The Greenland Bank Transfer scam or Stranded Student scam still at large in Europe

Db0

A Scandinavian person claiming to be a student who had his laptop bag stolen will ask you for travel money. It’s a scam

Remember two years ago when I got scammed in the streets of Frankfurt? It seems that person is still at large in Western Europe and they’ve been incidents of people being scammed still in 2011. I just wanted to remind people to be aware and perhaps help other people find out what happened and concentrate photos, aliases and other evidence.

Here are some other people who’ve posted online about being scammed

Some more photos of the scammer:

Going by the name of Dennis Janson or Erik NelsonPossibly going by the name of Dennis Janson or Erik Nelson

The scammer has also been known to claim he is from Norway as well. Sometimes he is encountered along with a partner.

Aliases I’ve found he’s used until now: Erik Nelson, Peter Janson, Den Larson and Dennis Janson

Fake Papers sent as proof commonly: These are edited from scam to scam it seems. The name of the “father” sending the money changes. You can see below it being “Henrik Jensen”, “Olaf Nelson”, “Erik Janson”, “Olaf Jensen” and so on.

Erik Janson's Fake ID

The “father” is commonly using a @hotmail.com, @live.com or @windowslive.com email address, which makes it difficult to trace. I’ve already tried contacting Hotmail to get more info but was promptly ignored. Still looking at the headers of that email, I’ve managed to trace the father sending it from a Spanish ISP (which I’ve also contacted with no success).

Someone claims they used the +44 7854270100 phone number, but is not clear if this is the phone of the scammer or the “father”. This is a German number. It may be the case that the scammer has scamming partners all over Europe and calls whoever is convenient. This seems consistent with the other samples of emails I’ve seen, where the English was even worse than the one I received.

Beware

This person is a really, really good actor, with a very detailed, sad and believable story. He will talk about his family, he will show you pictures of his “house”, he will give you a fake skype address (same as his name) he will talk to you on end, without any stress or fear. He has done this dozens, if not hundreds of times. This person is absolutely shameless as well. He guiltlessly accepted an offer to buy him dinner and then bargained for 50 extra euros (with more sad sad stories).

If you see him, what you do is up to you, but by the time you realize you’ve been scammed (usually after 2-3 days when you realize the “money transfer” is not coming) your Police department is probably going to be useless. He’ll be long gone to another city or country by then.

Things I wished I did when I was being sold the story

  • Ask to go together to the police station to verify his story. He had claimed he has already been there and had filed a police report.
  • Look more closely at the Bank transfer receipt, which on close inspection was an obvious photoshop.
  • I also wished I was more cautious of the free email address and the egregious spelling errors in the email coming from an “International lawyer”

Anyway, spread the news and info around and hopefully the more people aware of this scam, the less likely it is that they’re caught unaware and lose their goodwill by being scammed when trying to help someone in need. Also if you’ve been scammed and managed to grab more info (email addressed, aliases, photos, phone numbers) contact me and I’ll add this to the list. If you’ve written about this, link it in the comments and I’ll add it to the list.

The more people who know about this, the more likely someone will recognise him during the act and take action to stop him or at least make the victim aware.

Take care and don’t lose your mutual aid feelings just because of this scumfuck.

33 thoughts on “The Greenland Bank Transfer scam or Stranded Student scam still at large in Europe”

  1. This story is fascinating. I read this post and your previous one. I like con movies.

    I know you are angry about the whole thing, but may I suggest you a few con movies?
    Four Queens (excellent one)
    House of Games
    Those movies even discuss how con-men work. How they rely on building trust and make you feel you are a better person that the rest of world.

    Also read the novels Gentleman Bastard series, especially the first one 'Lies of Locke Lamora'. It's fantasy-fiction.

      1. The more I think about it, in House of the Games, they do a similar con. Using Western Union.

  2. Just read a comment on your old reddit post. (It seems reddit is only useful in order to get a good laugh.. only comical replies get upvoted there, not serious ones), one guy said that you should have just paid for the taxi. Not give him money, get a taxi and pay it. This reminded me of a friend I have.

    He lives in Crete, so he came to Athens and went to the Metro station. There a junkie approached him and asked him for money. He wanted money in order to get a Metro ticket.

    My friend was naive. He believed him. But he didn't had any money, so he gave him his second, spare metro ticket. The junkie of course didn't want tickets. He wanted money for his fix. He got the ticket, tore it, and started swearing at him.

    It was a funny story.

    1. Yeah, I've heard various variations of the same story before :)Once, I did actually take a gypsy kid to Goodies when he asked me for money to eat. True story.

  3. Hi, we met him in Budapest (04.08.2012). Convincing us that he is from Greenland, his father is Peter Adresen with an e-mail address at Yahoo. He told his first name is Yngve and a transfer certificate from Landsbankinn Island.

      1. I also created a Facebook page (Yngve Adresen) for him to track his activity on the timeline. Since then 2 people reported that he "worked" in France, Orleans last weekend.

  4. Hi

    I just met this asshole today in Paris… Told me he was from Greenland too, named "Yngve Adresen", and father "Peter Adresen". peter.adresen@gmail.com.
    He told about a PHD interview to occur on monday, using 2 flights; luggages have been stolen yersteday, including ID and credit card. Ambassad would have give him eletronical ticket but Insurance paid not all the cost of the ticket so he needed few cash to fill the remaining.
    The transfer certificate also from Landsbankinn Island. Got his "father" at phone.
    I complaint at the police 2h later when I found this website.

