A Texas agency lately charged with conspiring to distribute artificial opioids within the United States is on the middle of an unlimited community of firms within the U.S. and Pakistan whose staff are accused of utilizing on-line adverts to rip-off westerners searching for assist with emblems, e book writing, cell app growth and brand designs, a brand new investigation reveals.
In an indictment (PDF) unsealed final month, the U.S. Department of Justice mentioned Dallas-based eWorldTrade “operated an online business-to-business marketplace that facilitated the distribution of synthetic opioids such as isotonitazene and carfentanyl, both significantly more potent than fentanyl.”
Launched in 2017, eWorldTrade[.]com now options a seizure discover from the DOJ. eWorldTrade operated as a wholesale vendor of client items, together with garments, equipment, chemical compounds, cars and home equipment. The DOJ’s indictment contains no extra particulars about eWorldTrade’s enterprise, origins or different exercise, and at first look the web site may look like a official e-commerce platform that additionally simply occurred to promote some restricted chemical compounds.
A screenshot of the eWorldTrade homepage on March 25, 2025. Image: archive.org.
However, an investigation into the corporate’s founders reveals they’re linked to a sprawling community of internet sites which have a historical past of extortionate scams involving trademark registration, e book publishing, examination preparation, and the design of logos, cell functions and web sites.
Records from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) present the eWorldTrade mark is owned by an Azneem Bilwani in Karachi (this title is also within the registration information for the now-seized eWorldTrade area). Mr. Bilwani is maybe higher generally known as the director of the Pakistan-based IT supplier Abtach Ltd., which has been singled out by the USPTO and Google for working trademark registration scams (the principle places of work for eWorldtrade and Abtach share the identical deal with in Pakistan).
In November 2021, the USPTO accused Abtach of perpetrating “an egregious scheme to deceive and defraud applicants for federal trademark registrations by improperly altering official USPTO correspondence, overcharging application filing fees, misappropriating the USPTO’s trademarks, and impersonating the USPTO.”
Abtach provided trademark registration at suspiciously low costs in comparison with official prices of over USD $1,500, and claimed they may register a trademark in 24 hours. Abtach reportedly rebranded to Intersys Limited after the USPTO banned Abtach from submitting any extra trademark functions.
In a word printed to its LinkedIn profile, Intersys Ltd. asserted final 12 months that sure rip-off companies in Karachi had been impersonating the corporate.
FROM AXACT TO ABTACH
Many of Abtach’s staff are former associates of the same firm in Pakistan referred to as Axact that was focused by Pakistani authorities in a 2015 fraud investigation. Axact got here beneath regulation enforcement scrutiny after The New York Times ran a front-page story in regards to the firm’s most profitable rip-off enterprise: Hundreds of websites peddling faux school levels and diplomas.
People who bought faux certifications had been subsequently blackmailed by Axact staff posing as authorities officers, who would demand extra funds beneath threats of prosecution or imprisonment for having purchased fraudulent “unauthorized” educational levels. This observe created a steady cycle of extortion, internally known as “upselling.”
“Axact took money from at least 215,000 people in 197 countries — one-third of them from the United States,” The Times reported. “Sales agents wielded threats and false promises and impersonated government officials, earning the company at least $89 million in its final year of operation.”
Dozens of high Axact staff had been arrested, jailed, held for months, tried and sentenced to seven years for numerous fraud violations. But a 2019 analysis transient on Axact’s diploma mills discovered none of these convicted had began their jail sentence, and that a number of had fled Pakistan and by no means returned.
“In October 2016, a Pakistan district judge acquitted 24 Axact officials at trial due to ‘not enough evidence’ and then later admitted he had accepted a bribe (of $35,209) from Axact,” reads a historical past (PDF) printed by the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers.
In 2021, Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) charged Bilwani and almost 4 dozen others — lots of them Abtach staff — with working an elaborate trademark rip-off. The authorities referred to as it “the biggest money laundering case in the history of Pakistan,” and named a variety of companies primarily based in Texas that allegedly helped transfer the proceeds of cybercrime.
A web page from the March 2021 FIA report alleging that Digitonics Labs and Abtach staff conspired to extort and defraud customers.
The FIA mentioned the defendants operated a lot of web sites providing low-cost trademark providers to clients, earlier than then “ignoring them after getting the funds and later demanding more funds from clients/victims in the name of up-sale (extortion).” The Pakistani regulation enforcement company mentioned that about 75 % of consumers acquired faux or fabricated emblems because of the scams.
