World Bank trading POFs....

[LWFJester]

Okay....
Like so many other people here, I've recently been approached by someone who has information on a program I know nothing about. This guy is a long time friend of a friend of mine. He is VERY wealthy (confirmed by my friend) and his parents have a very profitable business. In any case, I just want to ask/announce/make aware of this 'offshoot'.

He starts off by saying he makes a lot of money in the European and US markets by trading dividends and coupons. He says anything can be traded...coupons, bank guarantees, even proof of funds. All of these instruments are traded on the second market and there are profits generated from the trades. He says the World Bank will trade Proof of Funds, or maybe use the POFs to facilitate trades, that will 'create currency' for other countries.

The program is similar to everything I've seen here. The 'investor' fills out a CIS which is sent to Interpol and Eurocheck. During the check the 'investor' opens an IOLTA (or similar account) in a main bank of their choice and deposits $1mm. No one else is required to be on the account, and he made no mention of being for/or against dual/triple signatories (who are not him) but I didn't ask either. Once the 'investor' comes back 'cleared' there is a contract that allows the World Bank to use a POF to facilitate transactions. He said that the World Bank can't pull the POF itself, so it would have large bank pull it and the POF would then be 'traded' one to three times a day.

The 'agreement' is for six months. At the end of six months the 'investor' receives 20% of the proceeds generated by the POF. He said he's personally done the deal, and had is father and wife do it, and they all saw returns of $10mm at the end of the 6 months. The proceeds can be deposited to any account in the world and suggested opening an account in Switz for the proceeds.

He's said he's fine with producing bank statements from his US and International accounts to prove the existence of the program.

The two things that really keep me on edge is that he said there are tiers (1mm, 10mm, 50mm, 100mm) and that you can only work with the World Bank at each of these tiers ONCE in you life, AND that someone who has done it already CANNOT lend money to someone else to enter the 'program'. (of course when he said it's risk-free I said, well lend me the money to do it, and the previous sentence was his response).

The guy was very fluent with all of the jargon I see here. M760, M999, bank guarantees, etc. I went to the World Bank's website but was unable to find anything regarding their trading behavior. I have yet to send them an email...which will be next....

My belief is that the CIS is a clever way to get all of your personal information and then through some identify theft measure, take the money out of the account. Any one?

[Pottapaug1938]

Just the mention of IOLTA (Interest On Lawyer's Trust Account) makes this fail the smell test. Any con-man worth his salt has the jargon down pat....

[wserra]

This guy is a long time friend of a friend of mine. He is VERY wealthy (confirmed by my friend)

People like to name-drop. People like other people to believe that they have big, wealthy, powerful contacts. Especially if your "friend" has him/herself given this guy money, don't expect him/her to readily admit that s/he is an idiot who was duped. Misery loves company.

Take a look at what the Treasury Department has to say about this stuff.

In these schemes, the fraud artists purport to have access to a secret trading program sanctioned by the Federal Reserve Bank, the Treasury Department, the World Bank, the International Chamber of Commerce, or the International Monetary Fund . . . . Various "prime bank" trading programs or similar trading programs that offer secret, private investment markets, which purport to offer above average market returns with below market risk through the trading of bank instruments are fraudulent. Offering such programs, or claiming to be able to introduce investors to people who have access to such programs, violates many federal laws including criminal laws. There are no "secret" markets in which banks trade securities. Representations to the contrary are fraudulent.

"Sure," you say, "that's prime bank fraud. This isn't prime bank, this is World Bank proof of funds". I think Homer put it best: "This isn't just another get-rich-quick scheme. This scheme is SURE to make us rich - and quick!"

[LWFJester]

Subject:
Trading policies/possible scam
Date: Thu, Sep 10, 2009 3:58 pm
To: pic@worldbank.org
Hi,

Please forward to your trading/financial/dividend/derivatives department.

I was recently approached by someone who I think may be running a scam. The short of it is this:

He says that if I open an account with $1mm dollars at any bank in the US, fill out a survey that's checked by Eurocheck and Interpol and come out clean, that you (The World Bank) will sign a contract with me stating that I will allow you to have another bank produce POFs on the aforementioned account for 6 months. The World Bank would then use those POFs to facilitate trades to produce currency for other countries one to three times a day.

These trades would be handled by a professional trader, and the trades would produce fees and income. You (the World Bank), the trader, and I would split the profits from these trades, of which about 20% would go to me.

Can you please indicate whether there is any truth to this? Can you tell me if any program like it exists? Have you heard any other stories like this?

I'm incredibly serious, so please forward to whoever handles such transactions so that I may get the best answer.

Sincerely,

Bruce

[bmielke]

LWFJester Did you ever get a response about this e-mail?