In light of a resurgence of "advance fee fraud schemes" misusing the International Finance Corporation’s name, IFC is warning against investment deals and advance fee schemes that fraudulently invoke the institution’s name or claim to be affiliated with it or the World Bank Group.
Like many other large organizations, we have seen increased use of sophisticated forms and letterhead that appear to be legitimate IFC email correspondence or certificates. IFC’s name can be falsely invoked to give the scheme the appearance of authenticity and, in some cases, the wrongdoers may use the names of actual IFC staff members to bolster the credibility of the scam.
Advanced fee fraud schemes involve solicitations that encourage potential victims to provide personal information such as signatures or bank account information, and to pay certain advance fees, often described as "processing fees" or “finder’s fees”. In return, the potential victim is promised sums of money which the scammer has no intention of paying. Police estimate that thousands of these advance fee fraud solicitations – only a very small fraction involving the use of IFC’s name – are sent by e-mail every week and are addressed to individuals and companies around the world.
IFC has no involvement in such schemes, and cannot accept any responsibility for resulting loss, damage or claim. We would therefore like to caution the public to be wary of these and other similar solicitations that falsely claim to be affiliated with IFC or the World Bank Group.
You can find more information about fraudulent investment schemes that misuse our name here.
