Shipping Container Sales Fraud and Scam Web Sites
Online scammers appear to be hijacking Australian Company Numbers (ACN's), and setting up fraudulent bank accounts to scam Australian consumers. Banks may be enabling this activity through the establishment of false bank accounts and lack of action when notified of suspicious activity.
Both Bendigo Bank and ANZ Bank and have been advised of criminal activity related to a fraudulent bank account posing as a real Australian business. They have failed to act promptly on these reports of suspected fraudulent business bank accounts, criminal scams and online fraud. A lack of action facilitates the continuation of fraudulent activities.
How do Fraudulent Scam Businesses hijack and impersonate valid Australian businesses to manipulate and defraud?
The scammers identify low profile Australian Companies with limited public exposure to hijack, they secure domain names that are similar to the company name and build professional websites with the scammers contact details. Scammer invoices use the Australian Company Number (ACN) of the hijacked business so the business appears reputable and can be found in an
ASIC ACN search.
Fraudulent invoices include BSB and Account Numbers impersonating the hijacked business and have similar Account Names to the hijacked business. The establishment of these fraudulent bank accounts seems to be facilitated by poor bank practices and compounded by the lack of bank response / action to suspicious activity allowing these activities to continue.
Fraudulent/Scam Business and Impersonated Hijacked Business Details
Additional Information
SUNSHINE PLANT & MACHINERY PTY LTD ABN:17 152 816 003 / ACN:152 816 003 is a valid business ASIC Registered in 2011.
Sunshine Plant and Machinery is a fraudulent business using the sunshineplantandmachinery.com domain to scam consumers.
A fraudulent bank account was established with Bendigo Bank to impersonate SUNSHINE PLANT & MACHINERY PTY LTD.
- Account Name : Sunshine P & M
- BSB : 633-000
- Account Number : 194-931-978
This account appears to have been established by Bendigo Bank and transfers to the fraudulent Bendigo Bank account have been made by financial institutions including ANZ Bank without considering:
- Sunshine P & M is not a valid Australian Business;
- There is no valid ABN or ACN for the Sunshine P & M business account;
- The account name is misleading and is designed to enable fraudulent activity through the impersonation of a valid Australian Business;
- Sunshine P & M is not SUNSHINE PLANT & MACHINERY PTY LTD.
These actions appear to be enabled by financial institutions:
- Ineffective or incomplete identity verification;
- Absence of effective procedural processes to identify and respond to financial fraud;
- Lack of customer protections, support and advice;
- Failure to act promptly on information provided related to ongoing fraudulent activity.
ACN and ABN Reports
Scamdoc Assessment
Fake Impersonating Internet Pages
Public Internet Reviews
Substantial data is freely available to institutions and authorities to flag, investigate and limit potentially fraudulent activity.
Where to Report Fraud
Financial Institutions / Banks
Regulatory and Investigative Authorities
Fraud / Scam Detection and Research Resources
Container Sales Fraud Information Sources
This information is provided to increase public awareness of fraudulent activity, encourage improvement in financial and regulatory systems, and reduce fraud.