Maerki Baumann & Co, a Zurich-based private bank, has been the subject of a scam involving an individual in London attempting to pass himsel...

Maerki Baumann & Co, a Zurich-based private bank, has been the subject of a scam involving an individual in London attempting to pass himself off as a senior employee of the bank. According to a statement from the bank on its website, Joseph S. Busutil (alias Busutiel and Basutiel) has contacted several individuals in the name of a fictitious subsidiary of Maerki based in London. The bank said: “Please note that the letterhead of such correspondence is forged. Maerki Baumann & Co. AG is not its author, in fact such correspondence is probably part of a scam.” Mr Busutil has also tried to pass himself off as working for the fictious London offices of Zurich-based Ehinger & Armand von Ernst, Lugano-based Banco di Lugano and Geneva-based Gonet & Cie. A number of these banks have placed warnings on their websites about the Busutil scam. Mr Busutil’s attempted frauds have caught the attention of the City of London police, which have detailed the various scams being pursued by Mr Busutil. He is also wanted in connection to the frauds. According to the City of London police: “The current trend (as used in the various Busutil cases) is for a victim to receive a letter from a bank or firm of lawyers to the effect that a previously unknown member of your family has been killed in a highway accident overseas (or some similar scenario). “You are the only other person left who may be related to the deceased, and you may be the sole inheritor of the millions of dollars left in an account. The person contacting you will have details of lawyers and genealogical research to show that, indeed, you are the one.” More details on the Busutil case and other similar scams can be found on: http://www.cityoflondon.police.uk/economic-crime/ec-fraud-scams.html