With due respect,
I am Kevin Colglazier of Standard Bank,London branch, United Kingdom. I am
contacting you concerning a deceased customer and an investment he placed
under our banks management three years ago, and 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 am contacting 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 the year 2004,the
subject matter; came to our bank to engage in business discussions.He
informed us that he had a financial portfolio of Ten million United
States dollars, which he wished to have us turn over (invest) on his
behalf.
I decided to treat his case personally; I made numerous suggestions in
line with my duties as the de-facto Chief investment officer of the bank,
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 primeratings. The
favoured 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 One
million United States Dollars, this margin was not the full potential
of the fund but he desired low risk guaranteed returns on investments.
In November 2005, he asked that the money be liquidated because he needed
to make an urgent investment requiring cash payments in Finland.Where he
said, he is investing with a Firm that is building a housing estate
outside Helsinki for the government of Finland. He directed that I
liquidate the investment and deposit the funds with a security firm. I
informed him that Standard Bank 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 and made the funds available
to a security firm. I undertook all the processes and made sure I followed
his precise instructions to the letter and had thefunds deposited with the
security firm. The Security Firm 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 the security firm. The
Customer 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 February 2006.In June last year, we got a call from
the security firm informing us about the inactivity 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 the security firm, and I could not understand
why the Customer had not come forward to claim his deposit. I made futile
efforts to locate the Customer. I immediately passed the task of locating
him to the internal investigations department of Standard Bank 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
canne, in Southern part of France. The body was identified and the cause
of death was confirmed. The bank immediately launched an investigation
into possible surviving next of kin to alert them 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 testate. 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 ofthe
investigation.What this means, after investigating the last batch of names
forwarded to us as possible relatives, we have come to the conclusion 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, The Security Firm will by the end of this year
broadcast a request for statements of claim to Standard Bank, failing to
receive viable claims they will most probably revert the deposit back
to Standard Bank. This will result in the money entering the Standard
Bank 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 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 that occupy certain
offices and oversee certain portfolios. You should have begun by now to
put together the general direction of what I propose. There is Ten million
dollars deposited in a security firm, 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 Standard Bank is
concerned.
The transaction with our late customer concluded when I sent the funds
to the security firm, all outstanding interactions in relation to the
file are just customer services and due process. The security Firm has
no single idea of what's the history or nature of the deposit. They are
simply awaiting instructions to release the deposit to any party that
come forward. This is the situation. This bank has spent great amounts
of money trying to track this man's family; they have investigated for
months and have found no family. The investigation has come to an end.
My proposal;I am prepared to place you in a position to instruct the
security Firm to release the deposit to you as the closest surviving
relative. Upon receipt of the deposit I am prepared to share the money
with you. That is,I will simply nominate you as the next of kin and have
them release the deposit to you and share the proceeds with you in a
percentage we will arrive at taking into consideration our individual
level commitment.I would have gone ahead to ask that the funds be released
to me,but that would have drawn a straight line to me and my involvement
in claiming the deposit. But presenting you as a relative with the right
to claim the deposit as a next of kin will mask my involvement and
participation in diverting the deposit for personal use.You will get all
the documents needed to effect this claim immediately you notify me of
your acceptance to claim this deposit for our mutual benefit.
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 The
Security Firm and instruct them to release the deposit to you. With these
two things all is done.
The alternative would be for us to have The Security Firm 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 The Security
Company. 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. This 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. Iam 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 luck that has
planted you into the center of relevance in my life. Let's share the
blessing. If you find yourself able to work with me, contact me through
this 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 want 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 myself. My official lines are not secured 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 learned from my private banking clients. Do not
betray my confidence.
Sincerly,
Kevin Colglazier
