I'm interested in investing $30K in a CD and have been looking around
for the highest interest rate available.  I found an off-shore bank
(located in the Grenadines) called Millenium Bank, which appears to
offer web-based investing.  Their site is attractively presented, but
I have a lot of skepticism about transferring my funds to a faceless
electronic entity that may or may not have an actual physical
location.  Here is the web site:  http://www.mlnbank.com/.  Any
opinions on this sort of banking, whether it's kosher, or not.

---

Request for Question Clarification by pinkfreud-ga on 11 Oct 2005 13:56 PDT

Howdy, Purrsian!

Are you still interested in an official Answer, or have the free
Comments met your needs? I can probably find more material about this
"bankoid," but I don't know if I can add much of value to what has
already been posted in the Comments section.

Let me know if you want the full treatment. ;-)

~Pink

---

Request for Question Clarification by pinkfreud-ga on 11 Oct 2005 15:51 PDT

Purrsian,

In a comment below, you say "Don't you want a tip even?"

Does this mean that you would like me to post an official Answer to
this question? The only way for Google Answers Researchers to receive
fees and tips is by posting Answers, not Comments.

I don't mean to sound pushy here; you'd be well within your rights to
cancel this question and call it a day. But I hate to leave money on
the table if it's offered. ;-)

How would you like me to proceed?

~Pink

http://www.dnsstuff.com/tools/whois.ch?ip=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mlnbank.com

Does not look like the Grenadines to me.
- but I expect he does not know that he owns the site

The site looks as Kosher as a pork and lobster canape.

Play with them, say for security reasons you will only transfer by
SWIFT, then see what happens
- you'll either get 'alternative fund T/F methods' or a very funny address 

BTW - use a disposeable Email account.

So, it looks as though you used some type of utility to see whether
the web site is valid - is that right?  In other words, when you say
that "I expect he does not know that he owns the site" that someone
might be piggybacking on someone's legitimate server?

I'll try what you suggested, but you've already basically validated my
suspicions. Thanks.

Have a look at: http://www.dnsstuff.com/

Basically one of the many things it can do for you is show the ISP and
owner of an internet address or an IP number.

One thing that scammers do is nick someone elses ID and credit card to
set up a site that cannot ... easily be traced back to the scammer.

I suspect that in this case - however I'm not totally sure.

What I am sure about is that the actual site looks like what people
call a 'Mugu Bank' - basically a fake bank designed to attract
suckers, sometimes to steal their personal information, and sometimes
to steal their cash directly.

The amazing thing is that there are hundreds (at least) of such sites.

If you are interested in making their life rather unpleasant, then I
can point you in the direction of a bunch of people who specialize in
playing tricks on scammers - also in shutting down fake banks.

You were very wise asking about this, many people get taken in, which
is of course why such sites exist.

You might be interested in the following:
http://www.419legal.org/

It seems to be having problems right now, but I expect it will be
running properly by the time you read this.

Good Luck

Ah, you must be English, eh?  When I met my future husband, he kept
saying nick and I thought, what?

Anyway, yes, I was quite leery of so high an interest rate because I
know that all interest rates are based on the prime.  Isn't that
right?  Plus my Jewish Fairy godmother once told me there is no free
lunch.

I am going to do what you suggested - I set up an e-mail account in
yahoo yesterday.  I also noticed that the "testimonials" at the
apparently bogus web site were all basically written in the same
style, as if by the same person.

I'll keep you posted.  Thanks, and cheers, for now.

Yes, I am English .. well British

Since you seem interested in being a vindictive bitch (compliment)
- have a look at :

  www.419Eater.com

Mostly look at the forum, the humour is just a lure
- also get a 'mentor' - you'll understand when you read the stickies
- they'll show you how to give the scammers a real hard time
  there are many years of experience there
- and if they do not know of your 'bank' they'll stick it on the kill list
  (mass complaints to the ISP and soaking bandwidth)

You might rather enjoy it ...
Females tend to be rather good at manipulating scammers (compliment)

Keep me posted - please - and tell your friends 
- fore warned puts the scammers out of business

Regards.

Ah, yes, of course, British.  I stand corrected . . .  British and not
European, either, huh? ;o)

I took a quick peek at 419legal and 419eater.  Oooo, after going
through the 419eater letter achive I thought, well, this really isn't
my sport, as much as I may aspire to VBhood.  Way too many Roman
candles flying through the air.  But, I do want to test the waters
with mlnbank.com as to how they prefer funds transferred, just to see
what they say. Knowing what I know now, I doubt that I'll risk my cash
for an additional 4%.

By the way, I needed a user name and password to get into the forum,
but I did notice a posting regarding scam banks.

You've got it, most British do not feel particularly European.

Trouble is our Lords and Masters fancy getting onto the gravy train, I
can't really blame them - they are only sub-human.

