Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Grant Scam

I was recently contacted via Instagram private message by someone posing as an old friend. I have known the individual they were impersonating for about twenty years and I am already following that person on Instagram. Since the real person was active on Instagram earlier that day, I found it odd that he would set-up another account. A quick check of the real account showed no mention of setting-up another account and the poser had simply copied one of his posts and his profile picture.

Right away, I knew that I was dealing with an imposter. But, I wanted to colect as much information as I could about whatever scam he was running, in order to warn others. But, I also thought it might make an interesting blog post.

So, I led him on, rather than just block him outright.

Setting the Stage

The scammer's PMs started-off on a rather friendly vein, asking me how I was. But, since time is money, he got right to the point of trying to lure me into his scam. I've condensed the posts a bit, but you'll get the idea.

l'm doing great, is good to hear from you Just checking on you and wondering if you heard about the recent good news lately.?

I meant the personal grant donated to selected people by the DHHS subvention program, have you heard about it yet?

It's a new program specifically based on helping paying for Medical Bills, Buying a home, Salesman Starting their Own Business,Retired Teachers, with Seniors old and Retired people. Did they come to your home?

Actually I was granted some amount of $75,000 from DHHS agent when I applied and you don't have to pay it back,  I think as a citizen you also have the right to benefit from this program and I wonder if you've gotten yours too?

I don't know many people who use the word "subvention" in regular conversation. Add to that the needless and out-of-place capitalizations and I soon realized that this person is not a native English speaker and was trying to use fancy-sounding words in order to impress me. With the financial hardships faced by many Americans during the COVID19 pandemic, the thought of getting large amounts of financial aid from the federal government would sound like a dream come true.

The scammer must have thought that he had me on his hook, so he offered me the way to quickly get my hands on some of that sweet, sweet money.

Should i give you the AGENT text number where i applied so you can also apply there too?

(412) 587-4682

here’s the agent private text number who helped me got the grant money so text them now for me to confirm maybe I have you there right contact

So, I'm supposed to send a text to the "agent" in order to apply for a grant?

Let's see what the DHHS really says about applying for a grant:

Quick Facts about the Government Grant Process

Government grant applications and information about them are free.

The names of agencies and foundations that award grants are available for free at any public library or on the Internet.

The only official access point for all federal grant-making agencies is www.grants.gov.

There are no fees associated with applying for a government grant.

ALL government grants involve an application process to carry out projects with a public purpose and are not intended for personal use.

You will not be contacted by the government to make you pay for a grant.

You can apply for a DHHS grant by going to https://www.hhs.gov/grants/grants/get-ready-for-grants-management/index.html

I Go Deeper

So, after being given the text number of this fake agent, I also sent a text to that number, using a burner account and here are the responses I received

HELLO! My Name is Attorney THOMAS SCOTT the administrator in charge of the ongoing DHHS grant program which is an empowerment of the UNITED NATIONS to promote international monetary cooperation, facilitate international trade, foster sustainable economic growth, make resources available to members experiencing balance of payments difficulties around the world.This program is a worldwide promotional tour embarked on for the disabled, Unemployed, Student, Workers, Retired, Young & Old people. the on going grant isn’t a loan and you do not have to pay us back. Are you ready to apply..?

YOU WILL HAVE TO BE HONEST AND TRUSTWORTHY WITH ME SO THAT I CAN HELP YOU GET YOUR GRANT MONEY AND YOU’LL HAVE TO FILL OUT A REQUIREMENT FORM WITH ME NOW SO THAT WE CAN LOCATE YOUR DESTINATION AT THE POINT OF DELIVERY....ARE YOU READY TO FILL OUT THE FORM NOW SO THAT I CAN PROCEED WITH YOU IMMEDIATELY..?

REQUIREMENT DETAILS .

FullName——

Full home address—

City——

State———

Country———

Zipcode-——

Age_________

Male or Female——

Monthly income——

Cash or check________

Do you want your grant delivered by FedEx or UPS....

FILL IT OUT AND SEND BACK THE ANSWERS TO ME HERE ONE AFTER THE OTHERS

Much like scammers I have written about in the past, there was an awful lot of needless capitalization throughout their messages to me.

Back on Instagram, I was informed that there is supposed to be some sort of "tracking fee" that I would have to pay before I received my grant.

All you just have to do is to fill out a fedex form with them so they'll be able to locate your home address where your money will be deliver to you after 5hours you pay for the tracking fee

I was just told to pay $300 and I got the money delivered to my door step after 5hours my payment confirmed

I've never heard of the federal government using anything other than the United States Postal Service to deliver its letters and/or checks. So, the idea of the DHHS using FedEx to do the job was ridiculous on its face. Using the USPS almost guarantees that your mail will reach your address, while UPS and FedEx delivery drivers have a bad reputation for simply leaving your packages at your door where anyone can pick them up.  Given a choice between USPS, UPS and FedEx, I'll take the US Postal Service every time, especially after that time UPS really put a knot in my jockstrap.

But, what the hell is a "tracking fee"? Sure, USPS Priority mail does offer tracking, which is included in the price, while FedEx automatically provides you with a tracking number when you send a package. 

But, charging $300 for a tracking number? 

Seriously?

So, I texted the "agent" and asked about the "tracking fee". Here's what he said:

When looking for financial assistance, remember that there are differences between grants and loans. You are required to pay back a loan, often with interest. You are not required to pay back a GRANT,you only pay for the delivery fee.

