Over the past several days the Financial Crime Unit has received hundreds of calls and e-mails from Bermuda residents who have all received identical ‘advanced fee fraud’ letters. 

The letter, allegedly from a ‘Charles Taylor (JNR).’ has been sent from Tanzania and is addressed to persons at their private address. It is difficult for Police to investigate these types of letters as the suspects use pre-paid cell phones which cannot be traced and they use free online e-mail addresses such as Hotmail and Gmail which can be created in any name.

These letters are sent out by the thousands and the culprits simply download addresses from online telephone directories; in other words those receiving the letters have not been individually targeted by the scammers. Advanced fee scams involve the victims sending money in order to obtain fictitious awards or inheritance. 

Once again, members of the public are advised to be extremely cautious when sending funds to persons who have contacted them unexpectedly, especially via the internet or to persons whose identity cannot be properly established.