I got various telephone calls and e-mails from "portfolio managers" and "brokers" supposedly calling from a company called Mendelssohn White purporting to be based in Singapore. Since the telephone numbers were suppressed I could not tell where the calls were really originating from although the background noise indicated that it was a busy call center.
The callers told me that Mendelssohn White exists since 2005. In various fake press releases they state: "Mendelssohn White is an employee-owned, independent investment company located in Singapore. We manage a broad range of commingled investment programs and separate accounts for nonprofit institutions, corporate and public pension plans and other select investors and wealthy individuals."
However, the internet domain Mendelssohn-White was registered by proxy in 2015 through Privacy Protect as you can see here:
Domain Name: MENDELSSOHN-WHITE.COM
Registry Domain ID: 1912452882_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.publicdomainregistry.com
Registrar URL: www.publicdomainregistry.com
Updated Date: 2015-05-23T02:41:25Z
Creation Date: 2015-03-23T15:35:50Z
Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2017-03-23T15:35:50Z
Registrar: PDR Ltd. d/b/a PublicDomainRegistry.com
Registrar IANA ID: 303
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited https://icann.org/epp#clientTransferProhibited
Registry Registrant ID: Not Available From Registry
Registrant Name: Domain Admin
Registrant Organization: Privacy Protection Service INC d/b/a PrivacyProtect.org
Registrant Street: C/O ID#10760, PO Box 16 Note - Visit PrivacyProtect.org to contact the
domain owner/operator Note - Visit PrivacyProtect.org to contact the domain owner/operator
http://whois.domaintools.com/mendelssohn-white.com
No serious financial services firm would register their domain by proxy and call random people from suppressed numbers. Of course, the e-mail headings were also anonymized.
I then called the Monetary Authority of Singapore which
is Singapore's central bank and financial regulatory authority. They told me that there is no record whatsoever of a financial services company called Mendelssohn White in Singapore and that the individuals supposedly acting as exectuvies of this "company" namely Hyun Teo, Roy Pang and Kiet Smith are also unknown to them. With other words, the names were invented just as the names of the "portfolio managers" and "brokers" that contacted me. You can check the website of the Monetary Authority of Singapore to see for yourself:
https://masnetsvc.mas.gov.sg/FID.html
Next, I had an acquaintance of mine visit Mendelssohn White at their supposed business premises: Singapore Land Tower, 50 Raffles Place, 048623 Singapore. He was told that there were more than 250 companies based at that address but that Mendelssohn White was not one of them. The address is as fictitious as the names of the callers and the registration of the enterprise.
Meanwhile I received more telephone calls from Mendelssohn White and was offered legitimate shares at a preferential price. I was asked to transfer 100.000 USD to another entity which supposedly acts as a "clearing house" for Mendelssohn White.
If you get a phone call from someone purporting to be from a company called "Mendelssohn White," you should record the conversation and contact law enforcement right away. This is obviously another boiler room scam.