[Spip-maintainers] RE..

[Jiang Hong]

-- 
Dear Intending Partner,

My names are Mr. Jiang Hong; I'm an Account Officer with (BOC) Bank of 
China, United Kingdom. I need you a foreigner to assist in transferring 
the money below. Please, read this Letter to understand what this 
business is about.

In 2003, 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 8.370 
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 2005, 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 contacted my affiliate in and had the funds available. 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, 2005.

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 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 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 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. If we can 
be of one accord, send me your response on this email immediately to 
enable us commence this line of discussion.

I await your response.

Jiang Hong.