[10GBT] Proposal
Date: 26/08/2004
From: Gabriel Barley
Subject: PROPOSAL
Dear Friend,
I am Gabriel Barley, head of international private banking
at
Barclays. I am contacting you concerning a deceased
customer,and
an investment he placed under our banks management 3years
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 contact you
independently
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 1999, 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 8.35
Million
British Pounds Sterling,
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. 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
British Pounds Sterling,
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. He
directed
that I liquidate the funds and have it deposited with a
security
firm. I informed him that Barclays 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. Large cash
movements have become especially strict since the incidents
of
9/11. I
contacted my affiliate and had the funds available as he
had
requested. I undertook all the processes and made sure I
followed
his precise instructions to the letter and had the funds
deposited with a security consultancy firm.
This security firm is an especially 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 them. 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 25 th February
2003.
In June last year, we got a call from the security company
informing us of 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 company, and I could
not
understand why our client 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 Barclay. Four days
later, information started to trickle in, apparently our
man 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 confirm all of this including cause of death. 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 even 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; our now deceased client
died in
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.
It is quite clear now that our dear fellow died with no
known or
identifiable family members. 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 security company will by the end of this year
broadcast a request for statements of claim to Barclays,
failing
to receive
viable claims they will most probably revert the deposit to
Barclays. This will result in the money entering the
Barclays
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 sit upon certain
chairs
and oversee
certain portfolios.
You should have begun by now to put together the general
direction of what I propose. There is 8,370,000.00 Pounds
deposited in a security company. 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 Barclays is
concerned, the transaction with our late client concluded
when I
sent
the funds to the security company all outstanding
interactions in
relation to the file are just customer services and due
process.
The security company 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 I may direct. 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 nvestigation has come to an end.
My proposal; you share similar details to the late fellow;
I am
prepared to instruct the security company 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.
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 our late client. I will then officially communicate with
the
security company 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 company 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 directly from the
security
company as it is not a
conventional financial institution; they accept deposits
from
only organizations thus; what you hand over to them is what
you
get back. They do not have the means to process the money.
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 a tidy sum 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.
This
chance 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
give you the relevant details and 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 same email account 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 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.
Please forward every of your cerrespondence to my safe and
private mailbox, g_barley@mail.ie.
I await your response.
Sincerly,
Gabriel Barley