HSBC BANK

["Mr. Walter Brown" <b_walter22@yahoo.fr>]

Good day,



I am Walter Brown, staff of International Private Banking at HSBC Bank. I 
am
contacting you concerning a deceased customer and an investment he placed 
under
our banks management few 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 2001, 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  Forty Eight Million Three
Hundred And Fifty Thousand  United States Dollars ($48,350,000.00 USD) 
,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 2002, 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 
here in
London. I informed him that HSBC 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
security consultancy firm, Corporate Securities Co. Corporate Securities 
Co 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 June 2002. 
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 HSBC.
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 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; the deceased died 
without a
testament .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 this 
financial
year broadcast a request for statements of claim to HSBC, failing to 
receive
viable claims they will most probably revert the deposit back to HSBC. This
will result in the money entering the HSBC 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 HSBC 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 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 mans 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. Let 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 wouldn’t 
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.



I await your response.


Walter Brown.





----------------------------------------------------------------
This message was sent using IMP, the Internet Messaging Program.