All,

A number of people posting here have expressed doubt that "John Carley" is a real name. It is possible both that it is and that the individual has come to the attention of the US authorities before with respect to an operation called Starnet Communications.

A John Carley was investigated by the Securities & Exchange Commission back in 2005. His credentials and modus operandi seem very similar. Details of the SEC enquiry can be found

http[Suspicious link removed]cs-bid-for-rehearing

http://www.whafh.com/modules/case/docs/3076_cid_3_Starnet%20int%20compl.PDF

http://www.legalmetric.com/cases/securities/ded/ded_199cv00845.html   (note: official complaint goes back to 1999!)



There's more in similar vein out there.

This John A Carley may not be our John Carley but the similarities between BitCoin Trader and Starnet are striking, especially given the technical backgrounds of the "two" men.

Good luck and thank you to all those who are putting in so much time and trouble to track this bastard down and bring him to justice.


Thomas.

I've been able to add a bit more since the original post.

Isn't the internet a wonderful thing! Not all the above is my own work, by the way: others have helped but I think it important to share as much as possible.

Thomas.

I know from the domain registration information that the domain name details were protected by http://www.whoisguard.com/ . I wrote to them severzl days ago to express my concerns but perhaps now we need somehow to get the authorities to force http://www.whoisguard.com/ to reveal what they know now that "John Carley" has stolen our money.

As their site says: When protection is turned on (can be turned off easily) our email and address shows up. When some one sends an email to your uniquely generated xyz.protect@whoisguard.com address, we will in-turn forward it your real email address which you specify. This essentially masks your email from the outside world!

The Closure email I received from BitCoin  Trader has all its sending headers masked - presumably because they have gone through http://www.whoisguard.com/

Their Contact Us page says:

Address Information:

WhoisGuard, Inc.
Attn: <domainnamehere.com>
P.O. Box 0823-03411
Republic of Panama

Their email contact:

You can also contact us through email. Please send us an email to support@whoisguard.com to send us your question. Please send the following information in your email.

- Email/ Domain in Question
- Phone number where you can be reached
- Email headers if applicable.



I also used their tool to check whether BitCoin Trader really does use their service. As of today's date, they still have a valid subscription.



According to someone else I have been in contact with, the company was registered with the Panama authorities a few months ago. He forwarded screenshots of what I believe is the official online registration form at the Panama equivalent of Companies House (UK).




I'm beginning to think that our only hope is that the Panama legal authorities choose to investigate this case.


From the legal page of http://www.whoisguard.com


3. DISCLOSURE OF NONPUBLIC PERSONAL INFORMATION
It is WhoisGuard policy to never disclose nonpublic personal information, or any other information, except either as required or permitted by law or with your authorization.


4. PROTECTION AND SECURITY OF WHOIS DIRECTORY INFORMATION
WhoisGuard retains records relating to the Service provided to you through the TOS, incorporated herein by reference, or through your service provider utilizing the Services, so that WhoisGuard may better assist you with your privacy needs and to also ensure that WhoisGuard is in compliance with its obligations under the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (“ICANN”) including the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (“UDRP”) and the terms, conditions and policies imposed by your service provider, or other laws and regulations. In addition, WhoisGuard may maintain physical, electronic and procedural safeguards that comply with regulations to guard your nonpublic personal information and to ensure that your privacy is consistently maintained.

12. NECESSARY DISCLOSURE
WhoisGuard will not share your personal information except with a third party to assist in the processing or securing of your personal information or when WhoisGuard is required by law, and as may be described further in the WhoisGuard TOS, or unless WhoisGuard has given you notice and choice, in the good-faith belief that such action is necessary in order to conform to the edicts of the law, or WhoisGuard must comply with a legal process served on the WhoisGuard website. WhoisGuard will also share your information to the extent necessary to comply with ICANN's rules, regulations and policies. WhoisGuard may also need to give out your information if one of WhoisGuard’s service partners requires it. WhoisGuard does not condone the use of the internet for illegal activities and will assist law enforcement agencies wherever possible.
If you are a law enforcement agency and think that WhoisGuard can assist you in relation to an investigation, please contact support@whoisguard.com.


They used Shadowscript software (http://shadowscripts.com/) to run the client fund side of things and they hosted their website on Cloudflare (https://www.cloudflare.com). I know this from the occasional error message I received from Clouflare when they could not deliver the website itself.

I also wonder whether this is the same John Carlery - the nature of the fraud looks similar: http://www.sec.gov/litigation/admin/33-8508.htm  See also https://www.sec.gov/litigation/aljdec/id292jtk.pdf  - if this is the same man then he is known to the American authorities.

To report a scam to the Panamanian authorities: http://www.ministeriopublico.gob.pa/minpub/Denuncias/Estafa.aspx  . The screenshot below is a mechanical Google translation of the page.



See also http://www.panamatramita.gob.pa/tramite/denuncia-por-estafas-y-otros-fraudes . Again, the screenshot shows the page as mechanically translated by Google.



Sorry - that's all I have for the moment.

Thomas.

I did a whois lookup (www.whois.com) of the domain name bitcoin-trader.biz, which is registered in Panama. Their contact / administration details etc, are protected by whoisguard.com which is also registered in Panama.

I have this morning sent an email to support@whoisguard.com to ask whether they have any information about the proper trading of bitcoin-trader.biz. I have specifically mentioned the website page (with link), this forum (with link) and the Facebook page (with link).

I am not sure that one email from me will cause whoisguard.com to do anything but perhaps they might if they start to receive lots of emails from different people.

The link to the whois information is http://www.whois.com/whois/bitcoin-trader.biz

The email address for whoisguard,com is support@whoisguard.com and the website for whoisguard is http://www.whoisguard.com/

I think the time is past when we owe BitCoin Trader the benefit of the doubt


Thomas.