[Nhcoll-l] Advice on getting rid of the scammer "Dr. Rehmani"?

[Bentley, Andrew Charles]

Brian

Yes, these guys are persistent and I have been "after" them for some time now.  I have contacted relevant officials (those who's email addresses I could find) in India to see if they would do anything but no luck as of yet.  It is telling however that I have not received any messages from him in a long time.

What I have been doing is sending the below email to Dr. Rehman every time I see or hear of any emails from him to others.  If nothing else it at least lets him know that we are on to him and that he has very little chance of receiving any specimens.  Not sure how else we can get him stopped for good.  If there is anyone on this list who has contacts in India who may be able to assist in tracking him down and getting him stopped, please email me.

Andy

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Dr Rehman

I have again received word from a natural history museum here in the US of your request for specimens.

Once again (I sent you a message to this effect a while back), your practices are well known here in the United States.  In doing some research into your "museum" I have ascertained that you are not a museum at all (and did not suffer a catastrophic fire!!) but a distribution center for specimens that you sell for profit.  If this is true, this is contrary to the mandate of natural history museums who do not condone the practice of selling specimens for profit.  Your letter also falsely plays on the good nature of museum collections for your own monetary gain.  Aside from this, you are also illegally importing specimens into your own country.

Letters to this effect have been written to government officials in India in an attempt to have this issue resolved.

Again, I renew my request that you forward to me evidence of your museum status to clarify this issue, otherwise I will continue to publish information within the museum community both here in the United States and internationally that warns museums not to fall for your hoax and not to deal with you.

Andy Bentley

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 }<(((_°>.,.,.,.}<(((_°>.,.,.,.}<)))_°>
    V                V                V
 Andy Bentley
 Ichthyology Collection Manager
 University of Kansas
 Biodiversity Institute
 Dyche Hall
 1345 Jayhawk Boulevard
 Lawrence, KS, 66045-7561
 USA

 Tel: (785) 864-3863
 Fax: (785) 864-5335 
 Email: abentley at ku.edu  
 http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu
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-----Original Message-----
From: nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu [mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu] On Behalf Of Brian Sidlauskas
Sent: Wednesday, May 09, 2012 11:30 AM
To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Advice on getting rid of the scammer "Dr. Rehmani"?

Hi Folks,

As I know many of you are aware, there's a biological supply house in Jhansi, India that sends out emails under the name of "Dr. Rehmani" and the fictitious institution of the "Museum of Life-Science" in an attempt to get people to donate specimens for educational purposes, which they 
then resell.    They're apparently active again, and have been targeting 
Oregon State's collections this week.   Be warned if you also get a 
message from them. There's more documentation on the nature of the scam back in the archives of this list.

In my immediate case, I was wondering if anyone has any advice on getting these guys to go away.  So far I've been ignoring them, but someone who wasn't aware of the scam recommended that they talk with me, and now I'm beginning to get daily emails from them.  "Dr. Rehmani" is nothing if not persistent.

Thanks for any advice,

-- Brian

-- 

***************************************

Brian Sidlauskas
Assistant Professor
Department of Fisheries and Wildlife
104 Nash Hall
Oregon State University
Corvallis, OR 97331-3803

Voice: 541-737-1939
Fax: 541-737-3590
Email: brian.sidlauskas at oregonstate.edu
Web: http://people.oregonstate.edu/~sidlausb/

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