Bogus e-mails - Nationwide International Limited

Bogus e-mails and other documentation falsely purporting to have been sent by the genuine Isle of Man Banking Licenceholder - Nationwide International Limited

Advance Fee Fraud

The Commission has become aware of bogus e-mails and other documentation purporting to have been sent by Nationwide International Ltd. In the correspondence it states an address of PO Box 217, 5-11 St. Georges Street, Douglas, Isle of Man, IM99 1RN, British Isles. The correspondence purports to have been sent by Mark Rennison who is referred to as “Account Manager”.

In the correspondence seen by the Commission it is claimed that Nationwide International Ltd are “Banking Consultants to Apple e-Lottery, our duty is to process cheque payment of winners non-resident in the UK for clearance, cash deposit and international bank transfer to their nominated account”.

It also states that to open a winning account “…£500 GBP is the Entry Protection Deposit (EPD) required to activate winning account for banking services which includes processing of cheque payment for clearance and cash deposit of the transaction amount stated in the winning cheque…”

The Commission can confirm that there is a genuine entity by the name of Nationwide International Limited at the aforementioned address, however, the correspondence seen by the Commission does NOT come from the genuine Nationwide International Limited. The Commission has also established that there is a genuine Mark Rennison who is employed by the Nationwide Group in the UK. We can confirm that the aforementioned e-mails have NOT originated from, nor have they been issued with the knowledge of the genuine Mark Rennison.

The telephone numbers used in the correspondence are not genuine Isle of Man numbers and have no association or connection to the genuine Nationwide International Limited.

The genuine Nationwide International Limited is regulated by the Commission and holds a licence to undertake Banking Business.

A list of all institutions licensed by the Commission is available on our website.

Under the circumstances the Financial Supervision Commission feels that these e-mails are being issued to either tempt the recipient into becoming the victim of a so called “Lottery Scam” – a useful explanation of how such “Lottery Scams” work.

OR

Are being issued to 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.

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

Under the circumstances, the Commission would strongly urge that persons in receipt of correspondence matching the above description exercise the greatest possible caution before proceeding, bearing in mind the contents of this public notice.

Any persons who are already involved in any dealings resulting from correspondence matching the above description and who have concerns should contact the Enforcement Division on +44 1624 689314 or by email to fsc@gov.im.

Any persons who have paid funds to, or disclosed personal financial details in relation to correspondence matching the above description should consider contacting their local Police Fraud Unit without delay.

Any persons who may have any concerns as to whether or not they are dealing with the genuine Nationwide International Limited may wish to satisfy themselves by contacting the genuine Nationwide International Limited. Contact details for the genuine Nationwide International Limited are available on the Nationwide International Limited website.

FSC Reference: CD/24/2007