The amount charges will be determined by the amount you qualify for but the delivery fees lowest price is 200 kindly fill out the form and send back the answers to me here one after the others so that we locate your destination at the point of delivery and to proceed on your winning

Yes you will have to fill out the form now so that we can locate your destination at the point of delivery and your age for the winning amount you will be qualify for from the DHHS 

Notice how a "grant" became a "winning"? Did you notice that? I noticed that because I'm smart, while the scammers are too stupid to stay on-script.

This momentary slip in their narrative makes me think that these people were pulling-off fake lottery scams or something like them before they branched-out to DHHS scams. 

The Instagram PMs I received told me how very easy it was to get them money, only taking five hours to get approved, which is light speed compared to how tediously slow the federal government approval system really is for the rest of us.

Yes I already got the money delivered to my door step after 5hours I got qualified so when j received the money I quickly pay off my old bills and save the rest to the bank so bank verify its real not fake it's too good to be true the blessed can't be complain and I'm really thanking God for the blessings  

I got a check delivered to my door step from there fedex delivering men

Of course, the "agent" laid a little marmalade on this turd biscuit with

Grants are awarded to individuals each and every day. Grant program are not loans. You can also decide on how much you need as long as the amount is lawful and you meet up the Foundations and Government Agencies requirements. The money is yours to keep and never needs to be repaid. Grant money is non-taxable,non-refundable and interest-free.

They Start to Get Impatient

When I didn't respond fast enough to the "agent's" request for my personal information, he tried to hurry me along

Awaiting your response to avoid unnecessary delays and complications

He even called me on my burner account, in an attempt to speak to me directly. He called twice at about 2:00am my time and three times about eight hours later, but I didn't answer.

The fake Instagram account was shutdown due to complaints from the real person whom they were impersonating. The second imposter account was also shutdown fairly quickly. I forwarded the usernames of the fake accounts to my friend as soon as I became aware of their existence. He quickly filed complaints against both accounts, which resulted in their termination, I will admit that I would have preferred to have kept them around a little longer, in order to squeeze more information out of them without hinderance. But, my friend has his reputation to protect, so I simply had to get whatever I could.

Not being willing to give up on what they may have felt was a ready victim, the Instagram contact sent me texts via 412-547-6346, using the same number I had been using to contact the fake agent. He claimed that he had found my number in his email, but I never shared my burner number with my real friend and I really haven't had it for very long because it was only set-up by me after I discarded my previous burner number.

So, the individual was either in direct contact with the "agent" or they are the same person. Both numbers share an area code.

• The "agent" 412-587-4682
• The imposter 412-547-6346

The 412 area code is in Pittsburgh, PA and the area code for Washington DC is 202, which is where the DHHS is based.

Doing a search of both numbers, I could find no definitive information of their actual owners. The number 412-547-6346 has no known past owners, so it makes me wonder if it's a burner account and 412-587-4682 has three potential owners listed on Been Verified, which makes me wonder if it's a real number now being used as part of a scam. Since I have no idea if the listed owners are running a scam, I will not be bothering them. However, I did send a report to ScammerBlaster to see if they could do anything about the numbers.

When I expressed my reluctance to the imposter, stating that I feared that it was some kind of scam, he sent me reassurances

You know i can never lie about this okay trust me for that. you know i hate scam and hoax, but this is real, i got the money for real,you know if i knew this is  a scam i wont tell you about it. i am  planning to start a business buy a house soon. so  you have nothing to worry about okay?

When I didn't respond in a way that he liked, I sense that I may have hurt his precious, little feelings 

Now you get your money Duane and you don't know me again well it's yours not mine so keep blessings

Epilogue

It's been almost twelve hours since I was last contacted by the scammers. However, I will update this post if anything else comes my way.

If this post has helped you protect yourself from being scammed, alerted you that you have been scammed or you just want to help me in my quest to buy and electric bicycle, I'd appreciate a donation to my Electric Bike Fund.

Duane Browning

Venmo: @Duane-Browning-1

CashApp: $DuaneBrowning

Saved by Rugged Thread in Bend, Oregon

In June 2017, I bought a Vandal backpack from Mission Workshop. It seemed to be everything I ever needed for my job as a courier for Honolulu law offices and title companies. It has a capacity of 65 liters, much better than the messenger bags and backpacks from Chrome Industries I had previously bought and used. It was also more comfortable and better balanced than the Ultimate OS I bought in 2005 from PAC Design, a Canadian company that has since gone out of business.

Being accustomed to the layout of Chrome Industries' Kremlin, Berlin and Warsaw bags, it took some time to learn how to switch to the Mission Industries "Vandal". But, the capacity of the available Chrome bags wasn't large enough to carry the large and heavy workloads that I encounter on a daily basis. I needed a large capacity bag that I could wear as a back pack and has sufficient water resistance to protect the legal documents that I often carry. The Vandal seemed to be the answer.

For about four months, everything seemed to be going well. The Vandal carried what I needed it to carry and it didn't strain my back, like the over-the-shoulder messenger bags had done.

Then, I began to notice the zipper giving-out on the main compartment. This was a bad sign, since the main compartment zipper protected the documents and allowed me the 65L capacity. The outer zipper, which provided the main water-resistance, could still seal the bag but would only allowed a 29L capacity, because of how the backpack was designed. The loss of the 36L space would severely affect how much cargo I could carry.

Closer examination of the zipper showed that the zipper's teeth were being bent or were falling out. Even worse, the stitching that held the zipper to the fabric of the bag was coming loose.

I couldn't allow this to continue. I had to send the bag back to Mission Workshop for repair or replacement. After sending them a repair request and pictures of the damaged zipper, they decided to send me another bag, while letting me keep the first bag as a spare.

