 |
Henry Donaldson in London sends me what is probably the longest 419 e-mail I've ever received. Not sure what he wants yet however. I'll have Reverend Stu Pidass take this one.
Conventions within the thread:
E-mails from the fraudsters are in black.
E-mails from me (Stu Pidass) are in italicized green.
Red X's represent characters that have been changed to protect personal info.
Comments from me are in bold black.
The game commences with the scammer's initial e-mail.
WARNING: His initial e-mail appears here exactly as I received it, no carriage returns anywhere in the main body making it all but impossible to read. Please do not attempt it. You'll only make your eyes water. Frankly, I never read these thing in their entirety anymore and I made virtually no attempt at all to read this one.
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Good day!
Date: Mon, 28 Mar 2005 23:53:33 +0200
From: dncl xxxxxxxxx@tsamail.co.za
Good day,
I am Henry Donaldson, staff of Bristol and West
Private
Bank.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 discussions 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,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 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 in
here london. I informed him that Bristol and West
Private
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
in
here in london 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 at the london based
securityconsultancy firm,Corporate Securities Co.
Corporate
SecuritiesCo 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
February
2003.
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 Bristol and West
Private 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 ofFrance.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, Corporate Securities Co will by
the
end of thisfinancial year broadcast a request for
statements of claim to Bristol and West Private Bank,
failing to receive viable claims they will most
probably
revert the deposit back to Bristol and West Private
Bank.
This will result in the money entering the Bristol and
West
Private 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.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
Bristol
and West Private Bank 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?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 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. Lets 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
thisproject. 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
learnt from my private banking clients. Do not betray
my
confidence. If we can be of one accord, we
should plan a meeting, soon.Kindly send response to my
private email addresses:
xxxxxxxxx@myway.com.
From: Stuart Pidass
To: xxxxxxxxx@myway.com
Date: Mon, 28 Mar 2005 21:55:32 -0500
Subject: Re: Good day!
Greetings, Mr. Donaldson
I am Reverend Stuart Pidass of Our Lady of Perpetual Flatulence Holy
Church. Wanda, who is one of our parishioners, brought your email to
my attention in the hopes that I may be in more of a position to
assist you.
Please be assured that as a member of the clergy, I will keep your
affairs extremely confidential as would be required of me under any
circumstances.
Please let me know how I can be of assistance to you. I shall await your email.
Your brother in Christ,
--
Reverend Stuart Pidass
Our Lady of Perpetual Flatulence Holy Church
Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan
|
