LoveChildren Charity & Orphanage / Construction Bank / Barrister Ernest Mills - Update

Barrister Ernest Mills – Update: 23 October 2009

Mills Law Advocates – Update: 23 October 2009

Ted Owens, Construction Bank – Update: 23 October 2009

Pastor April Lei – Update: 23 October 2009

The Commission has recently become aware of correspondence received by members of the public purporting to have been sent on behalf of the above entity, LoveChildren Charity & Orphanage.

Within the correspondence it is claimed that the above named charity has an address of 17 St Georges Street, Douglas, Isle of Man, IM1 1AJ, United Kingdom. While there is a St Georges Street in Douglas we can confirm categorically that the above entity is not located on this street and that in fact this address is at this time a “vacant lot”.

The correspondence states that the late founder of this charity, who died in 2003, has no beneficiaries and that the Director of this charity has been asked to “conduct a standard process investigation and to provide the beneficiary to our late founder since he was a foreigner I will need your help on this process with the Bank here” (sic). It also states that “This involves private funds deposited in a foreign currency account with Construction Bank, the bank contacted me a month ago as the director of this foundation and a trustee to recommend a next of kin to the funds since he (Our Late founder) died intestate and nominated no successor in title over the fund deposit made with the bank amounting to (Seven Million Pounds).”

LoveChildren Charity & Orphanage is not a Registered Charity on the Isle of Man. An index of Registered Charities on the Isle of Man is available.

Construction Bank is not licensed by the Commission to undertake any regulated activity in or from the Isle of Man. A list of all institutions licensed by the Commission is available on our website.

The Commission wishes to draw attention to the following observations:

The above entities are not companies incorporated within the jurisdiction of the Isle of Man. They are not registered as foreign companies having established places of business on the Isle of Man. They are not registered as business names on the Isle of Man.

The Commission has established no association between the above entities and any genuine Isle of Man companies.

The Commission has established no genuine links between the above entities and the Isle of Man.

The telephone number used in the e-mails is not a genuine Isle of Man telephone number.

Under the circumstances the Financial Supervision Commission feels that this correspondence is being issued to tempt the recipient into becoming the victim of an Advance Fee Fraud.

OR

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

Also see information issued by the Isle of Man Office of the Data Protection Supervisor.

Update: 23 October 2009

The Commission has received further documentation regarding the above issue.

The first document purports to be from a “Pastor April Lei” and asks for personal information and details in regard to a “Letter of Introduction” to “Construction Bank here in the Isle of Man”.

The second document purports to be from a “Barrister Ernest Mills, Mills Law Advocates, 1 Glentramman Ter, Higher Foxdale, St Johns, Isle of Man IM99 1NJ United Kingdom” and asks the recipient to send “2950 British Pounds for the legal retainer fee” and gives details of a purported bank account to send the money to.

The third document purports to be from a “Ted Owens, Director of Operations, Construction Bank, (Offshore Bank Registered in Trinidad & Tobago operating in Isle of Man UK)”, and attaches a purported Account Application Form to set up the online account and asks the recipient to send the “700 pounds re-activation fee”.

The Commission makes the following observations:

As stated above, Construction Bank is not licensed by the Commission to undertake any regulated activity in or from the Isle of Man. A list of all institutions licensed by the Commission is available on our website.

The address given for Construction Bank in this documentation is purported to be, 8-16 St Georges Street, Douglas, Isle of Man IM99 1RN. We can categorically state that while there is a St Georges Street in Douglas we can confirm that this entity is not located on this street and those genuine entities that do occupy this address are not connected or associated in any way to Construction Bank.

Enquiries by the Commission have revealed that Barrister Ernest Mills and Mills Law Advocates are not known to the Isle of Man Law Society.

Details of all individuals or firms regulated by the Isle of Man Law Society are available on their website.

The address given for this purported entity, 1 Glentramman Ter, Higher Foxdale, St Johns, Isle of Man IM99 1NJ, United Kingdom is a genuine address on the Isle of Man, however, this address is occupied by the Baltic Inn, a public house, which has no connection or association with Barrister Ernest Mills / Mills Law Advocates.

The correspondence seen by the Commission gives telephone and fax numbers to contact, however, none of the numbers given relate to telephone lines on the Isle of Man.

All other comments previously made by the Commission in the above Public Notice remain valid.

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 have concerns should contact the Enforcement Division on +44 1624 689314 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 correspondence should consider contacting their local police fraud unit without delay.

Original FSC reference: CD/06/2009 - 12 May 2009

Update FSC reference: CD/25/2009 – 23 October 2009