The Design Studio, LLC (The Desugn Studio, LLC) Fraud
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The Design Studio, LLC (The Desugn Studio, LLC) screenshot 18-Aug-2009
The Design Studio, LLC (The Desugn Studio, LLC) screenshot 18-Aug-2009
This fraud should not be confused with any other company of the same or similar name - the above website screenshot and the following fraud evidence refer to this company alone and no other. The above website has been stolen from a genuine company and the criminals have also assumed the name of another genuine firm.
The Design Studio, LLC (The Desugn Studio, LLC) 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 thedesignstudiollc.us was only registered with the unresponsive registrars MELBOURNE IT, LTD. (Yahoo as reseller) on 10-Aug-2009 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 and Euro-Design Corp among others - this is clearly a serial fraudster which is clear evidence of fraud in itself. This time around they can't even spell their name properly - The Desugn Studio, LLC indeed! As per usual, they have stolen the name of a genuine US (Florida) company.
Evidence of Criminal Fraud:

i) This 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 thedesignstudiollc.us was only registered with MELBOURNE IT, LTD. (Yahoo as reseller) on 10-Aug-2009 for the usual 'criminal's domain' minimum period of only one year is clear evidence of fraudulent misrepresentation. Later domains listed below.

ii) This fraud is simply a follow-on fraud to all their other aliases, including 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 and Euro-Design Corp - 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), "The Design Studio, LLC (The Desugn Studio, LLC)" have no genuine Google internet presence at all, (mind, there are numerous other companies of the same name around - it is a very generic name). There is certainly nothing for their mis-spelt name The Desugn Studio, LLC - clear evidence of fraud. Don't be fooled by the fact that they have stolen the name of this genuine Florida company who they are clearly nothing to do with - they do it all the time - see the previous aliases.

iv) The payload of the fake website is the following clear money mule criminal solicitation under the Careers tab:
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) This 'Team' doesn't change between aliases, (except for the name of the so-called director, this time the identical face is Zverev Pavel Urevich, the same as their identical Design 2 Studio LLC alias for a change - clear evidence of fraud):

The Design Studio, LLC (The Desugn Studio, LLC) team

viii) They have no location or contact details on their website contact page at all - simply a webform. Not the sign of a genuine company, I would suggest.
ix) The Spam - see their identical N Design Studio, Inc alias for a typical spam and follow-up correspondence from these serial fraudsters.
The above evidence clearly demonstrates beyond any doubt that the The Design Studio, LLC (The Desugn Studio, LLC) 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

thedesignstudiollc.us
thedesignstudiollc.net
Registrar

MELBOURNE IT, LTD. (Yahoo as reseller) - 10-Aug-2009
 MELBOURNE IT, LTD. (Yahoo as reseller) - 18-Sep-2009
 Host

AltaVista Company (Yahoo) on IP address 216.39.57.104
Yahoo on IP address 98.136.92.79
Key:

Active
Suspended/Disabled
Parked
Whois Data
Domain Name:                                 THEDESIGNSTUDIOLLC.US
Domain ID:                                   D21640507-US
Sponsoring Registrar:                        MELBOURNE IT LTD
Registrar URL (registration services):       whois.inww.com
Domain Status:                               clientTransferProhibited
Registrant ID:                               *************
Registrant Name:                             *************
Registrant Organization:                     *************
Registrant Address1:                         *************
Registrant City:                             *************
Registrant State/Province:                   *************
Registrant Postal Code:                      *************
Registrant Country:                          United States
Registrant Country Code:                     US
Registrant Phone Number:                    *************
Registrant Email:                            *************
Registrant Application Purpose:              P2
Registrant Nexus Category:                   C11
Administrative Contact ID:                   *************
Administrative Contact Name:                 *************
Administrative Contact Organization:         *************
Administrative Contact Address1:             *************
Administrative Contact City:                 *************
Administrative Contact State/Province:       *************
Administrative Contact Postal Code:         
Administrative Contact Country:              United States
Administrative Contact Country Code:         US
Administrative Contact Phone Number:         *************
Administrative Contact Email:                domain.tech@yahoo-inc.com
Billing Contact ID:                          E124991383973881
Billing Contact Name:                        YahooDomains BillingContact
Billing Contact Organization:                Yahoo! Inc
Billing Contact Address1:                    701 First Ave.
Billing Contact City:                        Sunnyvale
Billing Contact State/Province:              CA
Billing Contact Postal Code:                 94089
Billing Contact Country:                     United States
Billing Contact Country Code:                US
Billing Contact Phone Number:                +1.6198813096
Billing Contact Email:                       domain.billing@yahoo-inc.com
Technical Contact ID:                        E124991383973883
Technical Contact Name:                      - Yahoo! Security Lock
Technical Contact Organization:              Yahoo! Inc
Technical Contact Address1:                  701 First Ave.
Technical Contact City:                      Sunnyvale
Technical Contact State/Province:            CA
Technical Contact Postal Code:               94089
Technical Contact Country:                   United States
Technical Contact Country Code:              US
Technical Contact Phone Number:              +1.6198813096
Technical Contact Email:                     domain.tech@yahoo-inc.com
Name Server:                                 YNS1.YAHOO.COM
Name Server:                                 YNS2.YAHOO.COM
Created by Registrar:                        MELBOURNE IT LTD
Last Updated by Registrar:                   MELBOURNE IT LTD
Domain Registration Date:                    Mon Aug 10 14:42:48 GMT 2009
Domain Expiration Date:                      Mon Aug 09 23:59:59 GMT 2010
Domain Last Updated Date:                    Sat Aug 22 18:27:13 GMT 2009
Domain Name: THEDESIGNSTUDIOLLC.NET
   Registrar: MELBOURNE IT, LTD. D/B/A INTERNET NAMES WORLDWIDE
   Whois Server: whois.melbourneit.com
   Referral URL: http://www.melbourneit.com
   Name Server: YNS1.YAHOO.COM
   Name Server: YNS2.YAHOO.COM
   Status: clientTransferProhibited
   Updated Date: 18-sep-2009
   Creation Date: 18-sep-2009
   Expiration Date: 18-sep-2010

