Have you received an email from "Daniel Cole" at "International Private Banking at HSBC Bank",
claiming that he has found a "dormant account" or money from a deceased customer
with no next of kin, or no will, and he needs you, a foreigner to help him take
the money, to keep it from being turned over to the bank or government?
It is a scam. Even if it weren't a scam, it would be a felony,
fraud and theft. But it is all nonsense, a scam made up to get money from you.
See the example below, an actual email from the scammer, sent to a victim.
The scammer intends to to get hold of your money instead, by conning you into sending money for various "fees" to free the
"funds in escrow".
If you would like a step by step
explanation of how this type of "Advance Fee Fraud" works, click here!
Note some of the obvious scam clues in the email below,
such as excessive/incorrect use of CAPITAL letters, terrible spelling, grammar
and punctuation, the use of free email accounts rather than a domain and website that
matches the company's name, etc.
Name: Daniel Cole
Email:
dan_cole04@yahoo.fr
Good day,
I am Daniel Cole, staff of International Private
Banking at HSBC Bank. I am contacting you concerning a deceased customer and
an investment he placed under our banks management three years ago. I would
respectfully request that you keep the contents of this mail confidential
and respect the integrity of the information you come by as a result of
this mail.
I contacted you independently of our investigation
and no one is informed of this communication. I would like to intimate you
with certain facts that I believe would be of interest to you. In 2001, the
subject matter came to our bank to engage in business discussions with our
private banking division. He informed us that he had a financial portfolio
of Forty Eight Million Three Hundred And Fifty Thousand United
StatesDollars ($48,350,000.00 USD) ,which he wished to have us turn
over(invest) on his behalf. I was the officer assigned to his case, I was
made numerous suggestions in line with my duties as the de-facto chief
operations officer of the private banking sector, especially given the
volume of funds he wished to put into our bank. We met on numerous
occasions prior to any investments being placed. I encouraged him to
consider various growth funds with prime ratings. The favored route in my
advise to customers is to start by assessing data on 6000 traditional stocks
and bond managers and 2000 managers of alternative investments. Based on my
advice, We spun the money around various opportunities and made attractive
margins for our first months of operation, the accrued profit and interest
stood at this point at over ten million United States Dollars, this margin
was not the full potential of the fund but he desired low risk guaranteed
returns on investments.
In mid 2002, he asked that the money be liquidated
because he needed to make an urgent investment requiring cash payments in
here in the United Kingdom. He directed that I liquidate the funds and
deposit it with a security firm here in London. I informed him that
HSBC would have to make special arrangements to have this done and in order
not to circumvent due process, the bank would have to make a 9.5 %
deduction from the funds to cater for banking and statutory charges. He
complained about the charges but later came around when I explained to him the
complexities of the task he was asking of us. Cash movement across boarders
has become especially strict since the incidents of 9/11. I contacted my
affiliate in here in London and made the funds available to the security
firm. I undertook all the processes and made sure I followed his precise
instructions to the letter and had the funds deposited at the London
based security consultancy firm, Corporate Securities Co. Corporate
Securities Co is a specialist private firm that accepts deposits from
high net worth individuals and blue chip corporations that handle
valuable products or undertake transactions that need immediate access to
cash. This small and highly private organization is familiar especially
to the highly placed and well-connected organizations. In line with
Instructions, the money was deposited with Corporate Securities Co. The deceased
told me he wanted the money there in anticipation of his arrival from
Norway later that week.
This was the last communication we had, this
transpired around 25th June 2003. In June last year, we got a call from
Corporate Securities Co informing us that the activity of that particular
portfolio. This was an astounding position as far as I was concerned, given
the fact that I managed the private banking sector I was the only
one who knew about the deposit at Corporate Securities Co, and I could not
understand why the deceased had not come forward to claim his deposit.
I made futile efforts to locate the deceased. I immediately passed the
task of locating him to the internal investigations department of HSBC. Four
days later, information started to trickle in, apparently our
client was dead. A person who suited his description was declared dead
of a heart attack in Cannes, South of France.
We were soon enough able to identify the body and
cause of death was confirmed. The bank immediately launched an
investigation into possible surviving next of kin to alert about the situation
and also to come forward to claim his estate. If you are familiar
with private banking affairs, those who patronize our services usually
prefer anonymity, but also some levels of detachment from conventional
processes. In his bio-data form, he listed no next of kin. In the
field of private banking opening an account with us means no one will know of
its existence, accounts are rarely held under a name; depositors
use numbers and codes to make the accounts anonymous. This bank also gives
the choice to depositors of having their mail sent to them or held at the
bank itself, ensuring that there are no traces of the account and as I
said, rarely do they nominate next of kin.
