Henry Cole - 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.

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

Within the emails, the above named individual claims to be “Head of Private Client Services” with “Anglo Irish Bank, Isle of Man, Britain”

The emails claim that an Anson Schranner or Andreas Schranner was a customer of the above bank and died in an air crash. They go on to state that this man left millions of dollars in an account with the bank and that unless someone makes a claim to it, it will be forfeited after 5 years.

The emails seek the assistance of the recipient to “play the role as next of kin” in order to release the funds and states that, if the recipient agrees to doing so, the sender will “employ the services of a Solicitor for the drafting of the last will and testament of the late Mr Andreas Schranner”.

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 License called Anglo Irish Bank Corporation (I.O.M.) P.L.C. (commonly known as Anglo Irish Bank). Details of all licence holders of the Commission are available on our website www.fsc.gov.im

There is no person by the name of Henry Cole now or formerly employed by the genuine Anglo Irish Bank Corporation (I.O.M.) P.L.C.

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&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 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/31/2005