I still have my PAC Design Ultimate OS, which I use for everything from grocery shopping to carrying my laundry. It has a large capacity to rival the Vandal, but it's not as comfortable to wear when carrying large loads. So, I placed the first Vandal into storage and hoped to find some use for it later. Given its handicap of only having a 29L capacity, it didn't seem that I would be using it for very much.

After the second bag arrived, I began using it for work. It carried the same size loads as the first bag had, though I was a bit gentler with it. But, that didn't help. In about four months - roughly the same span of time that I had used its predecessor -  it also began to have the same problems with its zipper.

This was a very confusing situation for me. Other messengers in Honolulu have owned and used Vandals for a long time. In one case, it been his bag-of-choice for years. In fairness, I don't think any of them consistently carry loads as large and heavy as I do on a daily basis. It appeared that my daily workload actually exceeded the Vandal's strength and endurance.

Contacting Mission Workshop again didn't seem to be a viable solution. If they sent me another replacement bag, then I'd have two half-usable bags in my apartment, instead of just one. If I sent the bags in for repair, they'd likely only fix one bag - they would likely have simply replaced the broken zipper with one just like it, which would likely have also broken in 3 or 4 months - and not the other, since I had only paid for one bag and the second bag would have been either sent back to me without repairs or simply discarded.

I needed another option. I didn't want a bag that would basically "expire" in a few months.

Local tailor shops couldn't replace a backpack zipper and upholstery shops wouldn't likely be able to help. So, like many people in my situation, I turned to the Internet to solve my problem.

That's how I found out about Rugged Thread, a company located in Bend, OR that repairs broken zippers in all manner of items: tents, jackets, sleeping bags, backpacks, etc. If it has a zipper that needs replacement, Rugged Thread is where you can send it.

After sending Kim pictures of the broken zippers on my Vandals, I sent both to her shop. She actually had to physically examine the bags to provide me with a specific price quote and I mailed her a check after she called me on the phone to inform me of the type of work needed on the Vandals, though I could have made payment over the phone. Shipping is extra and they only get the final shipping costs when they pack the items for return, so I had to pay for the shipping before they would be sent back to me. Rugged Thread uses US Mail Parcel Post, so took a couple of weeks to get them back.

According to Rugged Thread, the Vandals main compartment each had a #8 zipper, which she replaced with a #10. I had no idea that zippers were categorized this way, but you live and learn. The #10s are more durable and could even outlast the backpacks themselves.

With the return of both of my Vandal backpacks, I am now back in the swing of things at work. The #10 zippers seem to be far stronger than the #8s they replaced, so they should last far longer this time around. The added benefit of having two Vandals, instead of just one, I can always put one in the laundry and give it time to dry while I use the other one.

As for my faithful PAC Design, it's back to its old job of carrying my groceries.

Duane Browning

Venmo: @Duane-Browning-1

CashApp: $DuaneBrowning

My Own Experience With Domestic Violence

Years ago, I was in a relationship with a woman who I will refer to here as "Anna".

When we first met, she was working as a bartender and I had gone in to her workplace because I had walked past there numerous times, but never gone inside. It was a fairly popular place back then, but has since closed. We hit it off fairly quickly and I went in there to see her several times before I finally worked-up the courage to ask her out. She had just left a relationship, but was eager to get back into The Game.

We were about the same age, she was a little shorter than me, but still pretty tall - she's 5'10" and I'm 6'2" - and we had a lot of things in-common. We began dating regularly and the relationship turned sexual after the third date. One rule she had was that if we were sexually-involved, the relationship was an exclusive one. So, neither one of us would be having sex with anyone else, which was a rule I also followed.

We had some fun times together, great sex and spent a lot of time simply talking on the phone or in person. Things were mostly good. When I say "mostly", it's because of her best friend, Stephen.

Stephen was an out gay man who had worked with Anna and they became an inseparable team at work. They hung-out together after work, partied together and confided in each other. They were as close as siblings and Anna loved him. Anna wanted Stephen and I to also be friends.

The problem was that Stephen hated me for reasons I still don't know and he never bothered to hide his dislike of me, even recommending to Anna to end our relationship. I tried to get along with him and even tried to ignore his rudeness toward me, but to no avail. Stephen hated me and there was no changing that fact. I soon grew to dislike Stephen and actively avoided him. Despite Anna's efforts, there was no bridging this divide and she had to accept it.

I loved Anna and I would have done anything to make her happy. But, I simply couldn't be friends with Stephen.

A few months into my relationship with Anna, Stephen was diagnosed with bone cancer. It was advanced enough that the prospects of survival were pretty low. Anna was distraught and spent every available moment with him, promising him that she would be by his side through the chemotherapy and radiation treatments that she assumed he would be undergoing.

However, Stephen had other plans. Instead of going through with the chemotherapy and radiation, as well as the pain and physical disability associated with cancer, Stephen decided to commit suicide. He wrote a multi-page suicide note to Anna and another short note to his friends. He then took an overdose of drugs to end his own life.

Anna was devastated. I did my best to comfort her, having lost my own mother to cancer some years prior. But, the simple fact was that Stephen and I had not been friends before his death and could even have been described as enemies.

On the day of Stephen's funeral (he had been cremated and he left a note for Anna to scatter his ashes in the ocean) Anna was getting ready and I assumed that I would be going with her, so I also got ready to attend. I called her before I went over to her apartment to ask at what time I should come over so we could go together. She told me that she didn't think it would be appropriate for me to be at Stephen's funeral, owing to Stephen and I having hated each other and she believed that Stephen wouldn't have wanted me there. I wasn't going for Stephen's sake, I replied, I was going to offer comfort to her during the funeral.