Domain Name.......... thedesignstudiollc.net
  Creation Date........ 2009-09-18
  Registration Date.... 2009-09-18
  Expiry Date.......... 2010-09-18
  Organisation Name....*************
  Organisation Address. *************
  Organisation Address.
  Organisation Address. *************
  Organisation Address. *************
  Organisation Address. *************
  Organisation Address. UNITED STATES

Admin Name........... *************
  Admin Address........ *************
  Admin Address........
  Admin Address........ *************
  Admin Address........ *************
  Admin Address........ *************
  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

The domain whois data has been redacted as these criminals register their domains using stolen credit cards and with the details of innocent parties.
Network Data (Valid for domain designstudiollc.us)

DNS Lookup: thedesignstudiollc.us A record
Searching for thedesignstudiollc.us A record at i.root-servers.net [192.36.148.17]: Got referral to K.GTLD.BIZ. (zone: us.)
Searching for thedesignstudiollc.us A record at K.GTLD.BIZ. [156.154.72.65]: Got referral to YNS1.YAHOO.COM. (zone: thedesignstudiollc.us.)
Searching for thedesignstudiollc.us A record at YNS1.YAHOO.COM. [98.136.43.32]: Reports thedesignstudiollc.us.
Response:
Domain Type Class TTL Answer
thedesignstudiollc.us. A IN 1200 216.39.57.104
thedesignstudiollc.us. NS IN 86400 yns2.yahoo.com.
thedesignstudiollc.us. NS IN 86400 yns1.yahoo.com.
thedesignstudiollc.us. NS IN 86400 ns8.san.yahoo.com.
thedesignstudiollc.us. NS IN 86400 ns9.san.yahoo.com.

Looking up at the 2 thedesignstudiollc.us. parent servers:

Server Response
yns2.yahoo.com [66.196.84.168] 216.39.57.104
yns1.yahoo.com [98.136.43.32] 216.39.57.104

The criminal's host is listed as AltaVista Company (Yahoo)  on IP address 216.39.57.104.
***Latest News*** 18th. August 2009
Webpage created
***Latest News*** 21st. September 2009
The domain thedesignstudiollc.us has been suspended by the registrar - new domain notified by site contact - thedesignstudiollc.net registered with the usual MELBOURNE IT, LTD. (Yahoo as reseller) - 18-Sep-2009 and hosted on the following Yahoo network:

DNS Lookup: thedesignstudiollc.net A record
Searching for thedesignstudiollc.net A record at m.root-servers.net [202.12.27.33]: Got referral to B.GTLD-SERVERS.net. (zone: net.)
Searching for thedesignstudiollc.net A record at B.GTLD-SERVERS.net. [192.33.14.30]: Got referral to yns2.yahoo.com. (zone: thedesignstudiollc.net.)
Searching for thedesignstudiollc.net A record at yns2.yahoo.com. [66.196.84.168]: Reports thedesignstudiollc.net.
Response:
DomainTypeClassTTLAnswer
thedesignstudiollc.net.AIN120098.136.92.79
thedesignstudiollc.net.NSIN86400yns1.yahoo.com.
thedesignstudiollc.net.NSIN86400ns9.san.yahoo.com.
thedesignstudiollc.net.NSIN86400yns2.yahoo.com.
thedesignstudiollc.net.NSIN86400ns8.san.yahoo.com.

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

ServerResponse
yns2.yahoo.com [66.196.84.168]98.136.92.79
yns1.yahoo.com [98.136.43.32]98.136.92.79

The host of this criminal fraudster is Yahoo networks on IP address 98.136.92.79