"Next Of Kin" scam <[email protected]> Ed Palmer

Beware of this "Next of Kin" scam:

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From: reply <[email protected]>
To:
Subject: From E.Palmer (Palmer & Pettersson LLC)
Thread-Topic: From E.Palmer (Palmer & Pettersson LLC)
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Note: Palmer & Petterson LLC is American business, while Butterfield Private Bank is UK business.
The scammer is piggybacking.

From E.Palmer (Palmer & Pettersson LLC)
Dear Mrs. [surname],

I write to you on behalf of my clients (Butterfield Private Bank) who are
conducting a wide scale investigation in relation to matters involving a client
who shares the same name as yours (Late Robert [surname]) and also the
circumstances surrounding investments he made with my principal.

The Late Robert died intestate and nominated no next of kin to inherit the
title over the investments made with my client and I have been contracted to
locate possible family members of the Deceased and people with close ties
using all available means at my disposal.

The essence of this communication with you is to request you provide us
information on three issues:

1. Are you aware of any relative/relation who shares your same name whose
last known contact address was in Brussels ?

2. Are you aware of any investment of considerable value made by such a
person at the Private Banking Division of Butterfield Bank?

3.Can you establish beyond reasonable doubt your eligibility to assume
status of next of kin to the deceased?

It is pertinent that you inform us ASAP whether or not you are familiar With this
individual that we may put an end to this communication with you and
our inquiries surrounding this person.

You must appreciate that we are constrained from providing you with more detailed
information at this point.

Please respond to this mail using contact information above as soon as possible to
afford us the opportunity to close this investigation.

Thank you for accommodating our enquiry.
Regards,

Edmond Palmer

I received several emails of the first letter. Finally I answered a simple 'no', and here is what I got back. Check out his 'clear and simple proposal' near the end.

Dear Mr. Fowler,

Thank you very much for your response to our letter to you enquiring about your relationship to the deceased Robert Fowler.



I had somehow hoped that your response will be in the complete positive which is obviously not the case. Although you are namesakes, I dare say you do not know this individual one on one. If this is not the case, please correct me so I can submit your name to Butterfield Bank and you can follow up on your claim directly. But if you cannot establish beyond reasonable doubt with Butterfield that you are a beneficiary, then please read my proposal below.



I want to share some sensitive information on the subject matter and crave your indulgence on this long narrative.



In 2006, the Late Robert approached my client (Butterfield Private Bank) and opened an investment account with an initial deposit of £8.35 million. Based on investments opportunities at that time, the funds grew to approximately £10 million after the first year of investment and continued to grow even with the economic turndown in 2008-2009.



In mid 2010, he asked that the money be liquidated because he needed to make an urgent investment requiring cash payments in Hong Kong.

From the information I have at my disposal, arrangement was made between Butterfield Private Bank and Hang Seng Bank in Hong Kong and the principal amount of £8.35 million was made available to an affiliate of Hang Seng Bank in London for onward remittance with the help of the Chinese embassy in London.



At the same time, the late Robert cleared his accounts with Butterfield Bank for unknown reasons.



In January this year, Hang Seng Bank formally notified Butterfield Private Bank on the inactivity of that particular portfolio belonging to the deceased that was transferred to them in 2010. Butterfield then made futile efforts to locate Robert and immediately passed the task of locating him to the internal investigations department at Butterfield Bank. A few days later, information started to trickle in, apparently Robert was dead.



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 their services usually prefer anonymity, but also some levels of detachment from conventional processes. In his bio-data form, he listed no next of kin.



Butterfield then contracted me to locate a possible relative as an independent approach for due diligence and I have in the last 6 months, been unsuccessful in locating a next of kin.

It is this investigation that has resulted in my letter to you enquiring on a possible link between you and 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. You have unfortunately declared that you are in no way affiliated by blood with this individual. 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, Hang Seng Bank will in a couple of months time broadcast a request for statements of claim to Butterfield Bank. Failing to receive viable claims, they will most probably revert the deposit back to Butterfield. This will result in the money entering the bank accounting system and the portfolio will be reverted to the banks already buoyant balance sheet. 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.



There is over £8 million currently domiciled in Hang Seng Bank, I have the deposit details and they will release the deposit to anyone I declare as the next of kin. 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 will come to an end if I say I was unsuccessful in finding a relative.



My proposal is clear and simple: Since you share similar last name with the deceased, no one will question your right to next of kin and if you agree to embark on this venture with me, I will inform the bank that I have succeeded in locating a relative of the deceased and arrange paperwork showing that you are next of kin to the deceased. Based on this, the bank will have no other choice but to release the deposit to you.



I thank you for your time in reading this and let me know what your thoughts are on the subject matter. I understand that the process seems a bit raw now, but this is just summarising what is in place and what needs to be done. We can fine-tune this based on our interactions hoping you decide to participate in this with me.



I am aware of the consequences of this proposal and I do apologise for the mode of approach and for my 'greed' if you call it that. Please, I ask that if you find no interest in this project that you should discard this email immediately and forget I ever made contact with.




Hoping to read from you on a positive note as securing this would undoubtedly grant us financial security for the rest of our lives.




Regards,




Edmond Palmer