But, no. If Stephen wouldn't want me there, then Anna also didn't want me at the funeral. She went to the funeral without me and I felt a sense of foreboding, wondering how this would affect our relationship in the future.

It wouldn't be long before I found out.

A couple of weeks later, I was at Anna's apartment after she had invited me over for dinner. Anna had taken time-off from work to grieve and was still trying to cope with the giant, empty space in her life that had been left with Stephen's death.

We were in the kitchen as Anna was cooking and I noticed that she seemed to be having a hard time concentrating. She was forgetting things, losing her concentration and seemed unable to keep her mind on what she was doing. Finally, she stopped what she was doing, turned to me and began screaming at me. She said things like that I had never tried to get-along with Stephen, hated him for no reason and that I was glad he was dead. Of course, none of this was true and I tried to say so, but she wasn't listening to me.

Finally, Anna slapped me, hard. I was actually knocked backwards by the blow. Stunned - physically and emotionally - I straightened-up and looked at Anna, hoping for some sign of regret in her eyes. But, no, she didn't look sorry. The only look I saw in her eyes was anger at me and grief for Stephen. She yelled at me some more and finally grabbed me by the shirt, yelling at me to get out of her apartment. Dragging me to the door, she hit me a few more times, seriously putting some muscle into those slaps and finally flung me outside.

I stood outside her door as she continued her tirade, being in complete shock at how the woman I loved had just beaten me. I then asked if she wanted me to call her in a few days, after she had calmed-down. Anna actually laughed and told me to never call her again, slamming the door in my face.

This relationship was over.

I then had to walk past Anna's neighbors, who had been alarmed at the noise and were standing around, looking at me. I left her building and walked home. I was crying, both from the physical and emotional pain of what had just happened to me.

I had hoped that Anna might call me, after realizing what she had done, perhaps on the same day. But, that call didn't come, not on that day or in that week. I didn't call her and avoided going near the bar where she worked.

I'll be honest, I still loved Anna, even after she had hit me. We had some really good times together and I had even been open to the idea of marriage. But, my feelings for her began to change as the days turned into weeks.

I became angry with Anna, even bordering on outright hatred. I was angry with myself, even briefly wishing that I had hit her back. But, I've never hit a woman in my life and I wasn't going to start. I eventually accepted that the relationship was over and decided to go on with my life.

About three weeks later, I got a visit from Anna's cousin, Christine. They were first cousins and had been very close back in their home state. Christine moved to Honolulu to be close to Anna and stayed here for a couple of years before moving back. Christine was an insanely-attractive woman, but I never made a play for her, as I was already dating her cousin. Besides, Christine was completely out of my league and we had little in common and she was something of a snob.

Christine tried to act as a peacemaker between Anna and myself, feeling that I had been very good for Anna and that she needed me back in her life. I was not happy with Christine's interference and expressed my outrage at being hit multiple times and physically thrown-out of Anna's apartment in front of a crowd of strangers. Christine expressed her doubts about how hard Anna had actually hit me. After all, how hard can a woman actually hit a man?

Pretty hard, Christine! Pretty fucking hard!

I asked Christine to leave and she did, with no complaint. She called me the next day and asked if I wanted to go out with her. Fearing a set-up, I asked if Anna would also be going. Christine said that it would just be the two of us and we both agreed to not discuss Anna or Stephen, whom Christine had also disliked, but for different reasons. Christine had previously been in some bad relationships while in Honolulu and she wanted to date someone "safe", so she chose me. Not seeing much of a future between us, I still agreed and we went out to dinner, where she picked-up the tab. She took me home with her and I spent the night with her. Having sex with Christine was very different than with Anna for reasons I won't divulge, but it was very nice.

We dated for a few weeks and I began to get used to the situation, feeling that I had finally gotten over Anna.

About six weeks after our breakup, Anna called me and left a message on my answering machine. I heard the message when I got home from work. I have to admit that I was both surprised and happy that she had called. But, those feelings quickly turned into anger and I actually yelled at my answering machine. 

Her message was very sad, she expressed her sorrow at losing me and wanted to get back together. I brushed-off her message and erased it, feeling pretty good at myself for being able to finally get some sort of payback. Besides, she waited six weeks before calling me. As far as I was concerned, the expiration date on my forgiveness had already expired. Besides, I had Christine who was a great date and wasn't violent.

I mentioned the message to Christine and to my total surprise told me that I should give Anna another chance. I was very surprised at this revelation, to say the least. But, Christine admitted that she really didn't see a future between us, despite the fun times we had together. The differences between us were insurmountable, in her eyes. Besides, she wasn't looking for a relationship at the time. She had grown tired of the Honolulu dating scene, but still wanted to go out on dates and have sex. Since she felt that I was a safe option, she chose me as a temporary fix to her problem. She advised me to give Anna another chance, because she herself had plans to move back to the Mainland in a few months.

I still wasn't convinced that Anna and I were meant to be together. I mulled it over for awhile, not being sure if I wanted to take a chance on someone who had already hit me multiple times in one day.

Anna is nothing, if not persistent. She called me several more times and I let all of her messages go to the answering machine. I didn't erase those massages and even replayed them all, several times. Finally, I got off work one morning and went home. Sitting on the steps outside my front door was Anna. She was thinner than I remembered, her hair wasn't as neatly combed as I had remembered and she looked very sad. Reluctantly, I walked up the steps until I stood a few feet away from her. She stood and tried to hug me, but I quickly backed away from her, the memory of that first slap again very clear in my mind. She broke down and began crying, telling me how sorry and ashamed she felt and how she had been too afraid to call me earlier than she did. She considered herself a coward for not calling me sooner.

