A Warm Wind from Dubai Blows in a Massive Fortune
There is gold in the sands of the Arabian Desert, and in
New Zealand, the Blakeboroughs have reason to celebrate a windfall of
life-changing proportions – or so we were told.
It happened earlier this week with a message on Facebook from David Teixeira, Branch Office Manager at the Nova Equity Bank Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The message (unedited) is reproduced here.
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| Dubai, United Arab Emirates |
Hello Peter
Blakeborough My name is David Teixeira, I work with Nova Equity bank Dubai. I
write to contact you over a very important business transaction which will be
of our best interest and benefit to both our benefits. In 2006, Mr. Adam
Blakeborough whose surname is same as yours and has your country in his file as
his place of origin, made a fixed deposit for 48 months, valued at
$14,500,000.00 with my bank. I was his account officer before I rose to the
position of branch accountant. The maturity date for this deposit is 18th of
September 2010. Sadly, Mr. Adam Blakeborough was among the death victims in
March 12, 2008 earthquake in Sichuan, China that left over 70,000 deaths while
he was on business trip. Since the last quarter of 2010 until today, the
management of my bank has been finding means to reach him so as ascertain. If
he will roll over the deposit or have the contract sum withdrawn. When I
discovered that this will happen, I have tried to think up a procedure to
preserve this fund and use the proceeds for business. Some directors here have
been trying to find out from me the information about this account and the
owner, but I have kept it closed because I know that if they become aware that
Mr. Adam Blakeborough is late. They will corner the funds for themselves.
Therefore, am seeking your co-operation to present you as the one to benefit
from his fund at his death since you have the same surname, so that my bank
headquarters will pay the funds to you. I have done enough inside bank
arrangement and I only have to put in your details into the information network
in the bank computers database and records reflecting you as his next of kin.
If you concur with this proposal, I intend for you to retain 50% of the funds
while 50% shall be for me. I await your response
David Teixeira had an impressive
Facebook profile. He was from Orlando, Florida, went to Suncoast Community High
School, and Yale University, and now lives in Dubai, UAE. He had lots of family
and influential friends on Facebook. So, I replied hopefully using the same
grammatically correct English as Mr Teixeira:
Dear David Teixeira,
Thank you so much for your message about the money. I can hardly believe it -
$14.5 million! I have some questions as I hope this matter can be settled
quickly, due to my financial situation needing more funds. That $14,500,000 is
in which countries currency? You don’t seem to have said that. Also I have
spoken with my immediate family who are very excited to but 50-50 they say is
unfair. so I would like to negotiate a contract to receive the fund but my
ancestor would not be happy for 50/50 split of deposit if still alive and would
like a larger share to stay in family. So in recognition of your effort you
should be handsomely rewarded and I would agree to paying you $4,500,000 and I
can settle for $10,000,000 whichever currency that be. Thank you once again for
getting in touch. It is so good news. Thank you. I wait for your answers.
Minutes later, I received a reply:
Hi Peter, You are
welcome and it’s true that the sum of $14,500,000 is at a bank here in the UAE
that is why I have reached out to me after many years of searching for you. The
funds is in US dollars currency. I am glad to know that you have spoken to your
immediate because this is my wish that your family gets the inheritance of your
late family member Adam Blakeborough. I am in agreement with you and I will
take this new offer that you have handsomely reward me with the sum of
$4,500,000 while you can take the $10,000,000 for that is fairness to you and
your family. Also, kindly provide your email address and let me explain more
about the business and how we can begin right away
And then I made yet another offer:
Thank you for
replying so promptly. We really appreciate everything you are doing to help us.
But I must ask one more favor. Because my immediate family has 11 members we
are wanting you to agree to your fee being reduced by $1 million to $3,500,000
giving our 11 family members $1 million each, and making each of them a
millionaire which they could never have done without your help. This would be a
great privilege for them and to you they would be forever grateful, David. We
are so overjoyed with the wonderful news you have given.
We look forward to making the settlement with you. Please forward whatever
contracts and arrangements needed as soon as possible. Thank you so much.
Peter
The next day I received an email from David:
David Teixeira <david.teiixeiira@gmail.com>
To:peter blakeborough
Wed, 14 Apr at 8:25
pm
Hi Peter Blakeborough,
I am freely giving you full details and explanation of this transaction bearing
in mind that you will not betray me because everything I am proposing to you is
legit, legal and it's very protected. The name of the bank I work for is Nova
Equity Bank Dubai, United Arab Emirates. This transaction requires utmost trust
and dedication from your side, since you will be receiving the funds as the
next of kin/heir/beneficiary to the late Adam Blakeborough and shall be in
control of the money, until I come over for my share. Regarding the sharing, I
am not a greedy man, so I believe that my sharing ratio is acceptable to you as
I have said early on in our conversation, 75.8 for you and your family while
24.2% is for me which is a fair deal.
David Teixeira, Branch Manager,
Nova Investment Bank, Dubai
I want you to bear one thing in mind, there is no risk involved in this
transaction. It is 100% risk free and secured, once you follow my instructions
and keep everything secret between us. What I have to do is to place your
information in my bank database system as the next of kin/heir/beneficiary to
late Adam Blakeborough then you will apply for the claim through a law firm
here in the United Arab Emirates. You don't have to come down here for the
claim, the law firm will represent you and handle all the documentation
involved. As the manager group system development of my bank, the secret of the
bank system is under my palms, placing your details in the system database of
the bank as the next of kin/heir/beneficiary to late Adam Blakeborough is easy
work for me.
