Lt. Gov. Osbert Potter, acting for the V.I. Banking Board, warned Virgin Islanders Monday not to do business with VBS Mutual Bank or its alleged affiliates, US Virgin Islands Money PLC and Virgin Money Offshore Group PLC.
“Consumers in the territory and stateside are receiving telephone requests for monetary deposits from individuals who identify themselves as officers of these alleged U.S. Virgin Islands based financial services institutions that use the address of 35 Dronningens Gade in St. Thomas,” Potter said in a news release.
“I strongly advise all consumers not to do business with these entities. None of these entities are licensed in the U.S. Virgin Islands as a banking or financial services institution. There is no business by any of these names operating at 35 Dronningens Gade on St. Thomas,” he said.
There is an entity named VBS Mutual Bank with four branches in South Africa, but emails and calls to the bank were not returned prior to posting of this story. All online references to that entity refer solely to South Africa and nothing available online indicates it has any overseas or U.S. presence, which may indicate that someone is fraudulently claiming to represent the actual VBS Mutual Bank when they are not.
According to the Office of the Lieutenant Governor, its Division of Banking, Insurance and Financial Regulation has confirmed with federal authorities that there is no insured depository institution named VBS Mutual Bank operating in the United States, its possessions or its territories.
Individuals with questions about a banking institution or financial services, can contact the Division of Banking, Insurance and Financial Regulation on St. Thomas at Nisky Center, 2nd Floor, telephone number 340-774-7166 and on St. Croix at the Office of the Lieutenant Governor, 1131 King Street, 3rd Floor, telephone number 340-773-6459.
