FRAUD ALERT: Work-at-home check cashing scam information

“This is a major stolen and forged check ring! Beware...they send you bad checks and ask you to wire transfer money to a foreign location. I lost $4,500. Many people have been hurt by them...” --R Hambrice, Columbus, GA

Work-at-home business "opportunities" should always be looked at skeptically, however, we've learned about one recently that is truly insidious—and criminal.

This work-at-home scam purports to be in the international wire transfer business. They convince you that they need people to help them wire money quickly throughout the world. This fraudulent company is currently operating under the name Xian Energy and using the web site www.purexian.biz. They have also operated under the names CheckBank.biz and Filenio Finance and they place thousands of ads on popular job web sites including Monster, Careerbuilder, Careers.com, and Hotjobs/Yahoo!. Many of the ads have been taken down by these job boards (for now), thanks to Dick Hambrice, an intrepid man in Columbus, GA who was scammed by these criminals and is determined to shut them down.

The way it works is that they have people deposit checks, ranging in amounts from a few thousand to as much as $100,000, into their personal or business bank accounts. The check typically arrives overnight via FedEx. Unbeknownst to the victim, the checks are fraudulent—stolen, altered and forged to appear real. The thieves tell the victim to quickly wire transfer the amount of the check to the payee, minus a 5% commission. (The payee is said to be a US Citizen abroad or a foreign national with US bank accounts). The victim wires the 95% amount expecting to see a 5% commission soon—when the check clears. The check will never clear however (as its fraudulent) and the victim is left holding the bag since they wired their own funds. In addition, once the scammers have the victim’s bank account information from the wire transfer, they can also use those numbers to create a “demand draft” and withdraw funds without confirmation—draining the account.

In addition, on their website, Xian Energy goes out of its way to tell victims that they are a valid business and provide documentation to back it up—all fraudulent. This includes fake business licenses, California secretary of state documents, and statements from Dun and Bradstreet and the Better Business Bureau. This crime ring may be operating in Russia, since the wire transfer ultimately hits a bank in that country.

This crime ring could not operate without the help of some legitimate business to "enable" their scam. The conduit bank through which wire transfers are send to Russia is Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas. Xian’s web site is hosted by a company in the UAE (hostmatix.com) and their email service is from HKNet, a provider in Hong Kong. Both of these companies have refused repeated requests by Mr. Hambrice to shut down Xian’s services, even after being confronted with copious documentation of their crimes.

If you or someone you know has been hit by these thieves, you should immediately report it to the FBI, the United States Secret Service, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. See our links page for information on how to contact these agencies.