There is no risk involved as I repeat again; the transaction will be executed
under a legitimate and legal arrangement that will protect both of us from any
breach of laws and constitutions in the United Arab Emirates and your country.
I am going to recommend you to a good law firm here in the United Arab
Emirates, who you shall contact and request for their legal services to
represent you for the claims.
Once this is done, the law firm will assign a lawyer to be your attorney and
the law firm will do all the work and documentation required for the release of
the funds to you as the rightful next of kin/heir/beneficiary to late Adam
Blakeborough. I will present you as a family member and closest relative to
Adam Blakeborough and the only proof the bank will need is your identification,
where your names are written. This is a very smooth operation with me in the
bank, it will not last more than 4 weeks and the funds will be released to you
as I have told you already.
So what I need to start up the whole process is your details;
FULL NAME:
FATHER'S NAME:
AGE:
DATE OF BIRTH:
COPY OF YOUR ID CARD OR PASSPORT:
OCCUPATION:
MOBILE NUMBER:
HOUSE ADDRESS:
The law firm in question is good and specializes in such cases. As far as my
bank is concerned, I will be in control. I believe that God has answered my
prayers by creating this opportunity for both of us. Please, remember to treat
this transaction with utmost confidentiality for our own good. Upon your
response, I will send to you a copy of the deposit slip. I am sending you copy
of my ID's
Note: Please keep our confidentiality.
This is a classic Nigerian-type fraud with a double sting. Let me explain.
Online
searches for Nova Equity Bank Dubai and David Teixeira (also Teiixeira and
Teiixeiira) did not reveal any connection between the bank and the person
claiming to be a branch manager for the bank. However, David (or whatever his
real name is) has gone to extreme lengths to create an online identity, with
Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn accounts as well as unsecured accounts in the
name of the investment bank and related businesses in Dubai and elsewhere. Some
of the accounts are years old. Facebook searches for David Teixeira revealed
dozens of people with that name in many parts of the world, but none in Dubai
where our David claims to live.
The
first conclusion about this David Teixeira must be that that is not his real
name.
Next,
analysing the messages from David reveals that he has employed the same partly
clever, partly clumsy fishhooks that other scammers have used in what have
become collectively known as Nigerian frauds. The language he uses is not the
language one would expect of an executive in banking or investment, born in
Florida, and educated at Yale. It is more likely that English is not his first
language, and he has never been involved in any legitimate banking or
investment business.
The
second conclusion must be that this David is not what he claims to be, and
therefore cannot be trusted.
Next,
comparing the Teixeira attempted fraud with earlier Nigerian frauds, it is
obviously an improvement (from his point of view) on those earlier frauds. He
has introduced an additional step in the process of having the funds ‘released’
to the beneficiary. He recommends a ‘highly trustworthy’ law firm to handle the
formalities. In the older frauds the victim was asked for a ‘release’ or
‘administration’ fee to be paid so that the transfer process could begin,
usually $100 or less, but that was always followed by requests for
ever-increasing ‘fees.’ Once hooked, a victim could eventually lose their
entire savings. Now the fraudster can get two bites of an ever-increasing
cherry, while the victim will get nothing, and likely lose everything before
realizing and admitting they have been conned.
The
third conclusion must be that this version of the fraud is more sophisticated
and therefore likely to have more victims.
Next,
honesty and secrecy are over-emphasised in all the Teixeira messages. This is a
red-flag, tell-tale sign that David Teixeira is an evil criminal with the same
modus operandi as a paedophile – ‘trust me, everything is alright, but it’s a
secret between us.’
The
fourth conclusion must be that David Teixeira is a dangerous criminal who cannot
be trusted in any way.
In
his final message via email, David asks for enough information to generate a
fake identity. He wants to sell my identity to other criminals who will hack my
bank account, transport drugs in my name, obtain credit in my name, or sell a
driver licence in my name so that someone else can run up fines in my name.
David
Teixeira failed the ultimate test when he was asked twice to offer a better
deal. It was easy for him to agree to millions more for the beneficiary because
there were no millions to be had. The millions were a complete fiction.
The
fifth conclusion must be that anyone receiving a message like the one sent by
David Teixeira should immediately delete it and block the sender.
So,
you may ask, why didn’t I take my own advice? Because, as soon as I read the
opening words of the first message, I knew exactly what I was dealing with. I
have seen many such messages before and have posted on Facebook, and Twitter,
and on The Hot Wire Times about such frauds and scams. The risk to this writer
was minimal. But I also knew that while I was keeping the fraudster occupied,
he would have less time to scam others who could have more easily fallen
victim.
So,
who is David Teixeira really? He could be someone who has answered an enticing
social media post that offers huge sums of money for working online from home,
no experience needed. He could also be stuck in some third-world country
working in a dingy building with dozens of other so-called agents, tapping out
his messages to long lists of prospects. He could be an individual working
alone with his own version of a time-honoured confidence stunt. However,
wherever he is and whoever he is, he will probably be making a meagre income
while a master in the background makes a fortune. Often the David Teixeiras of
this world become victims too. He has probably never been to Dubai, probably
looks nothing like the David Teixeira in the photo, but money from his victims
could well be invested in Dubai, or some other place with slack laws that
protect criminals. But whether he is rich or poor, David Teixeira does not
deserve any of your money, and he certainly has no money for you.
Unfortunately,
one of the wisest and mostly widely spread pieces of advice is also one of the
least adhered to.
If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!
So
that fewer people will become victims, please share this post on social media
for all it is worth.
