Share verification bureau
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The Share Verification Bureau www.svbureau.us is a bogus organisation purporting to be based in Birmingham, Alabama, USA and involved in various advanced fee frauds in collaboration with the operators of a Boiler room (business). It operates from a false address using phone numbers that redirect to unknown destinations using Voice over IP.
In July 2007 the Alabama State Securities Commission took legal action in the Alabama Courts - Case Number: 2:2007cv01354 - against a number of individuals including "Investigator George Simpson" of the Share Verification Bureau. This case closed in October 2007 when it was handed over to Federal Authorities as it involved parties in a number of States.
Typically the Share Verification Bureau will request an advanced fee of several thousand dollars to "verify", "register", "remove restrictions" or in some other way allow worthless shares held by the victim to become saleable. The boiler room will have offered the victim a price well above the value of the shares. Once the first fee has been paid the boiler room will go back to the victim asking for a further payment on some false pretence such as "a number of warrants were attached to each share and we have to exercise them before we can buy your shares". Advanced payment of taxes or money laundering clearance fees are also cited as reasons for requiring further money but of course the sole objective is to milk the victim dry. It is a classic Reloading scam.
2. Report in Birmingham News - "Alabama authorities have moved to shut down an alleged investment scam operating from Birmingham that has solicited money from investors as far away as the United Kingdom.
The Alabama Securities Commission last week obtained a restraining order freezing the Alabama bank accounts of Florida-based SVA Collection Services. A purported Birmingham-based affiliate, the Share Verification Bureau, was also involved in what regulators call a scam that offered "share registration services" in worthless stock. "
