WARNING: These are scams. They are Emails sent to a honeytrap address only ever used for this purpose. Do not reply to these people, they will try to con you into paying out money in return for nothing.
CAVEAT: Please note that some of these Emails may be impersonating a genuine company or person. We wish to make it clear that any such name mentioned within these Emails has no connection to the scam. For the sake of searching, we leave these messages untouched, but we will respond to any concerns left in our comments.
From: Luli Hong <[email protected]>
Reply: [email protected]
Date: Sat, 01 Dec 2018 22:45:21 -0800
Subject: PLEASE, SPARE FEW MINUTES OF YOUR TIME FOR THIS MAIL
Thank you for giving me your time, it is of great importance for you
to take care and understand every word which I have written down
below; please be patient and read the explanation in my email. I am
Mrs.Luli M. Hong a staff of Lloyds TSB Group Plc. here in Hong Kong
attached in Private Banking Services, I am contacting you concerning a
customer and an investment placed under our banks management; as a
matter of fact it was 5 years ago.
I would respectfully request that you keep the contents of this mail
private and also to kindly respect the integrity of the information
you come by as a result of this email. 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 2010, the subject matter; Ref: FI/TSB/958/042/0500 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 14.37
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,
and however 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 600 traditional stocks and bond managers and 200
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 with interest included,
stood at this point at over 15.2 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 2011, 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
in Europe. I informed him that our 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 Europe and had the
funds available in mainland Europe, 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 his
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 February
25th 2012.
In June last year, we got a call from the security firm 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,
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 our bank.
Four days later, information started to trickle in, that he was
apparently 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 gather more information and the 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 for several months were futile….. 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 decision to obtain your
contact details and contact you, being as a foreigner, as a potential
benefactor of the estate even if you are in no way affiliated with
this individual (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, with you being a foreigner, I have considered the
fact 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, the firm shall by the end of this financial
year broadcast a request for statements of claim to our bank, failing
to receive viable claims they will most probably revert the deposit
back to our bank. This will result in the money entering our bank's
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 might be a 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 USD$13,991,674(Thirteen million,
nine hundred and ninety one thousand, six hundred and seventy four
united states dollars) 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 the
finance firm 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.. The finance firm 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 comes forward,
and this is the situation. This bank has spent great amounts of money
trying to track the family of the deceased; they have investigated for
months and have found no family but however the investigation has
officially come to an end.
My proposal; I am prepared to place you in a position whereby an
instruction is given to the finance firm to officially release the
deposit to you as the closest surviving relation/associate, and all
etiquette shall be done in accordance with the rule of law, I
certainly can guarantee you that. By the common law, the power of
bequeathing is coeval with the first rudiments of the law, and this
power has been extended to all a man's Personal and Real estate
(Personality & Realty).
There is no ruling which prevents an inheritance from being so
exhausted by legacies as to render it unworthy of the heir's
acceptance; basically all persons of sound mind are competent to
bequeath and devise real and personal estate, excepting infants, with
all this I would say we have the clear advantage to carry out a smooth
and perfect operation whereby the paper work shall be coordinated in
such a way that your status as a sole beneficiary is confirmed.. Upon
receipt of the deposit, I am prepared to share the money with you in
half and no more; that is: I will simply nominate you as the next of
kin and have them release the deposit to you; afterwards 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, but on the other hand, you as a indifferent foreigner
would easily pass as the beneficiary with the rights to claim, I
assure you that I could have the deposit released to you in a few
days. I will simply inform our bank of the final closing of the file
relating to the customer, I will then officially communicate with the
finance 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 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 and I ask that if you find no interest
in this project that you should discard this mail. I ask also, that
you do not be vindictive or destructive, if my offer is of no appeal
to you, delete this message and forget I ever contacted you; please
not destroy my career because you do not approve of my proposal.
You may not know this but people like me 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 and
I hope you understand, because for once I found myself in total
control and face to face with 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 please let me know, and hence
move on with my life, but do not destroy me; I am a family woman and
this is an occasion 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 will bless you and plant you
into the center of relevance in my life, let?? share the blessing.
If you find yourself interested to work with me, if you give me
positive signals, I will initiate this process towards a quick
conclusion. It is necessary to inform you that under no condition
should you contact me via official channels; I will simply deny
knowing you and about this project. I repeat, I do not want you
contacting me through our official lines neither do I want you
contacting me through my official email account.
Contact me only through this email address above; 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 woman; I happily married with kids,
I send you this mail not without a measure of fear as to what the
consequences might be, 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 I shall have the pleasure of meeting you, after this task has
been completed plan a meeting.
Yours Sincerely,
Mrs.Luli M. Hong
I Await Your Response