I did not invite her into my apartment to talk privately. Instead, we sat on the steps outside and talked for a long time. We both agreed that we would have to start over from the beginning. No sex, no going into each other's homes, just going out and if things didn't start to improve, we would end it completely. Before she departed, I finally hugged her. I remember feeling her body against mine with the smell of her perfume filling my nostrils and realizing how much I had missed her. I wanted to try again, I really did.

So began the months-long process of repairing our relationship. It was a slow, painful process which was briefly complicated when Christine finally admitted to Anna about having briefly dating me during the breakup. Anna actually found it to be funny, realizing how alluring Christine was to men. But, Christine was already back on the Mainland by then, so she wouldn't be around to tempt me in the near future.

Anna and I began having sex again and the relationship improved to the point where we began living together, I again began to see marriage in our future. Still, every time we had an argument, I would worry about her hitting me again and made a point to not be standing too close to her when we argued. Anna was aware of this and swore that she would never hit me again. She never did hit me, but I was always afraid that she would.

This happened every time we argued. Every, single time. The cloud of that first slap never quite went away.

Due to interference from Anna's family, who thought of me as some low-born, mixed-race gold digger out to marry into money, our relationship began to crumble. I will not describe here the steps they took, especially Anna's mother, to separate us, but they took a heavy toll on our relationship and arguments became more frequent. 

I didn't want Anna to hit me again, neither did I want to allow myself to hit her. That could not be allowed to happen and I had to finally accept that our relationship was dying. 

Rather than continue fighting the formidable conspiracy launched by her mother, Anna and I agreed to end our relationship while we still were on good terms. I moved-out, but we dated a few more times before she decided that being in the same city as me would only make my life more difficult as her family wanted me out of her life completely and Anna moved back to the Mainland. We stayed in-touch for years after she moved back.

The end.

PS, the next woman who hits me is going to jail with an assault charge and I will prosecute. 😁

Duane Browning

Venmo: @Duane-Browning-1

CashApp: $DuaneBrowning

Illuminatiam: The Raging Dumpster Fire

You may recall my earlier post about Illuminatiam, so I won't revisit it.

You may wonder if anything has changed since then and there have been some interesting things happening in IlluminatiLand.

They've Gone Silent

Illuminatiam primarily used their Twitter account to post their missives, typically consisting of encouraging their followers to purchase items from them. These items included - but, were not limited to - things like: medallions and spiffy boxes to keep them in, posters, clothes and books.

However, the Twitter account has been silent since September 2018 with only a couple of retweets from another account after that. Furthermore, their "public relations department", Lir.im doesn't seem to have done anything and emails that I sent have bounced-back as undeliverable.

Using a throwaway account, I rejoined the Illuminatiam website and even got into their Members' Portal, my original account under which I had previously registered having already been unsubscribed and apparently blocked, which didn't surprise me because I had roasted them alive in my previous blog about them. Under the new account, I received several emails encouraging me to buy their stuff. I sent them several emails inquiring about whether or not Illuminatiam was still around and never heard back. After I hadn't made any purchases, I stopped receiving their emails.

It's a good thing that I never tried to buy anything from the Department of Distribution, because Illuminatiam's listing on the Better Business Bureau gives them and "F" rating and many people have posted complaints about having ordered products and never receiving them. Given that most people probably don't even know about Illuminatiam having a BBB listing, it is entirely possible that other people have paid money for Illuminatiam stuff and never received it.

The Department of Distribution's website registration was actually due to expire earlier this year, but was renewed, just in time. I suspect that the two main accounts will likewise be renewed, though I don't know if they will begin posting on the social media accounts again. 

It would be hilarious if the Illuminati had forgotten their passwords.

Meanwhile, On Facebook

With the absolute silence of their Facebook account, numerous other groups have been actively posing as either the Illuminati or as Illuminatiam, attracting numerous follower, mostly from Africa. They frequently use images from Illuminatiam's website to foster the notion that they are, in fact, the very same people. For the majority of individual and group scammers, the preferred method of communication is either by email or WhatsApp.

However, the main difference is how they recruit new members: while Illuminatiam publicly states that membership is free and that no fees will ever be sought or accepted, the Facebook scammers openly require prospective members to pay for membership. Joining a group called "Illuminati Official", I was asked to pay $70 for membership, either with gift cards or Bitcoin, which are both untraceable. I was promised generous rewards for joining, such as large amounts of cash delivered to me on a regular basis, a house, a car, etc. Contact with the leaders/recruiters is usually done via Facebook Messenger.

This is fairly typical behavior of Illuminati scams.

Also, while Illuminatiam never made opening religious statements, numerous Illuminatiam clones on Facebook openly proclaim their allegiance to Lucifer, the Devil.

I still remember when Illuminatiam openly bragged about having "imposter" accounts shutdown on Twitter. It's interesting how this "powerful" and "elite" organization seems to be completely powerless to shutdown the numerous scam groups operating while using Illuminatiam's name and website images.

Where They Got Their Stuff

I was curious about where Illuminatiam even got their stuff to sell. So, I did a Google search of "Illuminatiam LLC" (their business registration name in the state of Wyoming) and discovered that they had items shipped to their Beverly Hills address from China. I do not know what was actually in the shipment, but there is only one recorded in January 2017. The receiving address is the same as the registration address for their main website, which appears to simply be a mail drop. 

