Greenwood Warren / Martin Campbell / Michael Banks / Michael Goodwood: Advance Fee Fraud

This notice is issued by the Financial Supervision Commission (“the Commission”) in accordance with the powers conferred upon it under Section 22 of the Financial Supervision Act 1988.

Suspicious emails purporting to have been sent by

Advance Fee Fraud

"For the avoidance of doubt this Public Warning relates only to the use of the above names within emails matching the following description. It does not relate to the above names in any other context. These names may be purely an invention of those sending such emails or may be those of innocent persons fraudulently assumed by the senders of such emails. "

The Commission has recently become aware of emails received by members of the Public purporting to have been sent by one or other of the above named individuals.

Within the emails, the above named purported Greenwood Warren, Michael Banks and Michael Goodwood claim to be employed as “Chairman, Audit Committee” with “HSBC Bank plc, Ramsey, Isle of Man”. The purported Martin Campbell claims to be employed as “Auditor General” with “HSBC Bank plc, Douglas, Isle of Man”.

The emails state that the senders are aware of a very large deposit, said to consist of many millions of Dollars, Euros or Pounds, allegedly held by their relevant banks, the holder of which has purportedly died in an accident. The emails seek the assistance of the recipient in posing as next of kin to the purported account holder in order to have the funds transferred out of the banks. The emails offer the recipient a percentage of the funds in return for so acting.

The Commission wishes to draw attention to the following observations regarding the aforementioned emails:

There is a genuine holder of an Isle of Man Banking Licence called HSBC Bank PLC with offices in Douglas, and a branch in Ramsey, Isle of Man. Details of all licence holders of the Commission are available on our website www.fsc.gov.im

There are no persons by the name of Greenwood Warren, Martin Campbell, Michael Banks or Michael Goodwood now or formerly employed by the genuine HSBC Bank PLC on the Isle of Man as “Chairman, Audit Committee” “Auditor General” or in any other role.

Under the circumstances the Commission feels that these emails are being issued to either tempt the recipient into becoming the victim of an Advance Fee Fraud (see explanatory notice issued by the Commission at:

http://www.iomfsa.im/ViewNews.gov?page=lib/news/iomfsa/westafricanfraud.xml)

or are an attempt at gaining personal data from the recipient in order to steal their identity (see explanatory notice issued by the Commission at:

http://www.iomfsa.im/ViewNews.gov?page=lib/news/iomfsa/identitytheft.xml)

Under the circumstances the Commission would encourage people receiving emails matching the above description to refrain from responding to them in any way.

Any persons who are already involved in any dealings resulting from the above emails and have concerns should contact the Enforcement Division on +44 1624 689313 or by email to fsc@gov.im .

Any persons who have paid out funds in relation to the above emails or who have provided personal financial details in relation to the above emails should consider contacting their local police fraud unit without delay.

FSC reference: JPM/35/2005