    Hope I will be less naive and take much care of details…

  5. Unfortunately; I met him yesterday in Lyon, France, and I gave him 230€… I can't believe I had been such a fool to believe him, He just looks like he's really in deep need and always talking, he knows how to make you confident.
    I went to the Police but they didn't have heard about him.
    I lost my money and I know I can do nothing but If I see him again, I'm sure he won't smile anymore…..

    1. Bonjour, je viens de me faire avoir aussi il y a 3h à peine, à lyon également, cours lafayette. J'aimerais vous contacter afin de savoir si il agit dans une zone precise et si on a une chance de le retrouver.
      Je vous donne mon adresse mail : kevinm91@hotmail.fr

      1. Hello to both of you.

        I have set up a "police package" for the victims. Please contact the webmaster of this site so he deliver it to you.

  6. pareil , Le 17 aout à Paris dans le 5ème. Nous lui avons gracieusement donné 280 euros
    alleluia

  7. I was scammed off these douchebags 2 years ago in Murcia, Spain. I'm amazed they're still active. I reported police and gave them all info I found on internet, they said they would report to Interpol, but in fact they also said it's really hard to catch them. Hope some person would unmask them.
    Still dreaming about seeing those fuckers again on the streets and having an epic and bloody fight.

  8. Yesterday, he was in Saarbrücken!!! He actually said that he was some days in France. So, sometime he really tells the truth. We called the police!!!

  9. my girlfriend and her friend was scammed by this guy in milano july 2012. same story, same trick. after giving him 200 euro cache he was invited for dinner. they even took photos with him.
    unbelievable!!!

  10. Hi all,

    I was scammed off by him 2 days ago in Prague (11.9.2013). Told me he is from Nassau, Bahamas, named “Philip Morgen”, and father “Nicholas Morgen”. nicholas.m.morgan@gmail.com. He talked about a PHD defence to occur in few days, luggages have been stolen etc. This experience cost me €200 (fortunatelly, I had no time to invite him for a dinner).

  11. Hi all,

    I was scammed today, same trick as with Martin. Bahamas, Philip Morgan, same e-mail, same phd story. But he gave me some security, pretty good earphones, for getting 300 €. I’d say, he won’t get them back anymore… I guess that security and the really good acting did the trick with me and my real damage will be about 200€ then.

  12. Hi
    We have just been scammed by this man a few minutes ago in Spain, with the same story as with Martin. We were a bit suspicious and we just came across this website… unbelievable.

  13. He is today (18.10.2013) in Rostock , Germany. 😉 He stole 40 minutes of my time with his PhD-story

  14. He is in Poland! 20.10.2013 he was in Poznan, talking abouth PhD, telling his name is Philip Morgan and he is from Bahamas. I can’t believe that.

  15. I met him in Copenhagen, on monday 20.10.2013. He was claiming that his name was Philip Morgan, and that he had to get back to the Bahamas in order to show his final PhD performance. He couldnt afford the trip, and needed 211 euros. He stole a lot of time with his story, but i had to go to my job. I think that I would have given him the money, so that’s kind of a lifesafer. He’s REALLY believable.

    BEWARE OF THIS FUCKER! He would have ruined me.

  16. He was in Rosenheim (Germany) on 23.10.2013, Same procedere like in Copenhagen and Poznan. He wanted 238€ for a flight to the UK and i gave it to him. Very very naive…

  17. Last month I visited your site, because I was scammed by a guy named “Philip Morgan”. I didn’t go to the police, because he didn’t tell me his real name and surname, so I thought there was no point. I don’t know this f*cker, I don’t know where he is, I don’t know anything.
    I thought that the only thing I can do is to spread information about him. I left comment on your site, I wrote to some newspapers and… One of the journalists wrote an article about this guy. She found his profile on facebook – and it may be real! Just look: https://www.facebook.com/ivo.bach.7
    Probably, he is from Czech Republic, he may study at the Universite de Caen Basse – Normandie.
    Feel free to public his photos – at last his profile is PUBLIC. He has changed, but there is one thing which is still the same – his tooth.
    He gave me this information:
    Philip Morgan, West Bay Street 40/1
    Nassau Npi
    Bahamas
    philphilipmorgan@yahoo.com
    Skype: philphilipmorgan
    NOVA Southeastern University Nassau
    Dep International business realtionship and law

  18. Pingback: Stranded student scammer unveiled!? | A Division by Zer0

  19. Hello,
    Unfortunately, three days ago I met this guy, he called himself Philip Morgan, it was the same story with the flight tickets. I met him in Bratislava, very close to my house. He pretended to be a foreigner, from Bahami. I realized I was scammed quite soon and I felt horribly – I couldn’t understand why I did such a stupid thing. He started to talk and he kept talking during the whole “procedure”, he gave me no time to think – he pushed me exactly where he wanted to. Now I think it is very important not to believe anyone who is pushing too much on you. This guy knows how to push you if you are willing to help.
    I went to the police, even if I know there is no point in it. I just wanted to do at least something.
    I would really like to know who he is.

  20. His name was Ivo Akrap in 2005, when I met him. He is from Czech Republic. Never heard from him again. At least he is alive.

  21. I met this guy in Zurich in 2008, I think. He was with a slightly younger blond guy. He called himself Ivo Akrap then and gave me the Greenland story. He spoke to his “dad” on the phone, it sounded vaguely like Danish. As identification he showed me his Karta Z, which is (or was) a czech rail card that gives you a reduced fare. They’re easy to get, for foreigners as well (I used to have one). So that doesn’t quite prove that he’s czech. He offered to give it to me, but I didn’t take it.

Comments are closed.