Victor R. Vasii - 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.

Victor R. Vasii

Advance Fee Fraud

The Commission has recently become aware of correspondence received by members of the public purporting to have been sent by the above named individual.

Within the correspondence, the above named individual claims to be “Profile Advisor” with “Close Private Bank” of Douglas, Isle of Man.

The correspondence implies that the recipient has had an account opened with the aforementioned “Close Private Bank” into which a substantial sum of money amounting to millions of US$ has allegedly been deposited.

The correspondence invites the recipient to check the account balance “via the tele-banking service” by way of an “access number” of +447040115480. The correspondence also quotes an alleged telephone number for “Close Private Bank” of +447040112905

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

There are genuine holders of various Isle of Man Banking, Investment and Corporate Service Providers Licences called Close Bank (Isle of Man) Limited, Close International Asset Management Limited, Close Investment Management (Isle of Man) Limited, Close Property Management (Isle of Man) Limited and Close Trustees (Isle of Man) Limited. Details of all licence holders of the Commission are available on our website www.fsc.gov.im. Close Private Bank is a registered Business Name on the Isle of Man, which represents, and is used as a trading name by, all of the aforementioned licence holders.

There is no person by the name of Victor R. Vasii now or formerly employed by any of aforementioned genuine Isle of Man licensed companies.

Although the correspondence seen by the Commission appears at first sight to be on Close Private Bank headed paper, detailed inspection reveals this merely to be a facsimile of the genuine article.

Neither the “access number” +447040115480 nor the alleged telephone number of +447040112905 have any connection with the genuine Close Private Bank or any associated companies. Neither of these numbers is an Isle of Man telephone number.

Under the circumstances the Commission feels that this correspondence is 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&menuid=11570)

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&menuid=11570)

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

Any persons who are already involved in any dealings resulting from correspondence matching the above description 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 correspondence matching the above description or who have provided personal financial details in relation to such correspondence should consider contacting their local police fraud unit without delay.

FSC reference: JPM/38/2005