The scammers coming out of India can’t stop themselves, and now have created a fake IAF CertSearch clone for one reason or another.
Whereas the official CertSearch site URL is “www.iafcertsearch.org,” the scammers registered “www.iafcrtsearch.org” (one letter missing) and then created a page designed to mimic the official IAF one. The image below shows the official IAF page on top, and the fake version at bottom.
Some sleuthing on my part points to this being another offshoot product of the scammers behind a prior attempt at creating a fake database, called the “Global ISO Register.” As I reported back in 2024, that site tries to get people to send money to a post office in the USA, but it’s actually hosted out of India. It supposedly gives you access to a full registry of ISO certificates worldwide, but more than likely, it just takes your money and gives you absolutely nothing in return.
We tracked some connection to a Pakistani scammer called Zia ul Haq Ijaz Ahmed, but only to the extent that his fake certificate mill promotes Global ISO. He might not be the actual guy behind it, even if he’s promoting it.
The code behind “IAFcrtsearch” then links to another copy of the site, this one hosted at “GlobalCertddb.org.” Both of the fake sites use GoDaddy hosting obfuscation, so we can’t know who actually runs them without a court order to unmask them.
The fake sites purport to use official IAF data to populate their fake databases, but for now neither of them actually work. They appear to have been set up some time last year, but are still not finished.
Christopher Paris is the founder and VP Operations of Oxebridge. He has over 30 years’ experience implementing ISO 9001 and AS9100 systems, and helps establish certification and accreditation bodies with the ISO 17000 series. He is a vocal advocate for the development and use of standards from the point of view of actual users. He is the writer and artist of THE AUDITOR comic strip, and is currently writing the DR. CUBA pulp novel series. Visit www.drcuba.world
