Whitherspoon, Seymour & Robinson, also known as WSR Corporation, are now trading online as CSR Corporation - They simply changed the 'W' to a 'C'.
CSR Corporation or CSR Europe Limited (Company Registration No: 05533843) was incorporated with the United Kingdom Companies House on 11th August and subsequently Dissolved on 22nd May. The registered address for CSR Europe Limited is the infamous (more on this address later):
Suite 35
95 Wilton Road
LONDON
SW1V 1BZ
This address is the same address used to register their old domain name WSR-Corporation.com on 27th Nov and the same address listed on their current CSR-Corporation.com website (registered on November 11th – presumably in time for Xmas), as well as various other ‘scam’ related websites. It is a Mailbox Hub that houses no offices belonging to any company apart from the company who rent out Mail/PO Boxes to Companies such as Whitherspoon, Seymour & Robinson, WSR Corporation, CSR Corporation and CSR Europe Limited. Who are basically only using them for the sole purpose of misleading people for financial gain through fraudulent and deceptive means?
This system of deception has been round for many years.
If you click www.WSR-Coporation.com you will automatically be redirected to www.CSR-Coporation.com, where they are promising and I quote "All orders placed before 19 December will be processed before Christmas holidays. Guaranteed! "
Unfortunately, I found this advertisement (through a Google search) whilst trying to set up a new UK company before Jan 1st 2009 and because of the time frame, I neglected to do my usual thorough vetting of this company and instead chose to reply on the four guidelines that have helped me to spot fraudulent or fake websites in the past. This time however, my hasty decision cost me nearly €700.
So I implore you to do a thorough background check before handing over any money to online companies.
CSR Corporation (formerly known as WSR Corporation) are listed on Google via a ‘Sponsored Links’ advertisement which would yield some good leads on these criminals if Google would or could be persuaded or forced to disclose who set the account up and where the payment came from.
These people, as there are at least two females involved, I believe have been pulling this fraud for a long time, possibly since 1998/99 (In their customer support panel at the CSR Corporation website, one page displays the date as being 1999), so they have obviously become very sophisticated at it. They seem to like keeping similar company names (for what purpose I have not found out yet) and quite possibly the same or similar website designs/functions/structures, which makes perfect sense due to the time and costs incurred with consistently changing them.
Having said that, there is a definite link to a German online software website called ‘Adam Internet & Software’ which is purportedly registered to a one Mike Adam. His name, as we will see later is connected with more than one of these fraudulent WSR/CSR websites.
All the telephone numbers (18 in Total) listed on the current CSR Corporation (formerly known as WSR Corporation) website all divert back to one line, reportedly in the UK, although I have severe reservations about this. I can tell you that the IP address I traced for the current CSR Corporation website is: 87.106.162.90 and an IP address I traced through a ‘No-Reply’ email they sent me confirming my payment is: 212.227.62.57 – Both these IP’s are located in Berlin, Germany as is Mike Adam’s ‘Adam internet & Software’ website - To all you computer experts, any help confirming these IP's would be appreciated.
A search of the name Mike Adam, throws up some interesting information as does Greg Bennett, the other ‘male’ name listed in connection with nearly all of these bogus WSR/CSR websites, but it wont help to speculate on these results at this time. What is worth noting though is that I personally spoke twice to a woman when I called one of their websites telephone numbers, who told me her name was Kim Becker. She was supposedly a ‘consultant’ and she did sound (to me) like she had possibly either a German or Belgian accent (I spent some time in both countries last year), so the Berlin IP location may probably be a solid lead.
There was also another woman who answered the phone the first time I phoned, passing herself off as a receptionist, but I could not make out her accent. In my email correspondence with CSR Corporation (formerly known as WSR Corporation) there were three female names listed in various replies; Kim Becker (consultant); April Johnson (Accounting) and Susan Herbst (Compliance Manager) and emails from Kim Becker in particular had return addresses for both CSR and WSR Corporations. So this proves they are vulnerable to careless mistakes and everyone should be on the lookout for these or similar names in any emails.
95 Wilton Road, Suite 3, London, SW1V 1BZ. Is the address used in the registration of at least four WSR/CSR related websites; WSR-Corporation, CSR-Corporation, Whitherspoon.net and Whitherspoon.com. Two more addresses are linked into this fraudulent organisation and they are: 140 Ashley Crescent, London, SW11 5QZ - which is listed as a known address for fraudulent and bogus activities on the government run ‘bogus agencies’ website located at http://www.ico.gov.uk/what_we_cover/data_protection/notification/bogus_agencies.aspx - and an American address: 1461 A First Avenue, Suite 360, New York – which I am still gathering information on.
The name Greg Bennett is linked to all the above websites and all the addresses listed with them (except one), as well as another WSR/CSR fraudulent website called WSR.BIZ, whose addresses are listed as both 1461 A First Avenue, Suite 360, New York (Registrant) and 140 Ashley Crescent, London, SW11 5QZ (Billing).
The name Mike Adam is linked to both; Witherspoon.com and Witherspoon.net (both as Technical contact) as well as ‘‘Adam internet & Software’ - whose website is located at: http://www.a-i-s.de – but to only one address: ‘Habichtstrasse 20, Hattingen, 45527, Germany’.
I have evidence to support everything I have written here about Whitherspoon Seymour & Robinson, WSR Corporation, CSR Corporation, Witherspoon.net, Witherspoon.com, WSR.BIZ, CSR Europe Limited, Greg Bennett, Mike Adam, Kim Becker, April Johnson, Susan Herbst and of course the addresses mentioned.
To conclude, I just want to inform the readers that I have lodged official complaints to the FBI, the London Metropolitan Police and Interpol. I will be lodging more complaints as well as doing my best to warn people (like I am doing now) on various forums, consumer related complaints websites, official online fraud prevention/reporting websites as well as setting up my own websites such that will be dedicated to warning others and helping the authorities capture and imprison the people behind these scams.
I had no prior knowledge or dealings with any of the above prior to Dec 9th when I became another victim of their ongoing fraud. But I will reiterate that that this ‘victim’ intends to fight back and so should you.
Taking the time to register and post replies and comments to legitimate complaints, will help websites such as this one obtain a higher search engine position, which will in turn help offset the criminal intentions of these fraudulent websites by supplying potential victims with information of their illegal activities. Simply put, we can gain some revenge by helping others to avoid becoming victims and forcing these desperate conmen in to making mistakes that will ultimately lead to their capture.
Thank you for reading.
Please Note:
The CSR-Corporation website was registered on November 11th so this is likely their most recent ‘flagship’ for the purpose of fraud.
WSR.biz was registered on November 7th and expires on November 6th which shows the depth of this organisation.
Witherspoon.com was registered on November 24th and expires on November 6th.
Witherspoon.net was registered on November 24th and expires on November 6th.
*** A website called WSRevents.com was created on August 27th but I have no information to ascertain if this is part of the WSR/CSR fraudulent website and company’s organisation at this time. However, this website does display the words ‘WSR BIZWIZ’ tm in very larger font as well as in an extremely prominent position; which I personally, find very alarming.
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