : Evidence of Criminal Fraud

i) Minara Company make this claim on their website 'team' page: "Howard Anderson has been taking responsibility of MD in "Minara" company for 8 years.", but the criminal's domain minaraincorp.com was only registered with ANO REGIONAL NETWORK INFORMATION CENTER DBA RU - 03-Apr-2009 and their alternate domain minaraescrow.com was only registered with Enom Inc. (Filanco.ru) on 25-May-2009. A clear indication of fraud

ii) Although they claim to be based in North Wales, Pennsylvania, a webcheck shows that Minara Company are not registered in the Pennsylvania state business register, clear evidence of a fake company. Check for yourself.

iii) Their clearly fake 'Management Team' all Google as employees or ex-employees of Fortis, where their site content is stolen from. For instance, the supposed 'Howard Anderson' is in fact the Managing Director of Fortis Escrow, Lout Lapidaire and their supposed Eke Verbeke is also Eke Verbeke at Fortis.

iv) A Google search shows absolutely no internet presence at all for Minara Company apart from their own fake website, of course, and signs of heavy job website spamming.

v) Location Details (copied from their website)

Financial center:
106 Usher Lane, North Wales, PA, 19454
Contact phone number: (215) 764-6077
fax: (408) 786-3609

• - A Google search for the address "106 Usher Lane, North Wales, PA" returns no third party evidence of these criminals at that address, just their own fake website.
• - A Google search for the telephone number (215) 764-6077 returns no third party evidence of it being their number, just their own fake website.
• - The Fax. number (408) 786-3609 locates to San Jose, CA they must have a big office - clear evidence of fraud.
• - A Google search for the Fax. number (408) 786-3609 returns no third party evidence of it being their number, just their own fake website.
• - They are not a registered company at that address or even in Pennsylvania as evidenced above.
It is a clearly fake set of contact details.

vi) The Website 'Regional Consultant' vacancy:

        The specified information breaks down on general responsibilities and work policies pertinent to the 'Regional Consultant' vacancy:

        Requirements:

        * An equipped home office.
        * Astute and sedate behavior shown in the work environment.
        * Mature enough (21 years old).
        * Specialization or training experience doesn't count as a qualifier.

        Responsibilities:

        * Handling and examination in the procedures of client's enquiry.
        * Exploration of the escrow field. Encompasses handling of financial obligations that derived from vendor's requests, cross border trading actions or international projects in overall.
        * Acquaintance with associates. An opportunity to get familiar with the market, as well as accustom yourself to general regulations, policies and work flow of the organizational structures.

        Benefits:

        * Annual salary of $75,000.00 plus instant payout of the collected finder's fee (commission of 8%).
        * Work schedule management, IT communication aspects and online tutelage courses are guaranteed to serve as practical guides to your secured position.
        * *No start-up fees nor preliminary expenses. You're free to embark on the opportunity right away!

        Should you feel inclined to try out this offering, our representatives are willing to handle your enquiry with due diligence and understanding. Don't hesitate to start your career right away!
Pretty much the usual nonsensical 'Runglish' gobbledegook, but the pertinent sentence is "Annual salary of $75,000.00 plus instant payout of the collected finder's fee (commission of 8%)." . Don't be fooled, there is no 'annual salary of $75,000.00' that's just the bait to sucker you in - you won't last more than a week or two as the 'online tutelage courses' consists of accepting stolen funds into your personal bank account and transferring a balance back to these crooks. It will lose you a lot of money, get your account closed and your assets frozen and leave you facing a fraud enquiry - don't be tempted.
vii) The Spam:
From: hrminarachristopher@gmail.com
Subject: Application Process @ Minara Escrow Company
Date: Fri, 29 May 2009 13:27:25 -0700

Dear jobseeker,

You have previously conveyed your information/CV and applied for a job position. Per your
request, I'm going to briefly restate the main points that the following position does entail
at Minara Escrow company (part of "Minara" Bank."Minara" company specializes in escrow
arrangements that ultimately secure any financial obligation incurred whether from acquisition
actions, cross border trading transactions or international construction projects. For more
information, please visit our web-site http://www.minaraescrow.com).

Today we would like to offer you a position of our Regional Escrow Assistant. We will be happy
to offer you a position of a full-time Regional Escrow Manager at one of our newly opened US
offices, once you perform well at approbation period.

REQUIREMENTS:
- A home office equipped with proper peripherals.
- Characteristics that indicate astute, self-cultivating and sedate behavior in a work
  environment
- Having reached maturity age (21 years).

MAJOR RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Careful handling and dedicated approach in the examination and execution phases of client's
enquiry.
- As a Regional Escrow Assistant in your area, deal with the payments form our American
customers: these can be companies or private individuals. You will be a middleman between our
customers based in the US and Europe/Asia.

BENEFITS:
- Annual SALARY of $75,000 plus INSTANT PAYOUT OF THE COLLECTED FINDER'S 8% FEE from every
operation.
- No start-up FEES required
- Training information and instructions provided.

To start with employment process at Minara Escrow company immediately, send us a signed
pre-contract agreement (ATTACHED TO THIS EMAIL) by email or fax.

