They approached me to manage their US investments. The widow is from South Africa, her husband was whacked last year. Which is true. Type, Brett Kebble / Ingrid Kebble. It is still a major scandal.
$8MM USD that they want to fund.
I always give individuals the benefit of the doubt, especially overseas individuals.
i know the rule, if they are asking for funds upfront, then its a scam. And i always do my due dilligence.
It look convincing, i spoke with the guy on the phone. And i had my guy make calls until we found someone who knew the widow of Brett Kebble.
Found out, the guy who tried to scam me didn't even know the woman. And an associate of mine who seeks fundraising as well, was encountered by this individual. mycapital.com I think is where he found me.
He faxed me an LOI, stating his interest.
His story was believable, but i know better.
anyway,
Benjamin Lekota | Blue Views Development. I searched the South African government, there is no such company with Blue Views Development. Other companies with the same name, but none involved his name.
Suggestion, just becareful.
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No the investor must have a seat in the board, okay how much % can you offer provide that she has a seat?
Benjamin Lekota.
We have gone through the PPM that you sent and all the detals and what you will be offering based on the US$ 8 Million is well understood.
Can you draft an agreement to be signed by both parties before the fund will be made avaliable and we will be having meeting tomorrow with the officials of the Reserve Bank to know how and when the fund will be wired to the companies account in exchange for the equity stake.
This is the details of the investor.
Name: Mrs. Ingrid Kebble
Address: 23 Pretoria Street Johannesburg 2000
South Africa.
Nationality: South African.
Regards,
Benjamin Lekota.
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Definitely we will be coming over to United States as soon as the banking transaction is completed. The issue of knowing how much will be transferred to the companies account will be determined after our meeting tomorrow and that will be a good idea with name of the cooperation.
Will the fund be transferred to the new company that will be established or with ***CONFIDENTIAL PROJECT NAME***?
Regards,
Benjamin Lekota.
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There is no standard notary here, what I will do is that after the agreement have been reviewed and signed by the investor I will take the agreement to the notary public commission in Johannesburg for signing and stamping and after that it will be forwarded to you for your endorsement as well.
Regards,
Benjamin Lekota.
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Okay it will be signed and send back to you after it have been notarized.
Forward to me the account detals as soon as it is set up.
Regards,
Benjamin Lekota.
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NOW THIS IS THE JUICEY PART!!!!!!!
When after weeks of talking on the phone and on email. I get this::::
We will like to continue this investment proposal with your company but the problem that we are going to encounter is the banking transaction and after our meeting with the South African Revenue service (SARS), the
National Treasury and the Exchange Control Department earlier today they said that there is a lot of regulation been implemented now on the transfer of large sum of money out of the Country due to political situation around the world and the issue of terrorism and government
trying to woo investors to invest locally because of the 2010 world cup here in South Africa they don't allow money to be moving out of the country there is a lot of restriction.
The Reserve Bank they said that since the fund is still in the escrow account of the Bank for we to have asses to the fund and subsequent transferring it into your account we have to produce Tax clearance certificate, money laundering and anti terrorist certificate so that the
fund will not be associated with terrorist fund. After the terrorist attacks of September 11 led to a number of governmental actions aimed at preventing terrorism and related money-laundering activities. The recently
enacted USA Patriot Act (USAPA) is the latest example of the government's determination to fight money laundering. and in obtaining all this documents it will very expensive which will cost us about 10% of the total
money which will be paid upfront so that the bank and the revenue services can give the local bank the go ahead order to transfer the fund to the companies account in United States and we don't have that money at
the moment so they suggested that the fund has to be moved to Europe through Diplomatic channel and the information of your company will be used as a conduit in moving the fund to Europe to their offshore payment
center where your presence will be required to sign out the fund from the Diplomats prior to the fund been transferred to your account in States and the investors representative will be meeting with you in Europe so that after confirming that the fund is in your possession a Stock certificate
will be issued to him on behalf of the investor.
The situation is that we want to have your input before we can move ahead and if the fund will have to be moved to the UK or Switzerland for the banking transaction to be effected the transaction charge here in South Africa will cost us here US$ 28,000 for the compliance clearance slip which the investor said that he will try and pay, and the transaction charges in UK or Switzerland it depend on which country will be convenient for you will be taking care by you, and I spoke to the diplomats here that will be moving the fund to Europe to know how much the administrative cost will be he did not give me a definite answer but he said that it will cost + or- 12,850 Euro.
If you are ready to meet with our representative all arrangement will be concluded and we will be paying the officials here the sum of US$ 28,000 so that the pouch that contains the fund will not be scrutinized.
Please we were advised not to disclose this transaction to a third party to avoid what happened in UK in 2002
bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/1880953.stm
We are waiting to hear your input before we can move ahead so that all arrangement will be made and the signed subscription agreement sent to you
Regards,
Benjamin Lekota
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The investor is she, you are not paying $28,000USD the only fee required from you is 12,850 Euro but we have to finalize that tomorrow to know how best we can do the transaction.
I will revert back to you tomorrow.
Regards,
Benjamin Lekota.
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MY RESPONSE
Benjamin,
I am not paying any upfront fees to ANYONE. I am concerned about scam artist, especially from Africa.
i've done my homework on Mrs. Kebble. She sold alot of her husband's assets. So you're telling me, she can't afford the extra $15,000 USD to get the funds released from escrow. (MIND YOU, ESCROW TYPICALLY TAKE FUNDS FROM HELD AMT, ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE CASHING OUT)
I will require $15,000 USD to get all the paperwork ready to transfer funds from the escrow account to the offshore account in Europe.
My legal counsel told me it will take 14 days to get the bank account ready to receive wire transfers.
You can use the same wire transfer information to wire the funds to get the ball rolling.
Please advise,
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HIS RESPONSE:
The investor is she, you are not paying $28,000USD the only fee required from you is 12,850 Euro but we have to finalize that tomorrow to know how best we can do the transaction.
I will revert back to you tomorrow.
Regards,
Benjamin Lekota.
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The Status of everything now is that the fund has to be moved through diplomatic channel to Europe but since you indicated that you cannot spend a dimme in this transaction there is no point wasting each others time.
I dont run a scam company my company is legally registered here and there is a lot of scam out there which we are no part of.
Thank you for your time and effort.
Regards,
Benjamin Lekota.
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I will send my certificate of incorporation to you tomorrow and you can check my company details on this website cipro.co.za/Home/ Just type the enterprise name.
I just got off the phone with the financial attorney who works with First National Bank of South Africa (FNB) who will assist us in setting up a commercial account here in South Africa since traveling to Europe will be a problem to you.
Based on the discussion I had with him he said that it will cost US$ 42,000 both setting up the account and activating it so that it can carry the volume of money involved for onward transfer to United States and at the moment we are having US$ 28,000 if you can come up with the balance of US$ 14,000 they the process of the transfer will start immediately and the fund will hit any account 5 days from the day the account is set up and I will be collecting the form from the bank tomorrow and it will be forwarded to you.
Regards,
Benjamin Lekota.
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MY RESPONSE:
Get the attorney to write me a letter stating the need. Once I verify this attorney, then I won't have a problem paying $14,000 to cover some of the cost.
Once I verify that he's a legitimate attorney and your association to Mrs. Kebble. I do not have a problem in possibly paying the other fees.
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TOO SMART TO GET RIPPED OFF, BUT WANT TO WARN YA
new york, New York
U.S.A.