Aug 26 -Advance fee fraud in the name of the City of London Corporation
The NFIB are currently aware of two advance fee scams using the City of London Corporation’s name to add credibility to their scam.
1) The first scam purports to be from Charles Terry of City of London Magistrates court advising recipients that they are in the process of issuing an Affidavit of claims and a letter of administration which will authorise the recipient to receive funds from high street bank. Recipients are requested to pay for the documentation at a total of £390 via WesternUnion.
This scam email is sent from the email address of info@londoncourts.org.
2) The second scam purports to be from a Pastor Stephen Moore, who attaches a fake ID card purporting to be an employee from the City of London Corporation. The sender of the scam email advises recipients that they have been appointed a regional representative with the Education Trust Fund and will be accountable to the City of London Education Trust Fund.
How to spot this is a scam?
Emails from the City of London Corporation will be set out as follows: firstname.secondname@cityoflondon.gov.uk
The City of London Corporation will NOT request recipients to send funds by Western Union. The City of London Corporation may request payments from individuals such as council tax etc as they provide local government services; however any request for funds will be on City of London Corporation headed paper. If you are concerned about the legitimacy of a request, then contact the Corporation on their website http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Corporation
Protecting yourself
- Never pay for anything upfront
- Don’t get involved with correspondence with the fraudster.
- Do not provide any personal/sensitive information
- Check the legitimacy of the company the sender is purporting to be from. Make contact with the legitimate company to ask if they sent you an email using contact details found independently.
- Don’t respond to unsolicited communications promising prize money in return for payment.
