Name:Stella Iwu
Email:Stellaiwu03@yahoo.com
Good day,
I am Stella Iwu, 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 few 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 discussion s with our private banking division.
He informed us that he had a financial portfolio of Eight Million Three
Hundred And Fifty Thousand United States Dollars ($8,350,000.00 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 th e
processes and made sure I followed his precise instr uctions 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 2002. 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 bank ing 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 fur nished 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 to
you wi ll 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 com es 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 cl ients. Do not betray my confidence. If we can be of one
accord, we should plan a meeting, soon.
I await your response.
Stella Iwu
