Update, Update: 8/15/2019 - Please add another fake Comoros bank to the list - "GC Bank". See our blog post: https://www.offshorereviews.com/blog/cg-bank-fake-offshore-bank
Update on 3/14/2018 - The "bank" has changed it's website to: https://cfcomoros.com/
OffshoreReviews.com was
founded to bring openness and transparency to the offshore financial industry.
We give consumers, for the first time ever, the ability to choose between
offshore financial institutions that have been reviewed by clients. We assist
clients with finding the very best offshore banks, offshore registered agents,
offshore incorporation services, offshore brokerages and offshore attorneys to
work with. We also help clients avoid
potential pitfalls. In that spirit, we have identified an organization that
purports to be an offshore bank, but is unfortunately a clever and elaborate
sham.
In the opinion of the management of OffshoreReviews.com, Credit Foncier in the Comoros is a fake bank. There are several specific reasons for this that we will outline below. The offshore world is inviting and offers many benefits. But, as in any industry, there are charlatans that seek to take advantage of unsuspecting clients. We believe that www.creditfoncierkm.com (now https://www.cfcomoros.com) is one of those.
First of all, there IS a legitimate Credit Foncier http://www.creditfoncier.eu which operates in France and Monaco and is
approximately 150 years old - but has no branches in the Comoros. You can
verify this on their website or by contacting them directly.
Here are the reasons that we believe that credit Foncier in
the Comoros is not a legitimate bank.
1. There is no Credit Foncier bank www.creditfoncierkm.com or https://cfcomoros.com/ licensed in the Comoros. The supposed Credit Foncier in Comoros is simply copying the name of an established European bank in order to appear to be legitimate.
The Comoros does not have any licensed offshore banks. Below, we will list all of the banks that ARE licensed in the Comoros according the local financial regulator.
We contacted the financial regulator in the Comoros and will
paste their answer below. It is in
French and we have translated their answer into English as well.
From: Sayyed C ……an@banque-comores.km
Subject: RE: une banque autorisée
To: GD-Supervision <supervision.bancaire@banque-comores.km>
Bonjour,
Suite à vos interrogations sur «Crédit Foncier» Je vous prie de noter que les banques et établissements bancaires agréées en Union des Comores sont répertoriées sur son site internet. Des pseudo-banques opèrent illégalement en offshores. Toutes les informations relatives à l’activité bancaire Sont disponibles sur le site BCC :
http://www.banque-comores.km/DOCUMENTS/Communique_offshore_janvier_2015.pdf
(English
Translation: Regarding your inquiry on Credit Foncier, please note that
authorized banks in the Comoros are listed online. Pseudo-banks operate
illegally offshore. All info relevant to banking activity is available here:)
http://www.banque-comores.km/DOCUMENTS/Communique_offshore_janvier_2015.pdf
The pdf is in French and there is a section that lists the
financial institutions that are licensed to conduct banking activities in the
Comoros as of January 1, 2015. Those
banks are:
- La BIC-Comores (Banque pour l’Industrie et le Commerce-Comores),
- La BDC (Banque de Développement des Comores),
- La SNPSF (Société Nationale des Postes et des Services Financiers)
- L’EXIM Bank-Comores,
- La BFC (Banque Fédérale du Commerce),
- L’Union des MECK et les Institutions affiliées (Mutuelles d’Epargne et de Crédit – KOMOR),
- L’Union régionale des SANDUK d’Anjouan et les Institutions affiliées,
- L’Union régionale des SANDUK de Mohéli et les Institutions affiliées.
- MCTV
(Maison Comorienne de Transfert et de Valeur)
- La société Comores Assistance International (CASi-
2. Credit Foncier created a fake government website http://www.mwaliregistrar.com/list-of-entities
that purports to show that Credit Foncier is a licensed bank in the
Comoros. This is a fake website. The real website for the Comoros financial
regulator is: http://www.banque-comores.km and is in French.
3. Credit Foncier uses a correspondent bank or payment processor referred to as “Saint George Bankers and Trust”. That is not a typographic error. That is the supposed name of the processor. Their website is: http://stgeorgebankers.com/
As with the name of Credit Foncier (which is taken from a legitimate bank), the name of the correspondent appears to be created to make it appear legitimate as well. There are several international banking groups with names similar to “St. George’s Bank and Trust” located in the Cayman Islands, Panama, Bermuda, etc. But these are legitimate licensed banks, some of which have been around for many decades and have branches in multiple countries.
The “Saint George bankers and trust” is simply a website created to look like a legitimate bank through which transfers go to and from Credit Foncier. However, the website for Credit Foncier and website for Saint George were created by the same people. We know this because the text on two of the pages is identical. As of the date of this article, both websites purport to offer the service of opening up a corporate account. Notice the text that starts with “Please, follow the below five steps…”. The text of the remaining paragraphs on both of these websites (that are supposedly for two different organizations) is identical. Either one of the organizations copied the other verbatim, or they are both part of the same sham operation.
https://www.creditfoncierkm.com/account-request.html#tab_2
Now: https://cfcomoros.com/account-request.html#tab_1
http://stgeorgebankers.com/corporate-account-request
In conclusion: There is no bank called Credit Foncier licensed to conduct banking business in the Comoros. Unfortunately, the only reasonable conclusion is that this is a cleverly and elaborately created sham bank to separate unsuspecting victims from their money, forever. The perpetrators of this scam have even created a fake correspondent bank as well as a fake government regulator website. It goes without saying, we do not recommend opening up an account with this “bank”.
