Business Fraud
Business fraud consists of dishonest and illegal activities perpetrated by individuals or companies in order to provide an advantageous financial outcome to those persons or establishments. Also known as corporate fraud, these schemes often appear under the guise of legitimate business practices.
Identity Theft
Identity (ID) theft happens when someone steals your personal information to commit fraud.
The identity thief may use your information to fraudulently apply for contracts, training or to defraud others or misrepresent their false credentials. These acts can damage your professional status, and cost you time and money to restore your good name or your business brand. With both business fraud and identity theft false credentials may be presented.
Forgery and Counterfeiting
The creation of a false written document or alteration of a genuine one, with the intent to defraud.
Forgery consists of filling in blanks on a document containing a genuine signature, or materially altering or erasing an existing instrument (document).
Counterfeiting, often associated with forgery, is a separate category of fraud involving the manufacturer, alteration, or distribution of a product that is of lesser value than the genuine product.
Public Awareness Announcement
Reference: Use of the acronym “IRIA” Trade Name by Unauthorized Organizations and Websites
International Rescue Instructors Association (IRIA.org), formerly known as the International Rescue Instructors Alliance, owns and licenses numerous Trademarks™, Copyrights©, and Registered Trademark® which includes the acronym “IRIA” and is protected by copyright laws and international copyright treaties, for the exclusive use by its membership.
IRIA began to operate formally in 1999, based on the work started in 1995 by Canadian and American rescue and safety instructors, including Jim Segerstrom, who passed away in 2007, (USA), and Jim Lavalley, (Canada), who is recognized as an international court subject-matter expert in Swiftwater.
The acronym “IRIA” was created by the founding members of the International Rescue Instructors Association, and one can trace the acronym creation and use back to 1984 when Rescue Instructors Association (RIA) was created.
It has come to IRIA’s attention that organizations and websites have and are using a domain name similar to the IRIA.org brand name but have a slight difference. Particularly of concern are organizations and websites based the region of Asia, specifically China and the United States of America, where the acronym “IRIA” is being used with a slight change in one character thus looks striking similar to the original IRIA.org.
The organization(s) called “IRIA-US.COM”, are using the acronym “IRIA” in their name, logos or merchandise which implies it has, or had a connection with the International Rescue Instructors Association. The description of these organization(s) is a direct copy of IRIA’s history, its founder’s story and materials verbatim.
Including any future use of this name IRIA International Rescue Advisor – or reference to IRIA Instructors-Alliance-Advisor.
For the record, the organizations calling themselves, IRIA-US.COM are not members nor have an affiliation and relationship with the International Rescue Instructors Association (IRIA).
There is only one original IRIA.org; it’s the International Rescue Instructors Association.
For further information, please contact us.
This fraudulent activity by the participant and their associates have taken place since 2001 to 2020. They are not a recognized credentialed, assessed or certified course provider in the water safety community. The original courses provided in Taiwan were operating under the disciplines offered by Special Rescue Services and World Rescue Group™ in association with IRIA as the course auditor.