The
Alertpay Company was founded in Montreal, Canada by Firoz and Ferhan Patel. It
was basically a payment processing platform where businesses and individuals
alike could send and receive money for goods or services. It also ran the
Alertpay money scams which eventually came to the attention of the US Secret
Service.
Firoz and Ferhan Patel were serial conmen
who targeted other con men who ran illegitimate businesses. Those who operated
HYIP scams and Ponzi schemes were their prime targets. These nefarious
companies could not use PayPal or Dwollar so had no choice but to use Alertpay
even though the commission charges were as high as 25%. They could not complain
without questions being asked as to the source of their funds. This was an
ideal breeding ground for what was to become the first of many Alertpay money
scams.
Having enjoyed enormous success and taken
millions of dollars from these customers, the Patels opened their services to
other companies who needed to provide an online payment system. This second
group of victims included drug dealers, illegal arms dealers and pornographers.
They too had no legal redress when the Patels began to redistribute their funds
into their own coffers. This was usually done by way of an email stating that
there had been a breach in their terms and conditions and as such, the accounts
were frozen, pending the results of the ongoing enquiry.
Legitimately operated small businesses and
hardworking individuals were to become the next set of victims in the latest
Alertpay money scams. They needed a way to send and receive money in return for
goods or services. PayPal has very restrictive terms and conditions and cannot
offer its full range of services in many countries. This is where Alertpay
steps in to fill the gap.
They quickly start to use their tried and tested
tactics on these unsuspecting clients. Am email is received stating that there
has been a breach in the terms and conditions and that the account is frozen
until the problem is resolved. In the meantime, the Patels take over the
account and drain it of funds. The amount of cash stolen can be anywhere from
$50 to $1,000,000. The million dollar theft occurred not once, but twice in the
well-documented history of Alertpay money scams. Obviously, if you had lost a
million dollars there is no way that you would let it go unnoticed. A Swedish
cooperative called Themco and an investor called Patrick Masse were the two
unfortunate clients to become embroiled in the Patels fraudulent ways.
It was around this time that their company
was proved to be linked to online child pornography and became the subject of
an investigation by the US Secret Service. Following government instructions,
the FBI and The Department of Homeland Security took effective control of all
accounts held by US citizens which had been operated through Alertpay.
For over a year, not a single US customer
had access to their funds which had been frozen as part of the investigation
into the Alertpay money scams.