Additionally, if any questions incur, feel free to consult with me personally. I'll be glad to manage your application and guide you through the formalities.

Sincerely,
Mr. Christopher Smith Jr.
===============================
Minara Escrow Company
HR manager
106 Usher Lane, North Wales, PA, 19454
fax: (408) 786-3609
phone: (215) 586-3609
email: info@minaraescrow.com
website: www.minaraescrow.com
Notice the classic 'Runglish' "approbation period" which appears in a lot of these scams. However it is dressed up, it still amounts to money laundering fraud and the money that is deposited into your account will be obtained by criminal means and will be recovered by the bank. Any money you send back to them will be lost forever.
Attached to the email there was the usual unenforceable fake contract that spells out the job. I won't include it all as it's too long - here's an extract:
1.    Scope of Services

The Contractor hereby agrees to govern the following duties:

Management of corporate funds obtained through financial obligations as agreed with the involved third parties. As an annex to general policies, the State fulfills all legal prerequisites on behalf of Minara Bank, which primarily receives, processes and disburses incoming funds in accordance to the escrow servicing standards.

2.    Payment Terms

In consideration of the services described above, the State hereby agrees to pay the Contractor a sum of $5,200 per calendar month and a commission of 8%, which is deducted from every processed operation and may be claimed instantly. During the trial period or while working on a part-time position, the Contractor will receive a sum of $3,600 per calendar month and a commission of 8%.

If the indicated duties are completed in an orderly fashion, a reasonable outcome for the State, then the payout is scheduled as follows:

The Contractor is expected to receive the outlined base salary by means of the direct and/or wire transfer sent to the checking account at the end of the calendar month.

3.    Taxes

The Contractor hereby agrees that the responsibility for tax payments in regards to the corporate funds received under this Contract and/or legislative appropriation, shall be the State's obligation.
The above evidence clearly demonstrates beyond any doubt that the Minara Company website has been set up by money laundering criminal fraudsters purely for the purpose of criminal activity. 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 criminal fraud - 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.
Minara Company Fraudsters - current hosting details

Domains, Registrars and Hosts 
Domain

minaraincorp.com
minaraescrow.com

 Registrar

ANO REGIONAL NETWORK INFORMATION CENTER DBA RU - 03-Apr-2009
Enom Inc. (Filanco.ru) - 25-May-2009

 Host Network

NETCLUB-NET (Moscow NetClub)
CITYTELECOM-NET (Citytelecom.ru)
 Host IP

212.158.167.16
89.188.96.92

Active
Suspended or Inactive

Please notify me of any other current domains used by this criminal.
DNS Data (minaraincorp.com)
How I am searching:

Searching for minaraincorp.com A record at g.root-servers.net [192.112.36.4]: Got referral to H.GTLD-SERVERS.NET. (zone: com.)
Searching for minaraincorp.com A record at H.GTLD-SERVERS.NET. [192.54.112.30]: Got referral to ns2.bernet.ru. (zone: minaraincorp.com.)
Searching for minaraincorp.com A record at ns2.bernet.ru. [212.158.167.16]: Reports minaraincorp.com. Response:
Domain Type Class TTL Answer
minaraincorp.com. A IN 14400 212.158.167.16
minaraincorp.com. NS IN 14400 ns2.bernet.ru.
minaraincorp.com. NS IN 14400 ns1.bernet.ru.
ns1.bernet.ru. A IN 14400 212.158.160.50
ns2.bernet.ru. A IN 14400 212.158.167.16

Looking up at the 2 minaraincorp.com. parent servers:

Server Response
ns2.bernet.ru [212.158.167.16] 212.158.167.16
ns1.bernet.ru [212.158.160.50] 212.158.167.16

The site host IP 94.103.80.160 is listed as belonging to NETCLUB-NET (Moscow NetClub) on IP address 212.158.167.16
DNS Data (minaraescrow.com)
How I am searching:

Searching for minaraescrow.com A record at h.root-servers.net [128.63.2.53]: Got referral to j.gtld-servers.net. (zone: com.)
Searching for minaraescrow.com A record at j.gtld-servers.net. [192.48.79.30]: Got referral to ns10.hoster.ru. (zone: minaraescrow.com.)
Searching for minaraescrow.com A record at ns10.hoster.ru. [195.128.50.221]: Reports minaraescrow.com. Response:
Domain Type Class TTL Answer
minaraescrow.com. A IN 2560 89.188.96.92
minaraescrow.com. NS IN 2560 ns10.hoster.ru.
minaraescrow.com. NS IN 2560 ns11.hoster.ru.
ns10.hoster.ru. A IN 2550 195.128.50.221
ns11.hoster.ru. A IN 2550 195.128.49.14

Looking up at the 2 minaraescrow.com. parent servers:

Server Response
ns11.hoster.ru [195.128.49.14] 89.188.96.92
ns10.hoster.ru [195.128.50.221] 89.188.96.92

The host of this fraudsters domain minaraescrow.com is CITYTELECOM-NET (Citytelecom.ru) on IP address 89.188.96.92
***Latest News*** - Initial entry 14th. Apr 2009