Fraud Advisory
Sun, 2006-05-28
The Bermuda Police Service Fraud Unit would once again like to warn the public about the dangers of giving out personal banking information to people whose identity they cannot confirm. There has recently been an increase in the number of people in Bermuda who have been contacted with various different schemes intended to obtain personal information.
These schemes include lottery and other award notification scams. In there schemes, people are informed that they have won a substantial monetary prize and are required to divulge personal information in order to receive the prize. The lottery draw has often taken place in Sweden, Holland, Spain or any other foreign country and winners have been chosen randomly. Detective Sergeant David Geraghty of the Bermuda Police Service Fraud Unit says, "These scams are intended purely to obtain your banking details, steal your identity or to have you send money to jurisdictions where you will never see it again. People in Bermuda continue to lose money to these types of scams on a regular basis. A general rule of thumb is, 'if you did not enter the lottery in the first place, there is a very good chance that you have not won it.'"
Another prevalent scam relates to people who advertise property for sale on the internet (including e-moo and other similar sites). When a person living overseas offers to purchase something in Bermuda which is readily available in their own country, this in itself should give cause for suspicion. What often happens is that the person wishing to purchase the item will send you a blank cheque for over and above the asking price. When you receive the cheque and place it into your bank account, they will ask you to immediately send them the merchandise which you had for sale as well as the extra money which they supposedly sent to you in error. Only after you have parted with the merchandise and your money, you will find that the cheque they sent to you is a forgery and you will lose out.
Finally, people in Bermuda have been contacted via e-mail by people purporting to be from banks or other financial institutions. The e-mails will often ask you for personal banking information for security purposes or for other spurious reasons. Again, the simple rule of thumb is not to give out any personal details to people whose identity you cannot confirm.
If you are in any doubt about the veracity of any offer you receive, do not hesitate to contact the Fraud Unit on 299-4330.
