I wire transferred the sum of US $5500 to The Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd, Ueno Branch, 1-14-4 Higashi Ueno, Taito Ku, Tokyo, 110-0015, Japan, account no. 5463066, on 31 /07/08, in the name of a Richard Bent and Suzuki Junko, of Auto Mart Japan, www.automartjapan.com in Shitaya 3-5-3, TM Hermes House, Taito Ku, Tokyo 1100004 Japan. Tel: 0-3-3873-3327 Cell: 0-90-9950-6247, for the purchase of a used panel van.

My worst fears have been realized that the company, Auto Mart Japan, is not legitimate, and its managing director, Richard Bent, is a fraudster and con artist. My van was promised on 31st August 2008, and it has not materialized and now the scam artist, Bent no longer replies to my emails and has gone underground.

I have traced the website to its developers, Tim Worley, in Australia, E-mail: [email protected] & [email protected] & [email protected] www.weblife.com.au and his accomplice, Moharana Basanta, from Bhubaneswar India [email protected] & http://basantamoharana.wordpress.com/
Worley claims that he does not know where Bent is or what he looks like. Basanta claims that he does not know anything about Auto Mart Japan, as he is only the web developer. Their actions are very peculiar and suspicious however.
If they have nothing to hide, it is suspicious why they have changed names and switched information on their websites. I believe the character Richard Bent, is a composite character of Tim Worley, from Australia, and Basanta Moharana, from India, who fronted as the voice.
Basanta writes emails pretending to be someone of little education, but he makes deliberate mistakes only a literate person would make, as he writes perfect English on his website. Basanta has since removed all ties to Tim Worley and Automartjapan from his site. My first communication with Worley, I wrote “Bent-Basanta, ” and he made no distinction between the two. When asked about providing the names and contact numbers of the police officers he made out his report to in Japan and Australia, Worley claimed to have thrown away their cards. He claims to have 160 emails from Bent but can’t provide a sample with an address, he cannot provide any documents with Bent’s name for their financial transactions, I gave him the numbers of Interpol in my country to call, but he hasn’t contacted them, he claims he will give all information he has to the police only when he is contacted.
On checking the who is website http://whois.domaintools.com/automartjapan.com you will notice that all the registrant, admin address email address and contact details of Tim Worley have been changed recently to a different name, Frank Costanza, of Australia. Postings of Auto Mart Japan’s dealings can be seen at this site: http://blog.japundit.com/archives/2008/12/08/9148/
Someone who was conned by Bent in Kenya posted here: http://www. funadvice.com/q/fraud_ in_japanese_second_hand_cars

Worley also has vested interests at this website: www.webko.com.au and is at the same address as his.
There is a definite pattern in the names of entertainers Worley uses; Richard Bent, Simon Paul, Frank Costanza.

I have all the necessary supporting documents, evidence and correspondence etc. to expedite investigation of this case.

Bob Hope