I have to admit that I've long suspected that they would have been getting their crap shipped from China. 

Business Problems

Having a new look at Illuminatiam LLC's business registration in Wyoming, I discovered that they actually had their registration revoked for tax issues back in March 2020, only getting it back in March 2021 after they cleared that up and filed two annual reports that they were supposed to have already done. They did also have a business registration in the state of California, but that was as a "foreign" (out of state) company and their main registration is in Wyoming. The California registration is no longer active and the California Secretary of State has revoked their license. This could have been done for not filing the required paperwork on-time and/or not paying the required taxes. By the way, their California business registration mentions them as a "Publishing and apparel e-commerce" company. 

So, Wyoming is all they've got, as far as I know. 

Isn't it a little odd that an "elite organization of world leaders, business authorities, innovators, artists, and other influential members of this planet" can't even pay their taxes and file their paperwork on-time?

How To Actually Contact Them

Lots of people have posted complaints against Illuminatiam on the Better Business Bureau website, which lists them as being in the zip code 34470, which is Marion County in Florida. The only company using "illuminatiam" as their registered name is Illuminatiam Films Corp, which was first registered in 2018, four years after the first Illuminatiam video was posted on YouTube. I seriously doubt if there is a direct connection. As you can see, there is no street address listed on the BBB page.

Since I'm here to help "guide you to the Light", I've decided to post the address of their registered agent in the state of Wyoming. A registered agent's job is to serve as a point of contact with the public, including the delivery of legal documents in the event of a lawsuit. When business owners don't want to get unsolicited mail filling their mailboxes, a registered agent really come in handy. Understand that this is publicly-available information and that I am not doxxing anyone. If you send them harassing letters in the mail, that could be a Federal crime and then you'll have the US Postal Inspectors on your ass.

Here is the address:

Illuminatiam, LLC

c/o Registered Agents Inc

30 N Gould St Ste R 

Sheridan, WY 82801 USA

So, if you ordered something from the website and haven't received it, send a polite letter of complaint to the registered agent, along with proof of purchase. What happens after they receive your letter is really up to them.

What The Future May Hold For Illuminatiam

To be honest, I really have no idea what Iluminatiam will do after having made nice with Wyoming. They could simply return to spouting drivel on Twitter and Facebook, while simultaneously hawking their Chinese-made trinkets. If they do that, it's really not that important to me. They really never posted anything truly meaningful. It's entirely possible that Illuminatiam may resurface, possibly with a story about how they've been secretly working behind the scenes to improve the Human Condition or some other such bullshit. Since their California registration has gone inactive, they'll probably have to renew or refile it in order to receive future shipments of medallions from China.

But, what they should do is work to recapture their brand and move against every website and Facebook group that has been using them to further assorted scams. They should publicly name and shame each one of them, for all the world to see,

The obvious upshot of it all is that Illuminatiam went silent for a few years and didn't say anything about their images being copied & pasted across the Internet without their consent, Threatening to sue scammers based in a foreign country would be totally useless because they are outside the jurisdiction of the United States. Sure, they could threaten to sue US-based scammers and copycats, but that would only work until someone calls your bluff and is willing to actually go to court. Then, you'd have to provide proof of ownership and identify the people who actually first designed the images.

Then, the Illuminatiam will be revealed not as an "elite organization", but as just a bunch of guys who drew some pictures and sold their shit on the Internet,

The best approach would be to have a separate page on their site where they name every website, Twitter account, Facebook group, etc as "fake Illuminati" and tell their followers to stay away from them, If Illuminatiam can maintain and grow their following, they should be able to overwhelm the fakes by sheer weight of numbers.

Otherwise, who or what is there to stop someone like me from making my own Illuminatiam rings, medallions, etc and selling it on eBay or Etsy?

Final Thoughts

If Illuminatiam wants to spout their New Age drivel and sell their trinkets, it doesn't really bother me. My main concern are the gullible, desperate people being scammed by the Illuminatiam knockoffs on Facebook and around the Internet.

If Illuminatiam makes good for all the people who bought stuff on the Department of Distribution website, then I will have some respect for them. Doing the right and honorable thing is always better than doing nothing.

But, I think it will be fun to watch if Illuminatiam actually makes a move to shutdown or discredit the scam sites, Facebook groups and Twitter accounts. 

I would truly enjoy an Illuminati Civil War.

Duane Browning

Would-Be Blackmailer Seeking Bitcoin

 The following email has been making the rounds recently:

Message-ID: <954466015635897980204376@pop.eamale.com>

 Date: 18 Sep 2020 13:12:57 +0600

 Subject: [SPAM] Commercial offer

 Hi! 

Unfortunately, I have some bad news for you.

Several months ago, I got access to the device you are using to browse the internet.

Since that time, I have been monitoring your internet activity. 

Being a regular visitor of adult websites, I can confirm that it is you who is responsible for this. 

To keep it simple, the websites you visited provided me with access to your data. 

I’ve uploaded a Trojan horse on the driver basis that updates its signature several times per day, to make it impossible for antivirus to detect it. Additionally, it gives me access to your camera and microphone.

Moreover, I have backed-up all the data, including photos, social media, chats and contacts. 

Just recently, I came up with an awesome idea to create the video where you cum in one part of the screen, while the video was simultaneously playing on another screen. That was fun! 

Rest assured that I can easily send this video to all your contacts with a few clicks, and I assume that you would like to prevent this scenario. 

With that in mind, here is my proposal: 

Transfer the amount equivalent to 1500 USD to my Bitcoin wallet, and I will forget about the entire thing. I will also delete all data and videos permanently. 

