- Report: #1271222
Complaint Review: Imperial Teutonic Order - Internet
-
Author Confirmed
Why?
Imperial Teutonic Order
Internet, USA
Web:
http://imperialteutonicorder.com/
Categories:
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Imperial Teutonic Order, Order of Teutonic Knights, German Order Royal Rubbish, Imperial Fraud USA Server Internet
The website of the Imperial Teutonic Order (http://www.imperialteutonicorder.com/) is a spoof and fraud and scam of the legitimate organization of the Teutonic Knights (Deutscher Orden).
Although well organized and informative and historically accurate, the fraudulent Imperial Teutonic Knights website presents itself as a legitimate representative of the established and centuries-old Teutonic Knights presently based in Vienna, Austria, and Bad Mergentheim, Germany. This fraudulent online presence seeks to deceive the public into believing that a membership here will support the work and efforts of the offices in Vienna and Bad Mergentheim.
The Imperial Teutonic Knights website is in no way affiliated with or a representative of the legitimate home office in Vienna, Austria. The website usurps emblems and crests and photos that are not its legal possession, rather belong to the Prussian royal House of Hohenzollern and the Deutscher Orden.
The site also portrays itself as the associated with the Office of the Hochmeister ([email protected]), which is completely contrived. The fraud/scam here is perpetrated further through the membership charge/fee of Euro 150 and sales of various products.
The server is in the USA, so it is difficult for the European-based offices to take legal action.
Here are the legitimate sites:
http://www.deutscher-orden.at/site/lang/en
http://www.deutscher-orden.de/GB/
Head of the Teutonic Knights, Vienna, Austria
http://www.deutscher-orden.at/site/generalleitung/hochmeisteramt
Museum of the Teutonic Knights
http://www.deutschordensmuseum.de/service/museumsimpressum/
House of Hohenzollern
http://www.preussen.de/en/heute.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Hohenzollern
6 Updates & Rebuttals
Nik
Minneapolis,Minnesota,
United States
duplicate entry - my error
#2Author of original report
Thu, January 11, 2024
Dear Editorial Staff,
Please remove my second, dulicate entry.
This is listed as #5 and is my error:
chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://a836-edms.nyc.gov/dctm-rest/repositories/dofedmspts/StatementSearch?bbl=5002630018&stmtDate=20201121&stmtType=SOA
My apology for the oversight.
Nik
Minneapolis,Minnesota,
United States
name & location
#3Author of original report
Wed, January 10, 2024
Donald M. Branen
chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://a836-edms.nyc.gov/dctm-rest/repositories/dofedmspts/StatementSearch?bbl=5002630018&stmtDate=20201121&stmtType=SOA
Nik
Minneapolis,Minnesota,
United States
legal update
#4Author of original report
Tue, August 24, 2021
Please refer to the statment here from NYC Dept. Finance:
Nik
Minneapolis,Minnesota,
United States
legal details
#5Author of original report
Sun, August 15, 2021
In 2010, the office of the Grandmaster (Hochmeister) of the Knights Teutonic Order took legal action against Donald M. Branen. The criminal complaint was filed with the DA's Office in Munich. There is only a succinct reference to the case on the Knights' website (in German):
https://www.deutscher-orden.at/site/authentizitaet
The summary there has no detail as to the results. Given that the websites of Branen still are running the scam, it appears that the legal action has been unsuccessful to date.
If you able to follow through on this matter in the US, please do so. You may want to contact the German Embassy or Austrian Embassy with your concerns for further insight on how to proceed. Either embassy or both may also help cover legal costs.
Lance
Bordentown,New Jersey,
United States
I Was Scammed As Well
#6Consumer Comment
Sat, August 14, 2021
I wish I had seen this report before I went down the road with this scammer. Although the European authorities may not be able to do much, those of us here in the US who were defrauded can definitely take action. I would like to know how you found out who is behind the fraud, as I live fairly close to his reported address and would be willing to file a criminal complaint - but I need evidence linking him to it. There have to be plenty of others out there who would want to testify as victims.
Nik
Minneapolis,United States
Teutonic Knights / Teutonic Order - scam artist
#7Author of original report
Wed, April 15, 2020
In addition to the original scam website https://imperialteutonicorder.com/ , the scam artist has now created a second website http://deutscher-orden-at.com/ .
This imposter needs to be exposed - Donald Michael Branen (DOB 1956) has several addresses:
(((REDACTED)))Staten Island, NY (((REDACTED)))
OR
(((REDACTED)))
Staten Island, NY (((REDACTED)))
OR
(((REDACTED)))
Staten Island, NY (((REDACTED)))
The office of the Teutonic Order, Vienna, has initiated legal action against Branen:
