Good day,
My name is Stewart Barculo, Staff of Standard Life Bank Limited.I am
contacting you concerning a deceased customer and an investment he placed
under our banks management seven 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 2000, 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
Fifty million united states dollars, which he wished to have us turn over
(invest) on his behalf. I was the officer assigned to his case; I 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 2001, 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. I informed him that Standard Life 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 the security firm. I undertook all the processes and
made sure I followed his precise instructions to the letter and had the
funds 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 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 February 2003.In June last year, we got a
call from the security firm informing us that 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 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 Standard
Life 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 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 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 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, The Security Firm will by the end of this financial
year broadcast a request for statements of claim to Standard Life Bank,
failing to receive viable claims they will most probably revert the
deposit back to Standard Life Bank. This will result in the money entering
the Standard Life 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
who 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 Fifty 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 Life 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 comes 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; you share the same surname with our late client; I am
prepared to place you in a position to instruct the security Firm 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. But on the other hand,
you with the same very name as the original depositor would easily pass as
the beneficiary with right to claim. 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 me 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's share the
blessing. If you find yourself able to work with me, contact me through
this email account stewart_barculo854uk@yahoo.com.hk 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 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 learned from my private banking clients. Do
not betray my confidence.
Kindly send your response to my private email address
stewart_barculo854uk@yahoo.com.hk
I await your response.
Stewart Barculo
