Beta Brown Re Shippers Scheme Saint Louis Internet

I was looking for employment on Indeed or another job search agent, when I came across an advertisement for a stay at home job. I read the job description and it looked promising so I applied. The company- which calls itself BetaBrown Inc.- contacted me to work for them in early December. I checked out their website, read the contract they sent, analyzed the initial emails from their Human Resources department, and everything appeared to be in order. They listed a Saint Louis, Missouri address as their corporate headquarters and a phone number from that city as well as their means of contact.

The gist of the job was this: customers in Europe & other parts of America would order items and I would serve as a conduit of sorts; re-packing their boxes so they could save money and then I would send off their packages to another location. Packages would be sent to my house. Some would be in my name and others would be in the name of the customer that made the initial purchase. The company provided the shipping labels for the new destination for each package. It was important that I remove the shipping labels and paperwork that came with the initial package. Nothing was to be sent that included the initial origins of the package.

For the first month, I was told to reuse the boxes that came with the packages. During the second month, they would send boxes of their own for my convenience. I was told that I’d be paid $2500 one month after having received my first package. The first thirty days served as a probationary period. After the first month, if I were satisfied with the company and they were with me, then my salary would go to $3000 and I would be paid every two weeks.

I’d have to notify the company upon receipt of packages (from UPS, FEDEX & the USPS) and take pictures of the contents of each shipment and inventory it and send that information on to my supervisor. The company monitored shipments so they would be able to communicate me to confirm receipt. At the end of each day, I’d have to submit a report to my supervisor containing the items that I received and sent. At the end of the week, I was to submit a report with items in my possession as well as those that I sent and received.

BetaBrown provided me with detailed instructions and a supervisor and operations manager. Both people had first and last names common in America. My immediate supervisor’s name was Lisa Longo and the operations manager’s name was Donald Hubbard.

The first day of my employment the company called and I missed their call. An employee left a message but the connection was terrible. I found that strange as the company I use for cell reception has great service on my end, but I didn’t put too much stock in it. When I was finally able to speak with the representative for the first time, the connection was even worse and her voice cut off. I thought that this was strange. It was even more odd that the person had an Eastern European accent and introduced herself as “Jana” but I figured America is a country of immigrants so she could just be one of many. I talked with the representative again & the connection was bad so this was a recurring problem. The company would hardly ever answer if I called- which was another red flag. I remember asking Jana- point blank- if the company’s call center was located in America and she told me it was.

About two weeks into the job, I encountered a package that had writing on it. It expressly stated that it was illegal to reship the contents of that package to a third party and that I’d be held civilly responsible for doing so. At this point, I called the company and found out that what I was doing would be considered fraud and since the contents of the package were worth more than $1,500, it would be considered a felony to anyone involved. I received a shipping label for this package, but refused to send it off until I spoke with Lisa Longo directly.

She wouldn’t return my calls initially.  It was only after I had stated this was an emergency and would not ship the package, that I could get my supervisor on the phone. Lisa Longo’s English was also not like a native speaker. She had an Eastern European accent and made grammatical mistakes that were common for speakers of English as a Second Language. (I should know because I worked abroad for 5 years as an ESL teacher). In her emails, she formulated her sentences like someone who came from the Eastern bloc. My communication with Mr. Hubbard, the so-called operations manager, was strictly by email. His English was like a native speaker.

After this episode with the package, I contacted a law enforcement official with the United States Postal Inspection Service and asked him for advice. He told me that what I was involved with was a re-shipper’s scheme and it is very common in the United States. Essentially, I was a mule, an unknowing participant in the middle of a chain. A person would have their credit card numbers stolen, BetaBrown would make purchases in their name, send the packages to me, and I would send it off to someone on the East Coast who would then load the items on a freighter bound for Eastern Europe. Indeed, the destination for my packages were in Delaware and New York. The paper trail, if there ever was one, would lead to me- as my address was the destination for the shipper where the purchase was made. However, as precarious as this situation was, I was very fortunate to have uncovered the truth so soon into starting my employment. Most people find out five or six weeks in- and most are not paid.  

Furthermore, the shipping labels that I was sent were fake. The official told me that the post office’s technology would scan the shipping labels that I printed, but the forgery is so good that the post office wouldn’t detect it. Obviously, those post offices that didn’t have scanners would be in the same boat. He told me that in the process of applying for the job my identity was stolen and BetaBrown could have taken out credit cards in my name. I was urged to get a copy of my credit report. Fraudsters from Russia or the Ukraine were the ringleaders of these kinds of operations and they were very complex. It is very difficult to know that you are involved in a scheme because these people expertly set it up- rather than the very basic Nigerian ones.

I was advised to cut off all contact with the company; block their email addresses, not answer their phone calls, notify local law enforcement, report everything to the FTC and USPIS, and contact all the companies that I received packages from. I was fortunate in that I had more packages in my possession- including the most expensive ones- than I had sent off. This was a product of luck and the company’s policy of directing when I sent specific packages and to whom. In other words, the order in which I received said packages was not necessarily the order in which I’d ship them.

Contacting the companies and letting them know that this was a fraudulent scheme was largely an easy thing to do. Many people were extremely grateful to me. They were taken aback by the complexity of the operation and extremely thankful to me for doing the right thing as soon as I figured out it was a scam. However, some only cared about their bottom line and once they “verified” that everything was okay on their end with the shipment- i.e. that the customer’s bank account had sufficient money in their account- they washed their hands of the transaction. Other purchases were impossible to track down- for whatever reason.

As part of doing my homework, I contacted the Saint Louis Better Business Bureau. The investigator there was very helpful. He took notes about my experience and details about the company and reported back to me. It turns out that BetaBrown is a ghost company. Its office in Saint Louis is non-existent. The phone number they use to contact me was a clone account- meaning they’d call me from Eastern Europe but it’d appear as if they’re calling me from Saint Louis.

When I stopped reporting to the company, I received emails asking me why I stopped working. They must’ve figured out that I was onto them because the operations manager sent me a document that stated they were licensed to operate in the state of Missouri and that they are a legitimate company. It was “signed” by Jason Kander, the Secretary of State. I sent that document to the investigator at the St. Louis Better Business Bureau and he told me it was a forgery. The concerned emails quickly turned to those of a threatening manner. I was told that what I was doing was illegal and I was under suspicion of stealing from the company. They even had the audacity to tell me that they were going to report me to law enforcement as I was delaying their clients’ orders and under suspicion of stealing from them!

BetaBrown Inc operates a very complex operation; one which is very hard to detect initially as being illicit. I’ve got a master’s degree and spent time in other countries and I was hoodwinked. These individuals prey on people’s desperation to find work and take advantage of it. In essence, there are two sets of victims- those that have their identities and funds stolen and those that unwittingly are middle men in said scam. I will include as much information about this company and its communication with me as possible in order to facilitate their end as well as help other victims.

Website: betabrown.com/

Contact information provided: Tel (314) 474-1500; Fax (888) 795-9586

People I was in email contact whilst working for BetaBrown:

Rose R. Olivier: hr@betabrown.com

Donald C. Hubbard: donaldhubbard@unicorpex.com

Lisa Longo: lisalongo@betabrown.com