Suspicious email - Nancy Grands

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

Within the email it is claimed that the above named individual is “the Chairman, Audit Committee Of Our Bank in Ramsey, Isle of Man (sic)”

The email claims that a client of her employer “who later died as a result of a car accident in Valencia”, “deposited a huge sum of money with one of our branches in Europe”. She claims that “I personally have watched with keen interest to see next of kin but all has proved abortive (sic)”

The email seeks the assistance of the recipient in obtaining these alleged funds. The email states “I want to present you to stand in as the next of kin so that you and I can benefit from this investment equally”.

The email gives an address for the sender of Ridgeway Street IM99 1BU, Ramsey, Isle of Man and a telephone/fax number of 0044 702 305 1462

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

There is no Ridgeway Street in Ramsey Isle of Man.

The postcode IM99 1BU does not relate to an address in Ramsey Isle of Man.

There is a Ridgeway Street in Douglas Isle of Man and the postcode IM99 1BU is related to the genuine occupants of that address.

Enquiries by the Commission have established that there is no Nancy Grands employed at or otherwise associated with the aforementioned genuine Isle of Man address. Nancy Grands is not known to the genuine occupants of the address.

The quoted telephone number is not an Isle of Man based telephone number.

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.

or are an attempt at gaining personal data from the recipient in order to steal their identity.

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 emails 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 emails matching the above description or who have provided personal financial details in relation to emails matching the above description should consider contacting their local police fraud unit without delay.

FSC reference: JPM/19/2006