This is a long thread, which you may wish to read to see how the mystery behind these frauds unfolded. A summary of the most up to date information is located at http://erichkofmelinfo.googlepages.com/?ref=SUMSVUDear SVU,
We would be very grateful if you could make your users aware of the following fraud. We have identified several victims already.
The fraudster has used the email addresses [b]shortterm@live.com and
incontro2005@hotmail.com.
He advertises properties on sites inclduing craiglist.com ,
http://www.inkiti.co.uk ,
http://www.evelez.net , londonpbb.com ,
http://www.livetray.com ,
http://www.inkiti.co.uk ,
http://www.holidayhomeonline.comThe properties have include apartments in London, Rome, New York, Lazio, Paris, Mallorca and other cities around the world. The problem, is that the properties do not exist.
The 2 victims from the bulletin board above paid for a flat 25, when the flat numbers only went up to 24. We know there are victims in the UK, USA, France, Germany and Canada.
From numerous victims we have indentified that the scammer asked for funds to be tranferred to transfer funds by BACS to various UK based accounts under the name "
Mr Eric H. Kofmehl" and the address "
85 Sommerville Road, Bristol BS7 9AE, England". We believe the mailing address to be false. When asked for a phone number, he has responded to multiple victims "
My phone number is ++44 7931 588 634. Sorry, if I don't pick up (work related). I prefer e-mail."
This is where it gets interesting, however. Multiple victims have received bogus booking confirmations. In the AUTHOR information it is listed as
Erich Kofmel. [note the different spelling... whoops, slipped up there Erich didnt you). We have further highly credible evidence that these people are one and the same.
A quick google of " Erich Kofmel " will reveal that Erich Kofmel, a student at the University of Sussex will take you to news articles in the national press about property scams such as this one:
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/mortgages/ ... _page_id=8Oh.... and by some coincidence, the sort codes for the bank accounts above are for bank branches.... you guessed it, in
Sussex.
EDIT - We have been contacted by victims who, because of the relatively small amount of money involved in each individual case, failed to report it to the police. We advise that you report your crime in writing - specifically ask for a CRIME REFERENCE NUMBER.