Name: Daniel Cole
Email: dan_cole02@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 Unite d States Dollars ($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
advice 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 ha d not come forward to claim
his deposit. I made futile efforts to locate the deceased. I immediately
passed the task of locating hi m 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 I wish to relate t o 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 Sec
unities 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 won’t 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 con tacting me through my official phone lines nor
do I wouldn’t 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_cole02@yahoo.fr
HSBC BANK
