Marcus (I.O.M.) Limited and others- suspected "premium rate phone scam"

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.

Marcus (I.O.M.) Limited
Marcus (Isle of Man) Limited
Geraldine Marcus (I.O.M.) Limited

The Financial Supervision Commission have been made aware of emails allegedly originating from Marcus (I.O.M.) Limited, Marcus (Isle of Man) Limited or Geraldine Marcus (I.O.M.) Limited. These entities purport within the emails to have an address at 10, Victoria Street, Douglas, Isle of Man. Enquiries carried out by the Commission have established that no company with any of these names has occupied or been connected with that address.

Neither Marcus (I.O.M.) Limited, Marcus (Isle of Man) Limited nor Geraldine Marcus (I.O.M.) Limited are companies incorporated within the jurisdiction of the Isle of Man. None of them is registered as a foreign company having established a place of business on the Isle of Man.

The text of the emails states that the sender is having difficulty accessing the recipient’s website. An email response was made by the recipient and this was then returned to them identifying a “delivery failure” and instructing the recipient to contact the sender by telephone. A telephone number was listed. When this number was called a message was given to call a second telephone number. On calling this second telephone number a third number was given which gave every indication of being connected to a fax machine.

Subsequent information suggests that all of the numbers given are “premium rate” lines and in conjunction with the above information, relating to the alleged companies, would suggest that the intent of the emails was to defraud the recipient.

None of the telephone numbers provided are Isle of Man numbers and all appear to be issued by United Kingdom Telecommunication providers.

The Commission would strongly urge persons receiving emails purporting to originate from Marcus (I.O.M.) Limited, Marcus (Isle of Man) Limited or Geraldine Marcus (I.O.M.) Limited to refrain from calling any numbers listed, bearing in mind the contents of this public notice.

A warning regarding text, email and fax scams was issued by the United Kingdom Department of Trade and Industry on 11th November 2002.