The FIA discovered Abtach operates at the side of a Karachi agency referred to as Digitonics Labs, which earned a month-to-month income of round $2.5 million by means of the “extortion of international clients in the name of up-selling, the sale of fake/fabricated USPTO certificates, and the maintaining of phishing websites.”
According the Pakistani authorities, the accused additionally ran numerous scams involving book publication and brand creation, whereby clients are subjected to advance-fee fraud and extortion — with the scammers demanding extra money for supposed “copyright release” and threatening to launch the trademark.
Also charged by the FIA was Junaid Mansoor, the proprietor of Digitonics Labs in Karachi. Mansoor’s U.Ok.-registered firm Maple Solutions Direct Limited has run a minimum of 700 adverts for brand design web sites since 2015, the Google Ads Transparency web page stories. The firm has roughly 88 adverts working on Google as of immediately.
Junaid Mansoor. Source: youtube/@Olevels․com School.
Mr. Mansoor is actively concerned with and selling a Quran research enterprise referred to as quranmasteronline[.]com, which was based by Junaid’s brother Qasim Mansoor (Qasim can be named within the FIA legal investigation). The Google adverts selling quranmasteronline[.]com had been paid for by the identical account promoting a variety of rip-off web sites promoting brand and net design providers.
Junaid Mansoor didn’t reply to requests for remark. An deal with in Teaneck, New Jersey the place Mr. Mansoor beforehand lived is listed as an official deal with of exporthub[.]com, a Pakistan-based e-commerce web site that seems remarkably just like eWorldTrade (Exporthub says its places of work are in Texas). Interestingly, a search in Google for this area exhibits ExportHub at present options a number of listings for fentanyl citrate from suppliers in China and elsewhere.
The CEO of Digitonics Labs is Muhammad Burhan Mirza, a former Axact official who was arrested by the FIA as a part of its cash laundering and trademark fraud investigation in 2021. In 2023, prosecutors in Pakistan charged Mirza, Mansoor and 14 different Digitonics staff with fraud, impersonating authorities officers, phishing, dishonest and extortion. Mirza’s LinkedIn profile says he at present runs an academic know-how/life coach enterprise referred to as TheCoach360, which purports to assist younger children “achieve financial independence.”
Reached through LinkedIn, Mr. Mirza denied having something to do with eWorldTrade or any of its sister firms in Texas.
“Moreover, I have no knowledge as to the companies you have mentioned,” mentioned Mr. Mirza, who didn’t reply to follow-up questions.
The present disposition of the FIA’s fraud case in opposition to the defendants is unclear. The investigation was marred early on by allegations of corruption and bribery. In 2021, Pakistani authorities alleged Bilwani paid a six-figure bribe to FIA investigators. Meanwhile, attorneys for Mr. Bilwani have argued that though their shopper did pay a bribe, the cost was solicited by authorities officers. Mr. Bilwani didn’t reply to requests for remark.
THE TEXAS NEXUS
KrebsOnSecurity has discovered that the folks and entities on the middle of the FIA investigations have constructed a major presence within the United States, with a robust focus in Texas. The Texas companies promote web sites that promote brand and net design, ghostwriting, and educational dishonest providers. Many of those entities have lately been sued for fraud and breach of contract by offended former clients, who claimed the businesses relentlessly upsold them whereas failing to provide the work as promised.
For instance, the FIA complaints named Retrocube LLC and 360 Digital Marketing LLC, two entities that share a road deal with with eWorldTrade: 1910 Pacific Avenue, Suite 8025, Dallas, Texas. Also integrated at that Pacific Avenue deal with is abtach[.]ae, an online design and advertising and marketing agency primarily based in Dubai; and intersyslimited[.]com, the brand new title of Abtach after they had been banned by the USPTO. Other companies registered at this deal with market providers for brand design, cell app growth, and ghostwriting.
A listing printed in 2021 by Pakistan’s FIA of various entrance firms allegedly concerned in scamming people who find themselves in search of assist with emblems, ghostwriting, logos and net design.
360 Digital Marketing’s web site 360digimarketing[.]com is owned by an Abtach entrance firm referred to as Abtech LTD. Meanwhile, enterprise information present 360 Digi Marketing LTD is a U.Ok. firm whose officers embody former Abtach director Bilwani; Muhammad Saad Iqbal, previously Abtach, now CEO of Intersys Ltd; Niaz Ahmed, a former Abtach affiliate; and Muhammad Salman Yousuf, previously a vice chairman at Axact, Abtach, and Digitonics Labs.