In my opinion, this is a somewhat modest price for my work. 

You can figure out how to purchase Bitcoins using search engines like Google or Bing, seeing that it’s not very difficult.

My Bitcoin wallet (BTC): 13dk8JbVeEKGmHq7aevbdVxjg2cHYFT4kg

You have 48 hours to reply and you should also bear the following in mind: 

It makes no sense to reply me - the address has been generated automatically.

It makes no sense to complain either, since the letter along with my Bitcoin wallet cannot be tracked. 

Everything has been orchestrated precisely. 

If I ever detect that you mentioned anything about this letter to anyone - the video will be immediately shared, and your contacts will be the first to receive it. Following that, the video will be posted on the web!

 P.S. The time will start once you open this letter. (This program has a built-in timer).

 Good luck and take it easy! It was just bad luck, next time please be careful.

If you're panicking after having received this message, you can stop now. This email has been received by lots of other people.

In fact, the Bitcoin Abuse Database has received numerous reports about this Bitcoin address recently, so don't feel like you're a special case. Bitcoin even offers guidance for people who receive threatening messages from scammers like this.

This message is just a potential scammer sending an email to hundreds to thousands of people in the hope that someone whose online behavior matches that described in the message. If just one person falls for it, the scammer gets $1500 in free money for doing absolutely nothing.

Stop worrying, delete the email and go on with your life.

Duane Browning

Valerio and Their "Brand Ambassadors"

Most of my Social Media Presence is either on Facebook or Twitter, but I sometimes also post on Instagram. Outside of family members and personal friends, I don't have many followers. I'm not an "influencer" by any stretch of the imagination.

I Am Approached

So, imagine my surprise to receive a comment to my Instagram post from an account who was not even a follower of mine, valerio_com, asking if I wanted to do a collaboration. This account has about 30 followers and doesn't post very often. In the comment, I was asked to send a DM to another account, shop.valerio, which has many more followers and seems to be the main account for them with valerio_com being used to leave comments on other Instagrammers' posts.

Until yesterday, I had never heard of Valerio and had no idea who or what they were about. In the picture I posted, I was wearing my cycling helmet, so I first assumed that they might be a company that deals in cycling equipment.

How wrong I was! Valerio in an online company that sells fashionable sunglasses and wristwatches. According to this Quora profile, they are described as:

Valerio online store provides the Italy top watch and sunglasses brand. We offer the best designer watches and trendy collection of sunglasses of various types. Visit Valerio Sunglasses and Watch Outlet .

 I guess English isn't Aliza Thomas' native language.

Okay, I was a bit confused, at first. For one, there is nothing in my post or over the entirety of my Instagram account that even suggests that I wear designer anything, like clothes, sunglasses, watches, etc. Also, I live in Honolulu, Hawaii and sunglasses are as easy to buy as t-shirts. I could easily find high-end designer sunglasses anywhere in the city, especially in Waikiki. I also wear eyeglasses, so the lenses on any sunglasses I wear would have to be prescription or I'd have to wear contact lenses under them.

I sent a DM to them and received this reply:

Hi, thanks for reaching out. We have been looking for a few people who fit our style, to potentially collab.

We would be happy to offer you 50% off on any item in our store so that you can try out our elite sunglasses and watches and become an official ambassador! You will earn money that is 30% commission for every purchase using your ambassador code. Plus, we also do FREE SHIPPING WORLDWIDE.

All we ask is that when we move ahead together, you tag us in a pic of you wearing our gear and we will feature you on our IG & website! Does that sound good?

At least their English proficiency improved.

When I didn't just jump right in, they upped my discount to 60%.

This seemed a bit weird to me. I still couldn't figure-out exactly why I, who have no sense of Fashion, had been contacted. Besides, I had a dental appointment yesterday and obviously had more important things on my mind.

Eventually, I decided not to participate in this "collaboration" and politely declined. They came back with an "offer" to have me pay for my initial purchase in installments, but I still declined. Their final message to me was very polite and they left the door open for me to take them up on it at a future date.

Who Are These People?

Now that my interest had been piqued, I decided to try to learn a little bit more about Valerio.

I first wanted to know if they are really an Italian company, so I did a WhoIs search on the website.

What I discovered didn't really surprise me. For one thing, shopvalerio.com is a Shopify site, which is not a bad thing, but the site is registered anonymously. You would think that a legitimate company wouldn't keep its website registration as a secret. It just makes me wonder what else they might be hiding.

The site was first created in 2019, so it's barely a year old.

I had another look at the main Instagram account to check their posting history. This was too difficult to do quickly because they have over 1000 posts and I didn't want to attempt to scroll to the first one only to be disappointed if I didn't find anything. However, I did check their account history and discovered that the account had first been set-up in 2014 and had other names used for it before their current one.

While not a deal-breaker, it doesn't look good for a legitimate company to simply recycle an existing account, rather than set-up a brand new account for themselves, in my opinion.

For what it's worth, there really is a company in Italy using the website valerio.it but it's a web marketing company and they don't sell sunglasses or watches. There are actually many companies that use the name "Valerio" in Italy and it's a common surname in that country.

This reminds me of that time when Payless Shoesource opened a brick-and-mortar store under the name "Palessi" where they sold Payless shoes at designer label prices, just to see what would happen. Sure enough, the prank showed that if you put a fancy name on the door and charge high prices, people will pay whatever you ask for.

The Products

I didn't see anything on the site with the brand name "Valerio" on it. It seems to just be the name of the store.

