Carl Elliot – bogus bank employee

Bogus correspondence

Carl Elliot – bogus bank employee

Bogus Isle of Man “Certification of Will”

The Commission has recently become aware of correspondence purporting to originate from an individual using the name Carl Elliott, who implies, within the correspondence, that he is employed by the genuine holder of an Isle of Man Banking licence, HSBC Bank.

The correspondence seen by the Commission has been produced using a facsimile of the genuine bank letterhead. The facsimile letterhead has been edited to show several telephone and fax numbers which are not valid Isle of Man ones and are not relevant to the genuine bank. The telephone and fax numbers shown on the bogus correspondence are: +44 702 402 6426, +44 702 402 6427, +44 703 189 5023, +44 207 504 8462 and +44 703 189 5025.

The Commission has previously issued general advice regarding bogus correspondence falsely purporting to have been issued by genuine Isle of Man institutions.

The bogus correspondence seen by the Commission is purportedly signed by Mr Carl Elliot who falsely claims to be the Director of the bank “Claims/Wire Dept”.

The bogus correspondence relates to the charging of an alleged “Clearance Report Fee” in order to clear purported, substantial, “inheritance funds” stated within the correspondence to be held by the bank.

“HSBC Bank” is a term commonly used in relation to the two related Isle of Man Banking Licence Holders HSBC Bank International Limited and HSBC Bank PLC. Other members of the HSBC group of companies licensed by the Commission are HSBC Custody Services (Isle of Man) Limited (Banking licence), HSBC Securities Services (Isle of Man) Limited (Corporate Service Provider (Category1) and Investment Business (Category 4) licences) and HSBC Trustee (Isle of Man) Limited (Corporate Service Provider (Category 1), Trust Corporation and Investment Business (Category 3a) licences).

Details of all genuine Commission licence holders can be found on our web page.

The Commission has established that no Carl Elliot is or has formerly been employed by the genuine HSBC Bank on the Isle of Man or by any of its Isle of Man subsidiaries. The Commission is satisfied that the aforementioned correspondence has not originated from, nor has it been issued with the knowledge or consent of the genuine HSBC Bank in the Isle of Man.

Accompanying the aforementioned bogus correspondence is a document purporting to be a “Certification of Will” form issued by the Probate Registry in the Isle of Man and purporting to have been signed by a “Wilson Keith-Fleming”, Registrar. This document is also completely bogus.

The Commission believes that this document is being held out to represent a Grant of Representation. We make the following observations:

There is no Wilson Keith-Fleming employed as “Registrar” at the Isle of Man Probate Registry.

A genuine Grant of Representation issued from the High Court in the Isle of Man would never bear an “original signature” on the front. The original Grant bearing a signature is retained on the Court File. Any “published” or issued Grant is always a certified copy of the original bearing an impressed seal of the Isle of Man High Court. The bogus document does not bear such a seal.

A genuine Grant is issued by the High Court of the Isle of Man. The bogus document purports to originate from the “House of Keys”. The House of Keys is the name of the popularly elected lower house in Tynwald, the parliament of the Isle of Man.

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 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 the above correspondence and who 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 correspondence 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/44/2006