I was hired by a Norwegian Law Firm to hunt down a Brazilian criminal who conned several investors out of many Euros. The conman promised an outrageous return in a short amount of time. This was a typical situation of people thinking with their dreams and not with their heads. This was also a situation where the victims did not want to contact law enforcement because of the embarrassment factor it would cause if their clients learned of their fumble.
Through various skip tracing methods and pretext, I located an apartment in Amsterdam that Mr. Brazil rented. He exited the apartment in a hurry and left some notes behind. The notebook had detailed methods of transferring money to different countries via money transfer services. I thought it would be a cool idea to add a chapter using some of his method of operations. It shows how he transferred money using offshore bank accounts, PayPal accounts, prepaid debit cards and ecommerce websites.
BULK BANKS
CROSS BANKS
SHIFT BANKS
Bulk Banks are accounts that hold the lion’s share of his funds. He had several Bulk Banks in various countries and continents.
Note: When opening bank accounts do your homework on the solvency of the bank and country, fear Cyprus and fear Greece!
BULK BANK – Sydney, Australia
BULK BANK – Barcelona, Spain
BULK BANK – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
From what I deciphered, Bulk Banks are never in the same country or have any transactions between them. These banks held the hidden treasure so there are never any connections between them.
Cross-Banks
The second types of bank accounts are Cross Banks, which transferred funds to or from his Bulk Bank Accounts. He assigned Cross Banks into two separate categories, Deposit and Receive.
Cross-Bank Deposit
Deposits Money
Into
Bulk Bank Accounts
Mr. Brazil only made one deposit into a Cross Bank Deposit Account and then he closed the account.
Cross-Bank - Receive Accounts
Receive Money
From
Bulk Bank Accounts
Mr. Brazil never deposits funds in more than one Bulk Bank!
Notice Different Countries!
Cross Bank Deposit Account (Helsinki)
Into
Bulk Bank Account (1) (Bermuda)
Out to
Receive Cross Bank (Amsterdam)
-
Cross Bank Deposit Account (Munich)
In to
Bulk Bank Account (2) (Venice)
Out to
Receive Cross Bank (Montreal)
This by no means is fool proof or untraceable. Everything is traceable; especially if the predator has mucho money to pay geeks to search or if BIG BROTHER is on your tail. I believe Mr. Brazil’s goal was to make the trace more difficult and do it in numerous jurisdictions. Do note some countries have agreements with each other that expedite subpoenas for combating money laundering.
After Mr. Brazil opened his Cross Banks he separated them into the two categories of Deposit and Receive, he linked several prepaid debit cards to the accounts. No debit card was ever linked to more than one bank account but he did link several debit cards to one bank account.
What I mean by this is if he had an account at the Ahearn Bank in Jamaica, he would link his Brussels
Prepaid Debit Card, Reykjavik Prepaid Debit Card and Tijuana Prepaid Debit Card, Cape-Town Prepaid Debit Card to the bank account. However, he never linked any of these debit cards to other bank accounts.
Receive Cross Bank (Jamaica)
|
Prepaid Debit Card (Brussels)
Prepaid Debit Card (Reykjavik)
Prepaid Debit Card (Tijuana)
Prepaid Debit Card (Cape Town)
Do note it is not always possible to link debit cards from country A to bank accounts in country B.
Receive Cross Bank (Hong Kong)
|
Prepaid Debit Card (Belize)
Prepaid Debit Card (Milan)
Prepaid Debit Card (Rio)
Prepaid Debit Card (Salzburg)
Using this method of movement the Brazilian was able to load up prepaid debit cards in one country and then fund a bank account in a different country. This would make it more difficult to trace where the money went. One debit card could be from Iceland and another from Lithuania. Even the best skip tracer or private detective would have difficulty locating and accessing transactions. BIG BROTHER could follow the trail but the goal is to be long disappeared before the knock on the door.
The Key Word is Difficult Not Untraceable!
Let me jump back to Mr. Brazil’s apartment in Amsterdam. I discovered that when he occupied the apartment he had no internet service just like Mr. Belfast. I figured he used a prepaid wireless service or an internet café. Around the corner from the apartment, is a large internet café, The Mad Processor. It is a huge internet and gaming place. I was unable to obtain a list of IP searches.
Money Sites
Money Sites are websites you build that accept credit card payments via a merchant service accounts.
The following are a list of web hosting companies Mr. Brazil used to build websites. As you can see, he did not keep his web hosting in one country.
www.123-reg.co.uk
www.europeregistry.com
www.domainexpress.co.uk
www.uk-cheapest.co.uk
www.one.com
www.variomedia.de
www.101domain.com
I find it amazing how brilliant a criminal can be and then totally absent minded by keeping physical notes and then leaving them behind. What I would have done is build websites to keep track of all my credit cards and bank accounts. I would not publish the websites but leave them as working drafts. I would also password protect the websites in case I accidentally published them. The best way to keep anything secret is to keep in your head. To keep track of the websites I would use characters from books. For example, one of my favorite books is The Count of Monte Cristo and for my Money Websites I would use characters for domain names. I would remember these websites because of the book.