Google’s Ads Transparency Center finds 360 Digital Marketing LLC ran a minimum of 500 adverts selling numerous web sites promoting ghostwriting providers . Another entity tied to Junaid Mansoor — an organization referred to as Octa Group Technologies AU — has run roughly 300 Google adverts for e book publishing providers, selling confusingly named web sites like amazonlistinghub[.]com and barnesnoblepublishing[.]co.
360 Digital Marketing LLC ran roughly 500 adverts for rip-off ghostwriting websites.
Rameez Moiz is a Texas resident and former Abtach product supervisor who has represented 360 Digital Marketing LLC and RetroCube. Moiz advised KrebsOnSecurity he stopped working for 360 Digital Marketing in the summertime of 2023. Mr. Moiz didn’t reply to follow-up questions, however an Upwork profile for him states that as of April 2025 he’s employed by Dallas-based Vertical Minds LLC.
In April 2025, California resident Melinda Will sued the Texas agency Majestic Ghostwriting — which is doing enterprise as ghostwritingsquad[.]com — alleging they scammed her out of $100,000 after she employed them to assist write her e book. Google’s advert transparency web page exhibits Moiz’s employer Vertical Minds LLC paid to run roughly 55 adverts for ghostwritingsquad[.]com and associated websites.
Google’s advert transparency itemizing for ghostwriting adverts paid for by Vertical Minds LLC.
VICTIMS SPEAK OUT
Ms. Will’s lawsuit is only one of greater than two dozen complaints over the previous 4 years whereby plaintiffs sued certainly one of this group’s net design, wiki modifying or ghostwriting providers. In 2021, a New Jersey man sued Octagroup Technologies, alleging they ripped him off when he paid a complete of greater than $26,000 for the design and advertising and marketing of a web-based mapping service.
The plaintiff in that case didn’t reply to requests for remark, however his grievance alleges Octagroup and a myriad different firms it contracted with produced minimal work product regardless of subjecting him to relentless upselling. That case was determined in favor of the plaintiff as a result of the defendants by no means contested the matter in court docket.
In 2023, 360 Digital Marketing LLC and Retrocube LLC had been sued by a girl who mentioned they scammed her out of $40,000 over a e book she needed assist writing. That lawsuit helpfully confirmed a picture of the workplace entrance door at 1910 Pacific Ave Suite 8025, which featured the logos of 360 Digital Marketing, Retrocube, and eWorldTrade.
The entrance door at 1910 Pacific Avenue, Suite 8025, Dallas, Texas.
The lawsuit was filed professional se by Leigh Riley, a 64-year-old profession IT skilled who paid 360 Digital Marketing to have an organization referred to as Talented Ghostwriter co-author and promote a collection of books she’d outlined on spirituality and therapeutic.
“The main reason I hired them was because I didn’t understand what I call the formula for writing a book, and I know there’s a lot of marketing that goes into publishing,” Riley defined in an interview. “I know nothing about that stuff, and these guys were convincing that they could handle all aspects of it. Until I discovered they couldn’t write a damn sentence in English properly.”
Riley’s well-documented lawsuit (not linked right here as a result of it options an excessive amount of private data) contains screenshots of conversations with the ghostwriting crew, which was consistently assigning her to new writers and editors, and ghosting her on scheduled convention calls about progress on the undertaking. Riley mentioned she ended up writing a lot of the e book herself as a result of the work they produced was unusable.
“Finally after months of promising the books were printed and on their way, they show up at my doorstep with the wrong title on the book,” Riley mentioned. When she demanded her a reimbursement, she mentioned the folks serving to her with the web site to advertise the e book locked her out of the location.
A dialog snippet from Leigh Riley’s lawsuit in opposition to Talented Ghostwriter, aka 360 Digital Marketing LLC. “Other companies once they have you money they don’t even respond or do anything,” the ghostwriting crew supervisor defined.
Riley determined to sue, naming 360 Digital Marketing LLC and Retrocube LLC, amongst others. The firms provided to settle the matter for $20,000, which she accepted. “I didn’t have money to hire a lawyer, and I figured it was time to cut my losses,” she mentioned.
