Details emerge of new financial scam targeting small companies
Most people are aware of the Nigerian 419 email scam which claims the son of a deceased oil baron or senior government official will contact a business or an individual with a promise of countless thousands of euro, in exchange for their bank details.
However, a more sophisticated scam has emerged in recent days whereby the conmen have targeted people directly in writing, apparently posting the letters from within Ireland.
They are also targeting people with the same surname of a fictional person they claim has died leaving a multi-million dollar fortune behind them.
Labour TD Ciarán Lynch said a small business in his Cork South Central constituency received one such letter recently.
The letter, which purports to be from a consultant in a named financial services company based in New York.
The “consultant” says he asked a friend of his travelling to Ireland to post the letter.
He proposes that the recipient of the letter enters into an arrangement with him to claim the estate of an investor who died in an accident in China, leaving an estate worth $18.5 million (€15m).
“He has no next-of-kin and the reason I am writing to you is because you bear the same name last name identity,” the letter states.
It goes on to encourage the recipient of the letter to exchange bank account details in order to become a beneficiary of the account.
Mr Lynch warned people to be alert.
“In terms of sophistication, this is certainly a step above the spam emails that we all receive from time to time,” he said.
“It looks reasonably professional, so businesses and individuals have to be on their guard.
“There are some telltale signs that indicate that all is not as it seems.”
The letter comes “From the desk of Ed Sullivan”, but is not printed on letterhead or official note paper.
And he said a cursory Google search turns up no mention of such a person in that company.
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