After several 419 fraudsters tried to trade on a bogus ”government mining department”, the Department of Minerals and Energy established a risk management unit to work with police and intelligence officials to track down these conmen.
The unit liaises with the National Intelligence Agency and the South African Police Service to track down 419 fraudsters, said departmental spokesman Kanyo Gqulu, adding: ”Whenever we get them [419 scam e-mails] they are alerted.”
In the past month at least two 419 scam letters with false references to a non-existent ”department of mining and natural resources” and a ”South Africa Mining Corporation” have circulated in Germany and possibly elsewhere in Europe.
The 419 scam — named after the section of the Nigerian penal code that criminalises this fraud — entices gullible investors to help transfer millions of American dollars from the country in return for a share of the cash.
In e-mails or letters those claiming to have the money purport to be legally prevented from transferring it themselves. The e-mails use official sounding bogus names of institutions. Two years ago 419 fraudsters set up a false Reserve Bank website.
Once hooked, the ”partner” must pay various fees totalling thousands of rands to finalise the transaction. The e-mails or letters call for utmost secrecy, while ”guaranteeing the business itself is 100% safe”.
In the latest 419-scams a ”Dr Austin Makeba” claims to be working at the ”Department of Mining and Natural Resources” — or the ”ministry of mineral resources and energy”, according to an earlier version.
He alleges that ”a member of the South Africa Export Promotion Council” who was part of a ”government delegation during a trade exhibition” has passed on the recipient’s e-mail details.
”Makeba” claims that he and four other top officials have $26,5-million in ”overdue payment” available, but cannot transfer the money out of the country because ”the South African Civil Service Code of Conduct does not allow us to operate offshore accounts”.
In other e-mail, a ”Frederick Mende”, who claims he is the ”provincial director Standard Bank of South Africa”, is looking for someone to stand in as a relative of the late Richard Moss, a non-existent contractor of the fictitious ”South Africa Mining Corporation”, who had deposited $25-million into a bank account.
The e-mail states that an interested party must contact a law firm to sign the necessary papers to get the money out of the country: ”According to South African law at the expiration of 5 (five) years, the money will revert to the ownership of the South African Government if nobody applies to claim the fund.”
Gqulu confirmed that similar advance-fee fraud e-mails have circulated in various countries overseas in the past. He warned that such e-mails must be disregarded and that recipients should contact the department’s risk management unit.
The Department of Trade and Industry says the 419 scam has been illegal since July 2001 under South African law.
”The conmen involved are masters in forging documents and making their scheme sound authentic,” said department spokesperson Manana Makhanya. Anyone aware of such fraud should contact the police on (012) 393 1203 or the Scorpion investigators on (012) 842 1400.
Since late last year the Scorpions and police commercial crime unit have cracked several syndicates, including the fake Reserve Bank 419 ring. National police spokesperson Martin Aylward said 419 scams come in thousands of variations and were sent out by the millions.
”In each and every one of them [the respondent] is going to lose money no matter what they promise you,” he said.
And while South Africans generally do not fall for these scams, foreigners do. As far back as September 1997 the Department of Foreign Affairs issued a warning against the 419 scam after a number of South African diplomatic missions abroad were alerted to them.