Riley mentioned she may have saved herself an excessive amount of headache by performing some primary analysis on Talented Ghostwriter, whose web site claims the corporate is predicated in Los Angeles. According to the California Secretary of State, nonetheless, there isn’t any registered entity by that title. Rather, the deal with claimed by talentedghostwriter[.]com is a vacant workplace constructing with a “space available” signal within the window.
California resident Walter Horsting found one thing comparable when he sued 360 Digital Marketing in small claims court docket final 12 months, after hiring an organization referred to as Vox Ghostwriting to assist write, edit and promote a spy novel he’d been engaged on. Horsting mentioned he paid Vox $3,300 to ghostwrite a 280-page e book, and was upsold an Amazon advertising and marketing and publishing package deal for $7,500.
In an interview, Horsting mentioned the prose that Vox Ghostwriting produced was “juvenile at best,” forcing him to rewrite and edit the work himself, and to companion with a graphical artist to provide illustrations. Horsting mentioned that when it got here time to start advertising and marketing the novel, Vox Ghostwriting tried to additional upsell him on advertising and marketing packages, whereas dodging scheduled conferences with no follow-up.
“They have a money back guarantee, and when they wouldn’t refund my money I said I’m taking you to court,” Horsting recounted. “I tried to serve them in Los Angeles but found no such office exists. I talked to a salon next door and they said someone else had recently shown up desperately looking for where the ghostwriting company went, and it appears there are a trail of corpses on this. I finally tracked down where they are in Texas.”
It was the identical workplace that Ms. Riley served her lawsuit in opposition to. Horsting mentioned he has a court docket listening to scheduled later this month, however he’s beneath no illusions that profitable the case means he’ll be capable of accumulate.
“At this point, I’m doing it out of pride more than actually expecting anything to come to good fortune for me,” he mentioned.
The following thoughts map was useful in piecing collectively key occasions, people and connections talked about above. It’s vital to notice that this graphic solely scratches the floor of the operations tied to this group. For instance, in Case 2 we are able to see point out of educational dishonest providers, whereby folks might be employed to take on-line proctored exams on one’s behalf. Those who rent these providers quickly discover themselves topic to impersonation and blackmail makes an attempt for bigger and bigger sums of cash, with the specter of publicly exposing their unethical educational dishonest exercise.
A “mind map” illustrating the connections between and amongst entities referenced on this story. Click to enlarge.
GOOGLE RESPONDS
KrebsOnSecurity reviewed the Google Ad Transparency hyperlinks for almost 500 completely different web sites tied to this community of ghostwriting, brand, app and net growth companies. Those web site names had been then fed into spyfu.com, a aggressive intelligence firm that tracks the attain and efficiency of promoting key phrases. Spyfu estimates that between April 2023 and April 2025, these web sites spent greater than $10 million on Google adverts.
Reached for remark, Google mentioned in a written assertion that it’s consistently policing its advert community for dangerous actors, pointing to an adverts security report (PDF) exhibiting Google blocked or eliminated 5.1 billion dangerous adverts final 12 months — together with greater than 500 million adverts associated to emblems.
“Our policy against Enabling Dishonest Behavior prohibits products or services that help users mislead others, including ads for paper-writing or exam-taking services,” the assertion reads. “When we identify ads or advertisers that violate our policies, we take action, including by suspending advertiser accounts, disapproving ads, and restricting ads to specific domains when appropriate.”
Google didn’t reply to particular questions in regards to the promoting entities talked about on this story, saying solely that “we are actively investigating this matter and addressing any policy violations, including suspending advertiser accounts when appropriate.”
From reviewing the advert accounts which were selling these rip-off web sites, it seems Google has very lately acted to take away a lot of the offending adverts. Prior to my notifying Google in regards to the extent of this advert community on April 28, the Google Ad Transparency community listed over 500 adverts for 360 Digital Marketing; as of this publication, that quantity had dwindled to 10.
On April 30, Google introduced that beginning this month its adverts transparency web page will show the cost profile title because the payer title for verified advertisers, if that title differs from their verified advertiser title. Searchengineland.com writes the modifications are geared toward rising accountability in digital promoting.
This spreadsheet lists the domains, advertiser names, and Google Ad Transparency hyperlinks for greater than 350 entities providing ghostwriting, publishing, net design and educational dishonest providers.
KrebsOnSecurity want to thank the nameless safety researcher NatInfoSec for his or her help on this investigation.
For additional studying on Abtach and its myriad firms in all the above-mentioned verticals (ghostwriting, brand design, and many others.), see this Wikiwand entry.