Money Sites
|
www.Villefort.cc
www.Bertuccio.cd
www.MaximilienMorrel.cf
www.BaronDanglars.ci
I would pick a letter in the title and since I am using The Count of Monte Cristo, I would use domain extensions that begin with C.
.ca - Canada
.cc - Cocos
.cd - Democratic Republic of the Congo
.cf - Central African Republic
.cg - Republic of the Congo
.ch - Switzerland
.ci - Côte d'Ivoire
Be aware that some merchant accounts are geographically restricted.
Another book I would use would be Atlas Shrugged. Using A for Atlas I would use domain extensions that start with the letter A.
.ac - Ascension Island
.ad - Andorra
.ae - United Arab Emirates
.af - Afghanistan
.ag - Antigua and Barbuda
.ai - Anguilla
Money Sites
|
www.JohnGalt.ad
www.HankReardon.al
www.DagnyTaggart.ar
As long as you remember the book or movie you based your MONEY SITES on it will be easy for you to locate and access the websites without keeping any physical notes
Money Sites should be simple sites that are password protected. Also, pay the extra fee and make the website private. However, not all websites can be private, so do your homework.
Again, money sites have a merchant service connected to the site so you can buy an alleged product. Those funds from your credit card are then deposited into a predetermined bank account
Money Site
www.BaronDanglars.ci
|
Merchant Service Account (Australia)
Merchant Service Account (Austria)
Merchant Service Account (Belgium)
Merchant Service Account (Brazil)
Money Site
www. Johngalt.ad
|
Merchant Service Account (Russia)
Merchant Service Account (Singapore)
Merchant Service Account (Spain)
Merchant Service Account (Norway)
Let us assume your Bulk Bank in Spain is facing possible discovery and you need to move your money quickly.
Bulk Bank Spain – Possible Discovery
All you do is transfer your funds to your Receive Cross Bank in Istanbul.
Bulk Bank (Spain)
|
Sends Funds To
|
Receive Cross Bank (Istanbul)
That Receive Cross Bank in Istanbul should have several prepaid debit cards linked to the account.
Receive Cross Bank (Istanbul)
|
Linked Prepaid Debit Cards
The prepaid credit cards you have will buy services from your Money Sites in Berlin, Jamaica, Columbia,
etc. This action sends your funds to three different countries.
Prepaid Debit Cards
|
Makes Purchases from Your Money Sites
|
Money Sites
www.Berlin.fa
www.Jamaica.fa
www.Columbia.fa
What you have done is use prepaid debit cards to make purchases and those funds sent to one of your bank accounts or money account in Berlin, Jamaica and Columbia.
The problem with having numerous prepaid debit cards is they can be rather bulky carrying around. Leaving them home, at work or in a safety deposit box can restrict access. I do a number of things that provide me with instant access to my prepaid cards.
You can build a website that is password protected, and take photos of the front and back of the prepaid cards. Then upload the photos to your private website. With debit cards, you need to know the three-digit security number on back including the billing zip code. I name the photo “22390210” this tells me the three-digit security code is 223 and the billing zip is 90210.
223 THREE DIGIT CODE
90210 ZIP CODE
As you can see, money has traveled through several countries utilizing several different types of transactions. In addition, the Brazilian split the funds into numerous accounts making them more difficult to trace and seize. Keep in mind what I am explaining are simplified examples and to execute it will take a significant amount of work.
Shift Banks
Another type of account Mr. Brazil utilized were Shifts Banks. Shift Bank only receives money from money transfer services. This could be Western Union like transfers or Merchant Service Accounts.
Shift Banks Transfer Funds into Bulk Banks
|
Money Transfer Services (Barbados)
|
Shift Banks (Jersey)
|
Bulk Banks (Dublin)
Again
Wire Transfer (Norway)
|
Shift Bank (Norway)
|
Money Transfer Services (Netherlands)
|
Bulk Bank (Japan)
Mr. Brazil’s notes end here and this is how you move it like a crook. I do not know if the Brazilian actually went through all of these steps but I thought I would share.
The one part Mr. Brazil did not do was create some bogus trails for me to follow. I would have taken his actions a step further and left a little money in each of the accounts and do some cross border purchasing that involve travel.
Paris train pass
Movie tickets in Berlin
Tickets to the opera in London
Cheap plane ticket
Hotel reservations in Norway
Flowers to a police station in London
Chocolate’s to a stranger in Buenos Aires
Order clothing in South Africa
Creating bogus trails with credit cards and bank accounts are just as important as creating bogus trails about you. Every piece of information left behind needs to be vetted. Better to have the vetting in Bermuda where you are not then in Trinidad where you are sipping Pina Coladas.