The letters side is just a 'lure' - the really nasty baiters keep
things very simple, generally by pretending to be rather dim and
wasting the scammers time.

You'll find out what they are up to with a simple exchange of Emails,
chances are that they will want name, address, telephone number and a
picture of your passport.

Unfortunately you do not have a scanner, pick an address like a police
station in another state and give initially give them a 'phone number
that does not exist.  If you want to hear them by voice you can pick
up a pay as you go SIM for a mobile for about $5.

I'll be intrigued to hear which SWIFT address they give.

BTW, make sure you spread the word, the more people aware of these
scams, the less chance they have of doing any damage.

Regards.

Okay, I really do plan to contact that bank - it shouldn't be too difficult.  

We're heading out for the day (robot show in San Jose), so I'll get to
it tomorrow.  Once I have gotten an idea of whom I'm dealing with,
I'll have more material to work with.  So far, I'm the only person I
know considering off-loading my hard earned cash to a bunch of
thieves. :o)  But, experience with this situation first hand, by
communicating with the apparent felons, will make me a converted
missionary against on-line banks.  So, we'll see.

Cheers, for now.

(Aside, my maternal ancestors are Polish - and they've never given a
second thought to NOT being European, which they aren't.  I suppose it
all depends on your politics and how much you hate the French.)

Good for you.

Actually the British don't hate the French
- we are a bit suspicious of them, and they are rightly suspicious of us
- we call them Ros Boeuf and they call us Frogs - or is it the other way round

One heck of a lot of British have settled in France
(supposedly/officially 300,000) partly because of property prices, but
mainly because we like their way of life.

Poland is definitely on the European continent, and they recently
became full members of the EU.  Since then we've had a lot of Poles
come over, they are well respected tradesmen, doctors and dentists.
Highly sought after.

After WWII rather a lot of Poles settled in the UK, my Last Duchesses
parents were amongst them (she could not speak English until
kindergarten) they all integrated remarkably well.

The real problem with Europe is that we have a bundle of very
different political, economic and legal systems, not to mention
cultural backgrounds and languages. Rapidly integrating them under a
largely unelected bureaucracy is not really a very good idea.

It is similar to abolishing all States in the USA, and having the
whole lot run by a dubious Federal Commission. Except of course, the
difference between Minnesota and California is trivial when compared
to the difference between the UK and France.

I guess that in the States you get a distorted view of what happens
over here, not really surprizing as /we/ get a distorted view thanks
to 'spin' and a trivializing press.

Dear Freddy,
You really got into this question.
But on another vein, I noticed your fine distinction:  British rather
than English: Irish, Welsh, Scots, Manx, ...?  ;)

Wow, it's so nice to hear a more open-minded perspective on European
relations.  As much as I hate to admit it, my husband's family can be
a little
"fixed" on where they fit into the world.  I'll keep it at that.  I
wanted to visit France on my last trip to the U.K., and I thought my
father-in-law would have an anurysm when I mentioned it.  My husband,
in fact, couldn't believe how many British expats live in Sicily. 
Welcome to the world.

Well, I never really got the impression that the Poles were "allowed"
European status from the immigrants who live in this country.  But, I
suppose that had a lot to do with the existing situation with the
Soviet Union and I haven't had much contact with local immigrants
lately.  Nothing ever made them happier, though, than to acquire EU
status.  I suppose it was good for some countries and not so good for
others.  The Italians are very sorry to have made the decision to
join, and, yes, I agree that there are deeply historical differences
between each country - and a lot of suspicion.  To be honest, there's
probably more suspicion between Italians, than of the nations outside
of Italy.  To some extent, that might be true of how the Welsh feel
toward the English.

California has been toying with the idea of creating our own nation
state  . . .:o).  Seriously, it would never happen.  But, go to
Berkeley and see how much they have in common with the rest of the
U.S.  We are a pretty young country, so, hopefully we can get our act
together and not make more mistakes with the rest of the world.

We get a pretty distorted view of what is going on in the rest of the
world, too, and the news has become entertainment.  It's pretty
embarrassing.  Whenever I have a chance to watch the Italian news that
is broadcast here, I'm amazed at how much is going on over there that
never reaches our media.  We do get a lot of news from/about the U.K.,
but I think that might have something to do with the commonality of
language, but probably a lot more to do with influence and politics.

Now that I know your name, Freddy, this has been fun!

Now, let's see if I can "contact" mlnbank.com. :op

Bye for now.

@MyOarin

It's a necessary distinction, as most of us are a mixture, I've a good
dash of Welsh and Irish for example. Most of my friends are pretty
much hybrid, that or they've married Scots lasses.

I can seldom resist an opportunity to present a non-tabloid view.

