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Victims never receive this non-existent fortune but are tricked into sending their money to the criminals, who remain anonymous. They hide their real identity and location by using fake names and fake postal addresses as well as communicating via anonymous free email accounts and mobile phones.
Read more about such scams here or in our 419 FAQ. Use the Scam-O-Matic to verify suspect emails.
Click here to report a problem with this page.
Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:
Fraud email example:
From: "Priority Notice" <simonhobbys@nonifamily.net>
Date: Mon, 09 Jun 2008 03:34:31 +0530 (IST)
Subject: Without prejudice
Good day,
I am Simon J. Hobbys, a staff of Private Banking Services at the Bank of
China (BOC) United Kingdom. I am contacting you concerning our customer and
an investment placed under our bank's management four 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 2002, the subject matter; ref: bb/boc/bank/0012 came to our bank to
engage in business discussions with our Private Banking Services Department.
He informed us that he had a financial portfolio of 8.35 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 Services Department,
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 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 2004, he asked that the money be
liquidated because he needed to make an urgent investment requiring cash
payments in Europe. He directed that I liquidate the funds and had it
deposited with a firm.
I informed him that the 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 borders has become especially strict since the incidents of
9/11. I undertook all the processes and made sure I followed his precise
instructions to the letter and had the funds deposited in a security
consultancy firm, the 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. He 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 9th October, 2004.
In January 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 he had not come forward to claim his deposit. I made
futile efforts to locate him I immediately passed the task of locating him
to the internal investigations department of the Bank
of China. Four days later, information started to trickle in, apparently he
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; he died intestate.
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.The
investigation did not ever yield any result 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. 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 financial year
broadcast a request for statements of claim to BOC, failing to receive
viable claims they will most probably revert the deposit back to BOC. This
will result in the money entering the BOC accounting system and the
portfolio will be out of my hands and out of the Private Banking Services
Department. 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$ 8,370,000.00 deposited, 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 BOC is concerned,
the transaction with our deceased customer concluded when I sent the funds
to the firm, all outstanding interactions in relation to the file are just
customer services and due process. 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; I am prepared to place you in a position to give instruction
for the release of 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
customer I will then officially communicate with 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 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 firm. 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 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 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
want you contacting me through my
official email account. Contact me only through this email address. I do not
want any direct link between you and I. 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. If we can be of one accord, send me your response
immediately to enable us commence this line of discussion.
My email may appear to be too lengthy, but I just wanted you to be carried
along without an iota of misgivings.
I await your response.
Yours sincerely,
Simon James Hobbys.
Bank Of China, UK Branch
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