You may recall the letter from BELETS Consultants. I replied, and received another one that shows this to be a more complex 419 scam, perhaps the most complex 419 that I have seen before.
The scam is actually rather elegant. They first send an email making enquiries about a possible lost relative. Then Dubs Parker (I mean, Dubs Parker? Couldn’t they come up with a better name?) sends you an email saying that he is a rogue bank official, that he wants to get even with the bank, and that he wants to transfer some money to your account. What follows is the usual attempt to get your bank details. Here is the letter, but I am not sure if I want to continue playing along (without giving any personal details). Should I continue playing along? I mean, you have to give them some credit for trying, although I would very much doubt that there ever was a person that shares my name. I will slightly change the message to remove my name (I just want to make it salightly harder for them to find me).
Dear X,
I am Dubs Parker Corporate and Institutional Banking Service and Sales Manager Bank of Scotland including private Banking. A staff of BELETS CONSULTANT on behalf of Bank of Scotland contacted you earlier concerning MR. STANLEY XXXXX (coded account name) and an investment placed under our banks management
3 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, Stanley came to our bank to engage in business discussions with our private banking division. He informed us that he had a financial portfolio of $18.35 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 many 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 10 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 Antwerp (Belgium). He directed that I liquidate the funds and had it deposited with a firm in Holland. I informed him that Bank of Scotland 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 had the funds available in Europe. I undertook all the processes and made sure I followed his precise instructions to the letter and had the funds deposited a British based security and consultancy firm, this is an especially 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.
Stanley 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 2002. 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, and I could not understand why Stanley had not come forward to claim his deposit. I made futile efforts to locate Stanley. I immediately passed the task of locating him to the internal investigations department of Bank of Scotland. Four days later, information
started to trickle in, apparently Stanley 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 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, and 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; Stanley died interstate.
In line with our internal processes for account holders who have passed away, we did institute 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 did result 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. You have unfortunately declared that you are in no way affiliated with this individual. What this means, you being the last batch of names we have considered, is that our dear late fellow is dead 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 firm will by the end of this year broadcast a request for statements of claim to Bank of Scotland, failing to receive viable claims they will most probably revert the deposit back to Bank of Scotland. This will result in the money entering the Bank of Scotland accounting system and the portfolio will be fully 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 US$ $12,370,000.00 deposited in Amsterdam, 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 Bank of Scotland is concerned, all outstanding interactions in relation to the file are just customer services and due process. The 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 similar details to the late fellow; I am prepared to place you in a position to instruct the 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. That is: I will simply nominate you as the next of kin and have them release the deposit to you. We share the proceeds 35% for you and 65% for my collegues and me. 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 Stanley I will then officially communicate with the 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 firm directly send 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 them 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 success for us. 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. Lets share the blessing.
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 the email address supplied. 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, with a wife and a child. 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. If we can be of one accord, we should plan a meeting, soon.
I await your response.
Dubs Parker.
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