Private banking clients apart from not nominating
next of kin also usually in most cases leave wills in our care, in this case;
the deceased died without a testament .In line with our internal
processes for account holders who have passed away, we instituted our own
Investigations in good faith to determine who should have right to claim
the estate. This investigation has for the past months been
unfruitful. We have scanned every continent and used our private investigation
affiliate companies to get to the root of the problem. It is this
investigation that resulted in my being furnished with your details as a possible
relative of the deceased. My official capacity dictates that I am
the only party to supervise the investigation and the only party to
receive the results of the investigation. What this means, you being the
last batch of names we have considered, is that our dear late fellow died
with no known or identifiable family member. This leaves me as the
only person with the full picture of what the prevailing situation is in
relation to the deposit and the late beneficiary of the deposit.
According to practice, Corporate Securities Co will
by the end of this financial year broadcast a request for statements of
claim to HSBC, failing to receive viable claims they will most
probably revert the deposit back to HSBC. This will result in the money
entering the HSBC accounting system and the portfolio will be out of
my hands and out of the private banking division. This will not happen if I
have my way. What Iwish to relate to you will smack of unethical
practice but I want you to understand something. It is only an outsider to the
banking world who finds the internal politics of the banking world
aberrational.
The world of private banking especially is fraught
with huge rewards for those who occupy certain offices and oversee certain
portfolios. You should have begun by now to put together the
general direction of what I propose. I alone have the deposit details and they
will release the deposit to no one unless I instruct them to do so. I
alone know of the existence of this deposit for as far as HSBC is
concerned, the transaction with our late customer concluded when I sent the
funds to corporate securities, all outstanding interactions in relation
to the file are just customer services and due process. Corporate
Securities Co has no single idea of what the history or nature of the deposit.
They are simply awaiting instructions to release the deposit to any
party that comes forward. This is the situation. This bank has spent
great amounts of money trying to track this mans family; they have
investigated for months and have found no family. The investigation has come to
an end. My proposal; you share similar details to the late fellow; I am
prepared to place you in a position to instruct Corporate Securities Co to
release the deposit to you as the closest surviving relation. Upon
receipt of the deposit, I am prepared to share the money with you in half.
That is: I will simply nominate you as the next of kin and have them
release the deposit to you.
We share the proceeds 50/50.I would have gone ahead
to ask the funds be released to me, but that would have drawn a straight
line to me and my involvement in claiming the deposit. I assure you
that I could have the deposit released to you within a few days. I will
simply inform the bank of the final closing of the file relating to the
deceased I will then officially communicate with Corporate Securities Co
and instruct them to release the deposit to you. With these two things:
all is done. The alternative would be for us to have Corporate
Securities Co direct the funds to another bank with you as account holder.
This way there will be no need for you to think of receiving the money from
Corporate Securities Co. We can fine-tune this based on our interactions.
I am aware of the consequences of this proposal. I ask that if you
find no interest in this project that you should discard this mail. I ask
that you do not be vindictive and destructive. If my offer is of no
appeal to you, delete this message and forget I ever contacted you. Do not
destroy my career because you do not approve of my proposal.
You may not know this but people like myself who
have made tidy sums out of comparable situations run the whole private
banking sector. I am not a criminal and what I do, I do not find against good
conscience, this may be hard for you to understand, but the dynamics of my
industry dictates that I make this move. Such opportunities only come ones'
way once in a lifetime. I cannot let this chance pass me by, for
once I find myself in total control of my destiny. These chances wont pass
me by. I ask that you do not destroy my chance, if you will not work with
me let me know and let me move on with my life but do not destroy me. I am
a family man and this is an opportunity to provide them with new
opportunities. There is a reward for this project and it is a task well worth
undertaking. I have evaluated the risks and the only risk I have here is
from you refusing to work with me and alerting my bank. I am the only one
who knows of this situation, good fortune has blessed you with a name
that has planted you into the center of relevance in my life. Let share
the blessing. If you find yourself able to work with me, contact me
through this same email account. If you give me positive signals, I will
initiate this process towards a conclusion. I wish to inform you that
should you contact me via official channels; I will deny knowing you and about
this project. I repeat, I do not want you contacting me through my
official phone lines nor do I wouldnt you contacting me through my
official email account.
Contact me only through the numbers I will provide
for you and also through this email address. I do not want any direct
link between you and me. My official lines are not secure lines as they
are periodically monitored to assess our level of customer care in
line with our Total Quality Management Policy.
Please observe this instruction religiously. Please,
again, note I am a family man, I have a wife and children. I send you
this mail not without a measure of fear as to what the consequences, but I
know within me that nothing ventured is nothing gained and that success
and riches never come easy or on a platter of gold. This is the one truth
I have learnt from my private banking clients. Do not betray my
confidence. If we can be of one accord, we should plan a meeting, soon.
I await your response.
Daniel Cole.
N/B
Kindly send your response to my direct email
Address:
dan_cole04@yahoo.fr
