The Central Bank is warning of the illegal cloning of a well-known bank carrying out fraudulent activities.
It came to their attention that the fraudulent entity, calling itself, Deutsche Bank International Corporate Services (Ireland) Limited, has been claiming to be an investment firm / investment business firm in the State in the absence of appropriate authorisation.
A Central Bank spokesperson said: “In this instance, in order to deceive consumers, the fraudulent entity cloned a legitimate company formerly authorised by the Central Bank.
“It would appear that the fraudulent entity contacts consumers following on from a consumer accessing a website, www.invest-ireland.org, and expressing an interest in investing. The fraudulent entity contacts the consumer via email and/or phone seeking to sell fake bonds by sending the fake prospectus (titled) Deutsche Bank – Fixed Term Bond.”
According to the Central Bank the unauthorised firm has cloned the name, address and CRO ( company’s registration office) of the legitimate company: Deutsche International Corporate Services (Ireland) Limited, which was formerly authorised by the Central Bank.
This unauthorised firm also cloned other Deutsche Bank AG information for the purposes of this fraud.
The spokesperson said: "It should be noted that the legitimate company Deutsche International Corporate Services (Ireland) Limited is not offering any banking or other services as it is no longer regulated.
“Furthermore, there is no connection whatsoever between the legitimate company and this unauthorised firm. It should also be noted that “Deutsche Bank AG” operating in Ireland on a Branch basis is not offering any banking or investment products to any consumers.
“There is no connection whatsoever between Deutsche Bank AG or its Dublin Branch and this unauthorised firm.”
Examples of the email addresses used by this scam entity include: info@dbmarketing-ire.com, compliance@dbclientsireland.com and info@dbclientsireland.com.
Fraudsters are increasingly using legitimate firms’ details to add an air of legitimacy to their fraud. The fraudsters will 'borrow' some or all of the legitimate information of an authorised/ legitimate firm for the purpose of this fraud.
They may quote authorisation numbers / company registration numbers and links to seemingly legitimate websites and even provide the real address of an authorised/legitimate firm.
The Central Bank is advising consumers to check their register to verify a firm’s details and to call the firm back directly using its advertised phone number and always access the register from their website, rather than through links in emails or on a firm’s/person’s website.
