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From: MR Stewart Barculo <ste_bar774@yahoo.com.hk>
Date: Oct 3, 2007 2:13 AM
Subject: RE:I LOOK FORWARD TO HEAR FROM YOU
Standard Life Bank,
30 Lothian Road,
Edinburgh EH1 2DH
Email:ste_bar_hk@yahoo.com.hk
Goodday,
I am Stewart Barculo, Staff Standard Life Bank Limited.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 2000, the
subject matter; came to our bank to engage in business iscussions 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 advise to customers is to start by assessing
data on 6000 traditional stocks and bond managers and 2000 managers of
alternative investments. Base
d 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 House 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 House.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, 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 t
his 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 deposi
t.
According to practice, The Security Firm will by the end of this
financial year broadcast a request for statements of claim to Standard
Life House,failing to receive viable claims they will most probably
revert the deposit back to Standard Life House.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 House 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 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 lifetim
e. 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.Lets share the
blessing.If you find yourself able to work with me, 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.
ste_bar_hk@yahoo.com.hk
I await your response.
Stewart Baculo.
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