@purrsian

All this 'Freedom Fries' stuff is nonsence, the French have had some
very unpleasant colonial experiences, which makes their opinions
rather valuable.
Also, one should never confuse a countries government with its people.

To some extent the EU has been a success, Spain and Portugal are now
prosperous, and until recently Italy was doing rather well. Also it
made German re-union more acceptable.
There is a strong argument for spreading affluence to the Eastern
states, for a start it is more pleasant having friendly neighbours,
also after the initial kick start they'll become good trading
partners.

Despite what some people might think, it is not a matter of sticking
it to the Russians, we are pretty well aware that we'll be reliant on
Russian raw materials very soon, and that they are licking their
wounds after deliberately effectively withdrawing from the 'Stans'.

Italy appears to be having problems because they no longer have
control of their currency, so they cannot devalue their way out of an
over high price level - or borrow their way out of a recession.  Put
crudely the Lire was not a particularly hard currency so they might
not have lost as much as they think.

I guess you are referring to the Northern Alliance, who think that
civilization ends well above Naples, well Southern England is pretty
much aware that it is paying for the North, but the idea of
regionalism (as advocated by our Glorious Leaders) was met with a
major yawn by all concerned.

Curiously there is a lot more animosity between the Northern Welsh and
the Southern Welsh than there is between the Welsh and the English. We
find it rather funny that they have to have dual language road signs,
otherwise 90% of their population would not be able to read them.

The idea of California declaring UDI is hilarious.

We get a pretty restricted view of what is going on, often I pick up
more from the BBC World Service on the radio than from other media.

Have fun :-)

Hi, frde,

Just a small update on mlnbank.com.  I sent an e-mail under my
"disposable" e-mail account to the bank and haven't yet received a
response.  I also contacted them directly using the toll-free
telephone number that is posted on their web site and was greeted by a
very business-like receptionist, who, as a matter of fact, really
sounded as if she were sitting in the middle of bustling enterprise
somewhere far away.  I requested a prospectus and/or annual report -
do banks issue those financial reports, or is there something else
that they provide for the public?  Anyway, she took my telephone
number and I haven't heard back since.  I'm also going to check in
with the American Banking Association to see if they can suggest a way
to determine the bogusness of on-line banks.

Anyway, enjoyed your comments about Europe, which is by far a much
better snapshot for me regarding current activities than the papers
are.  I'm not too terribly universal about what I read - mostly the NY
Times.  The San Francisco paper is okay.

Italy has always had somewhat of a dodgey reputation when it comes to
the financial world.  Someone once mentioned to me that they have a
greater "underground" economy than legitimate one.  Somehow they live.
 There has always been a huge rift between the South Italians and the
North Italians, and not having lived there very long (two summers), I
sensed the largest part of the battle is dealing with the Mafia, and
the apparent lack of a work ethic in the south.

I'm glad to hear that the EU is seeming to succeed for most of the
countries involved.

On another note, when the U.S. was planning to invade Iraq, nearly
everyone in San Francisco was out on the streets in protest.  What our
government, ironically doesn't seem to "get" is that the population of
the Middle East is "pissed off" and are not going to take it anymore. 
And, they are very proud.  I don't think there is anything in the
constitution of an American soldier that matches the passion of
someone determined to save their country for themselves.

Just a little note in passing - the company I work for is located
right next door to Google headquarters in Mountain View, California. 
:o)  So close, so far away.

Purrsian,

My apologies to your Polish ancestors, but I wouldn't touch Millennium
Bank's offer with a ten-foot Pole. ;-)

Here's some info from one of my favorite forums that you may find useful:

http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/arcmessageview.cfm?catid=52&threadid=353634

http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/arcmessageview.php?catid=52&threadid=452159

Best,
Pink

Pink,

Damn you're good.  You must have radar on every planet in the
universe. So, this "bank" obviously has a reputation that precedes it
- probably by miles.

By the way, I have at least two 10-foot-tall Polish cousins. :o))

Hugs,

purr

Pink,

Completely satisfied.  Actually, sending off my precious funds to
Nigeria would really have been "the full treatment."

Ever so humbly grateful.  By the way, I've found information you
posted about services for elderly/home-bound to be invaluable.

Don't you want a tip even?

Well, let's see, in all fairness, frde did make a few good
suggestions.  Then, again, I really, really haven't been totally
convinced that mlnbank is absolutely bogus.  That is not to say I'm
wiring them $30K this afternoon.  I'm not going to because I wouldn't
even walk from one bank to another one down the block with a money
order in my pocket.
So, let's call it a wash.  And, thanks as always for savvy sleuthing.

Since frde isn't a GAR and can't post an official Answer, it may be
best if you cancel this. That'll keep it from becoming a question that
expires unanswered (a statistic that reflects poorly upon Google
Answers and upon us Researcher folk).