Shell has published below alert message in Shell website www.shell.com for your reference.
There have been incidents where fraudsters pretend to offer cash prizes on behalf of Shell companies.
- In an email they state for example that the prize money can only be paid into a specific bank account and ask the recipient to provide documentation and a fee to open this account.
- Sometimes they might state that the documents required are with a courier firm. The recipient is then asked to pay money to the courier to receive the papers they need to process the prize.
- There have also been incidents where fraudsters sent out SMS’s asking recipients to call a number or send an email to a specific email address in order claim the prize.
One way to recognize scam emails is to check the email address: because these mails are usually not sent from a Shell email account they often do not end with "@shell.com" but for example, “yahoo.com” or “hotmail.com”.
We recommend that you do not respond to any of these type of emails or SMS’s or any emails or SMS’s that you do not trust and never disclose your personal or financial details to anyone you do not know.
If you receive such proposals, we would advise you to contact your local police and provide them with all information you may have from the senders.
Learn more about fraud scams.
FRAUD AND SCAM ALERT
Shell Group companies regularly receive calls and emails from members of the public seeking clarification of business propositions, job offers, awards of prizes and monetary grants.
a) Business propositions
The business propositions pretending to be made on behalf of Shell Group companies come in different guises, but generally solicit the help of the recipients in transferring huge sums of money in foreign currency.
The people initiating these propositions claim the sums involved are for instance entitlements in respect of deceased relations, or monies accruing from excess crude oil sales, or have been forgotten in some dormant account. Sometimes they also propose to award huge value contracts to the recipients of such mails.
b) Recruitment scams
The job offers come from organizations falsely pretending to recruit on behalf of Shell Group companies or by people claiming to work for, or be affiliated to, a Shell Group company.
These propositions notify individuals that their qualifications were found suitable to work as an employee (local or expatriate) for a Shell Group company and solicit the transfer of significant sums of money to pay for work permits, insurance policies, etc.
Please note that Shell Group companies (nor any of the organisations that recruit on our behalf) never ask for any money or payments from applicants, at any point in the recruitment process. All individuals who are successful in gaining an offer of employment from a Shell Group company, whether directly or indirectly, are always required to go through a formal recruitment process. All communications should originate from a verifiable Shell e-mail address and not from an Internet e-mail address e.g.: hotmail, yahoo etc.
c) Prize awards and grants
Please note that Shell Group companies are NOT involved in any lottery or mobile draws, e-mail/sms (grant) awards.
d) Change of banking details scams
An individual claiming to be an employee from a Shell company, its Finance department, or a representative of Shell informs a customer/supplier that there has been a change to Shell’s bank account details.
The customer/supplier is then instructed to make a payment to a new bank account, the details of which are then provided telephonically or via an email. Alternatively, a customer/supplier may receive an email containing a URL to what appears to be a Shell branded website, where they are asked to enter their banking details in order to make a payment.
What to do...
- Do not respond to unsolicited business propositions and/or job offers from people or e-mail addresses you do not know or trust.
- Do not disclose your personal or financial details to anyone you do not know or trust or on a website you do not trust. Should you have disclosed this information to somebody you do not know or trust or to a website you do not trust consider reporting the incident to your local law enforcement.
- Be on the lookout for suspicious signs – e.g. communications from non-Shell e-mail addresses (e.g. from a yahoo.com address); poor use of English; and requests for money.
- If you receive a request to change banking details for payment to Shell, do not respond to the email, click any links in the email, or provide information over the telephone. Instead, send a separate email to or call your Shell representative that you typically work with to confirm whether the request received is legitimate.
Our position...
Shell’s name and identity is being used fraudulently in these instances. In as much as we sympathize with anyone who has lost money in this way, Shell Group companies cannot accept any responsibility.
You can view more FAQ's in the stated website for your reference.