Brand names just for watches offered by Valerio include, Swish, Hannah Martin, Lige and Golden Hour. Each of these brands has a website where you can buy the watch of your choice at a lower price than what Valerio is asking you to pay. Sometimes, the price is a little lower and sometimes the prices are dramatically lower when you buy directly from the company and some of these brands can even be bought at your local Walmart.

What is even funnier is that you can buy these watches off of AliExpress for even lower prices, though it will take a lot longer for your package to arrive from China, between four and five weeks. If you want it faster, buy it from Amazon or Walmart.

As far as sunglasses are concerned, I personally couldn't justify spending $100+ on a pair of sunglasses. You can buy a good pair locally or from a online retailer with an established reputation, like Amazon.

In a nutshell: Valerio isn't selling anything they made or designed themselves. They are selling other companies' products at higher prices than you would pay if you bought them directly from their respective companies.

If I had to guess where they get their products from, I'd take a stab in the dark and say that they might have bought them through AliExpress. Buying a watch for $20 and selling it for $100+ would make a good profit for Valerio.

The "Brand Ambassadors"

As best as I can tell, Valerio seems to be targeting random people with their "offer", without regard for the actual content of their Instagram pages. In these difficult economic times, Valerio is offering a generous commission to people who may be financially struggling. Even if an "ambassador" never makes a sale, Valerio still has their money from the initial purchase and they've received lots of free advertising. Even at the 50-60% discount, Valerio is still making a profit from the first purchase and any orders made through the "ambassadors" is just gravy.

A Quick Disclaimer

I just want to point-out that I am not saying that Valerio is a scam. I have no doubt that if you order a product from them that you will receive what you paid for. You'll just be paying more.

If you paid for the product and didn't get it, then it would be a scam.

What I am saying is that Valerio doesn't seem to be anything other than an online store that someone set-up and that doesn't seem to be linked to a company in Italy. They put a fancy, foreign name on the site and are selling products at higher than normal prices.

My Verdict

Many of us on Social Media have been approached by someone we know, someone we knew in the past or even total strangers who wanted us to either buy some product from them or join them in working for Herbalife, Lularoe, etc. Many of us soon resent being approached like this and hounded into buying something or signing-up to be in their downline.

While Valerio isn't engaging in multilevel marketing, they are recruiting people into being their "brand ambassadors" and into providing them with free advertising. Personally, I don't want to be That Guy to my friends and relatives.

Personally, I'd advise you to decline Valerio's "offer".

Duane Browning

Police Officers' Support Fund

I received a call from an organization calling itself "The Police Officers' Support Fund" today and the number they were using is 855-837-1020. I was able to call them back, so it's not a spoofed number.

There isn't a live person speaking to you, but a set of pre-recorded responses to statements or questions asked by the person being called. I believe that there is a live person listening who has instructions to use an appropriate response to anything the person being called says. It may be to solve a problem of a live person not being able to speak English properly and it also keeps the responses uniform.

Who Are They?

I know that this is an actual organization because they've filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and the name of their treasurer is Robin Wimberly. According to their FEC filings, their physical address is 7901 4th St. N, Ste 4072, St. Petersburg FL 33702. This is not their actual physical address, but the address of a company called "Registered Agents, Inc.", which acts as their registered agent in the state of Florida. The Police Officers' Support Fund is registered in Florida as a foreign (i.e. out-of-state) not for profit organization as of March 28, 2019. According to the Florida filings, the home state of this company is Washington DC.

There are three principals on-record with this PAC:

1. Melinda Wimberly (president)
2. Robin Wimberly (treasurer)
3. Timothy Sucher (secretary)

According to records, Robin and Melinda Wimberly have made donations to the Fund, with Robin claiming to be a disabled veteran. I found Facebook profiles which I think are theirs, but both have been inactive for a couple of years. Neither mentions anything about Robin being disabled or a veteran.

Their Website

The Police Officers' Support Fund has a website, which I found after a lot of searching:

https://posfp.org/

The website was purchased through Godaddy and is registered anonymously with Domains By Proxy acting as the registrant.

Yeah, nothing like an anonymously-registered website to build trust with your potential donors.

The site is rather bare, using stock photos and includes contact information. The "services" they claim to offer are to lobby government on behalf of law enforcement personnel, help elect like-minded people to public office and to fight for tougher sentencing for convicted criminals.

They don't spell-out how their company is any different from others that do, pretty much, the same thing. The main difference I see is that these other organizations aren't making unsolicited phone calls to random people.

Are They Legitimate?

I really don't know if they are who they claim to be. A person named Robin Wimberly has been associated with other companies registered in Florida, supposedly to help wounded or disabled veterans. If it's the same Robin Wimberly as the Police Officers' Support Fund, she doesn't seem to have a good track record since most of the companies with Robin Wimberly listed as an officer have gone inactive and I'd advise anyone thinking about making a non-tax deductible donation to send it to another organization that has a proven track record, which has been around longer and which doesn't resort to spam-calling random people.

Seriously, these calls have even caught the attention of Nomorobo and Robokiller who have put the number is on their blacklists. Their number is currently listed on the Nomorobo website as one of the most-active robocallers in the last 24 hours as I type this blog!

The website gives the contact phone number as 888-983-2993. Assuming that it's still active, I called the number and left a message for them to remove my number from their calling lists. I don't seriously think that they will pay any attention to what I want, but it's worth a shot.

Should I Make A Donation?

Personally, I would not. I admit that I'm a little pissed about these people spam-calling me.

If you'd like to make a donation in support of police officers injured in the line of duty or their families, think about sending some money to Concerns of Police Survivors.

Duane Browning