FRAUD ALERT! Financial/Private Consultant Letter Scams

A couple of new scams have recently appeared that we would like to make members aware of. Letters are being sent through email and fax that claim to be coming from an overseas financial or private consultant. In one, the “financial consultant” says they are acting on behalf of a Gadhafi family member and they are seeking a partner to help them “claim $42 million in funds that were secretly deposited in a bank in South Africa during the hostilities in Libya.” The second letter claims to be from a “private consultant” for “very eminent top government officials in the Asia and South African region” who are looking for a “foreigner with whom they can jointly entrust $70 million in a highly lucrative business venture.”

Letters of this type are scams. They have been around for years. The millions of dollars do not exist. The senders are trying to get the recipients to send them money, along with personally identifying information like blank letterhead stationery, bank names and account numbers. Once a victim stops sending money, scammers like this have been known to drain the victim’s bank accounts and run up their credit card balances.

Never respond to letters of this type. You should always be skeptical of individuals asking your help in placing large sums of money in overseas bank accounts. Do not believe the promise of large sums of money for your cooperation.

MCU will never contact you by email, text message or phone call to notify you of account related issues or to ask you to update or verify your account information. If you think your MCU accounts have been compromised, report it by calling the Contact Center at 212-693-4900.