Cartas Nigerianas

No es la primera vez que me llega una de estas Cartas Nigerianas y supongo que no será la última. Aunque ésta ha sido de un tipo más elaborado que la mayoría, dista mucho de las que más.

Primero llegó un email extremadamente breve que podría ser para ofrecer algún proyecto de software, que los ha habido que han empezado casi tan breve.

i want your assist for project?

Aunque con ciertas sospechas, más bien muchas, pero con ganas de hacerle perder el tiempo llegado el caso, envié una respuesta breve cualquiera.

Y tras un día, ha llegado la siguiente respuesta, uno de los anzuelos de las Cartas de Nigeria más largos que me han llegado.

First of all  I want to thank you for considering my proposal. One aspect I will
like to talk about is PARTNERSHIP. I strongly believe in the power and spirit of
Partnership in  business.  Partnership, it  is all about  mutual  understanding,
mutual efforts /contribution and mutual benefits for all parties involved in the
partnership. On this note, I would want us to work as a team  in pursuit of this
interest    with   utmost   professionalism,   transparency,    commitment   and
confidentiality.

The first thing  I will do is to get you acquainted with the complete details (a
general overview) of this transaction so as to give you a foundation on which to
make a  concrete  decision. I  actually got your email  contact from a friend of
mine who works at the Chambers of Commerce here in the Hong Kong, I went  to him
with  the zeal of  locating a possible business partner overseas who will assist
me  in this project but note that I did  not specify the nature of this business
to  him due  to the nature  of  the business.

I contacted  you concerning a deceased  customer Ishmael Abdullah Naqshbandi (An
Iraqi  Crude oil  merchant),  and  an  investment  he  placed  under  our  banks
management. Once  again 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 am contacting on 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 January  2001,  Ishmael Abdullah Naqshbandi  came  to our  bank to engage  in
business  discussions with  our private banking division. He informed us that he
had a financial portfolio of 18.3 million United States dollars, which he wished
to have  us turn over (invest) on his  behalf. I was the officer assigned to his
case because of his high  net worth profile; I made numerous suggestions in line
with  my duties as  the de-facto  Head, Foreign  Operation Dept  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 favoured
route in my advice to customers is to start by assessing data on 600 traditional
stocks and  bond managers and 300  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 22.5 million  United  States dollars, this margin was not the
full  potential of the  fund  but he  desired  low  risk guaranteed  returns  on
investments.

Upon maturity several notice was sent to him, even during the war (U.S and Iraqi
war), Twelve years ago (2003). Again after the war another notification was sent
and  still no response came from him. I immediately passed  the task of locating
him to the internal investigations department  of Dah Sing Bank Ltd. Information
started to  trickle in that Ishmael  Abdullah Naqshbandi and his family had been
killed  during the  war in  a bomb  blast that hit  his home at Basrajra Samarra
where his personal oil well was.  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 quite clear now
that  our dear  client 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  portfolio and  the  late beneficiary  of  the
deposit.  According to practice,  the Private banking sector will by  the end of
this  year broadcast  a request  for statement  of claim to  Dah  Sing Bank Ltd,
failing to  receive viable claims they will most probably revert  the deposit to
Management of Dah Sing  Bank Ltd. This will result in the money entering the Dah
Sing accounting system  and the portfolio will be out of my hands and out of the
private banking division. What bothers me most  is that according to the laws of
my country  at the expiration of Twelve {12} years the  funds will revert to the
ownership of the Hong Kong Government if nobody applies to claim the funds. This
will  not happen  if I have  my way.

What I wish to relate to you will smack off 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  US $22,500,000.00
deposit just lying unclaimed. This  bank has spent great amounts of money trying
to  track the deceased's  family; they have investigated  for several months and
have  found no identifiable family member. The investigation has come to an end.

My  proposal; I am  prepared  to furnish the  necessary  details to  you as  the
closest surviving relation. I am also  proposing that after successful execution
of the  business deal  and the money in your account,  the funds be disbursed in
the  ratio 40/60;  40% of the  funds will go to you for offering yourself as the
next of  kin and providing a foreign  account especially an offshore account for
safe transfer  of the  funds and 60% will be for me. Please  let me know in your
next correspondence  if the  above  sharing ratio  is okay by you because we can
fine-tune  this based  on our interactions incase you have  any problem with it.
Following the  master plan  for this  deal  I am  looking at a  bank  that  have
transaction understanding  with  my bank  as first point  of transfer to put off
eyebrows that  may  be raised or  to avoid  unnecessary questioning.

I am  aware  of the consequences of this proposal. Once more,  I ask that if you
find no interest in  this project that you should discard this mail and forget I
ever contacted you, I ask that  you do not be vindictive and destructive. Do not
destroy my career because you do not approve of my proposal. 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  one's 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 won't pass me by and please do not let me miss my chance, if you will not
work with me let me know and  let me move on with my life. I am a family man and
this is an  opportunity to provide them with new opportunities. I have evaluated
the risks and the only risk I have here is from you refusing to work with me and
alerting my  bank. If you give me positive signals, I will give you the relevant
modus  operandi to initiate  this  process towards  a conclusion.

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. I await
your response.

Sincerely,
Lung Peter, TANG

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