Many South Africans are facing harsh economic conditions and would typically seek guidance on how to see them through these challenging times. “Scam artists are abusing cultural belief systems and are taking advantage of the believer’s financial desperation to scam them,” says Nazia Karrim, head of Product Development at the Southern African Fraud Prevention Service (SAFPS). She adds that the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI), specialised 419-Scams Task Team have noticed the emergence of ancestry scams and commodity trading syndicate-related incidents too, and approached SAFPS to help inform the public about the threat.
Easy money in commodities
Karrim points out that there is another investment scam that the DPCI 419-Scams Task Team is investigating, which involves a commodity trading syndicate.
“This scam is being run by foreign nationals from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) who are visiting South Africa posing as mining executives from that country. After a ‘chance’ meeting with the potential victim, who they befriend, the phoney mining executives set up business meetings to present the potential victim with a bogus business proposition which involves the trading of coltan stones. The phoney mining executives advise the potential victim that the current market selling price of these stones is currently high, and that the victim is welcome to take a sample of the rock and conduct their own research. The victim is then contacted by another member of the syndicate pretending to be the buyer who is interested in making a purchase,” says Karrim.
The phoney mining executives and buyer meet with the victim to discuss the potentially lucrative transaction with the victim. In keeping with the ruse, the phoney mining executives assure the victim and the phoney buyer that the stones are legitimate but that they should have the stones tested at their expense. The phoney mining executives arrange a tester who provides a false certification that the sample is genuine. “To facilitate a large-scale transaction, the victim is informed that they require the acquisition of numerous other certifications, licenses and tax documents from the DRC, which the phoney mining executives claim they will facilitate the arrangement of, but the victim will be required to bankroll all the costs. After numerous costly and fruitless engagements, the victim realises that the transaction was a scam and by then they have lost a significant amount of money,” says Karrim.
She adds that the DPCI is concerned about the number of people impacted by this scam as well as the potential losses which are estimated to be of millions of Rands. Educating the public is one of the critical functions of the Yima website. Karrim points out that the SAFPS has added a special scam type category for ancestry and commodity investment scams on Yima to help educate the public about the scams.
Supplied Southern African Fraud Prevention Service (SAFPS)
Platform to address the scourge of scams
In response to the growing need for a proactive approach to fraud prevention, the SAFPS launched Yima. Yima is a one-stop-shop website for South Africans to report scams, secure their identity, and scan any website for vulnerabilities related to scams.
A key element of the website is the ability to report a scam incident or any suspicious activity to the SAFPS. These reports are analysed to assist in syndicate identification and shared with law enforcement for investigation by specialised task teams.
A scams hotline is also available to report a fraud incident directly to participating banks, retailers, or telecoms companies via a single number 083 123 SCAM (7226). Users will only need to remember one number rather than search for each institution’s fraud contact centres numbers one at a time, especially when they are dealing with the trauma of falling victim to a scam.
Armed with this information, potential victims can use tools on the Yima website to help them refine their decision-making process. “One of the features on Yima’s website is a decision tree that walks consumers through a decision-making process to help them discover if they are potentially being targeted in a scam.
Potential victims can also use the verification tool, Verify’em on the Yima website, which will help them identify if a fellow citizen is in fact a South African citizen and verify them against the DHA using facial biometrics. If they do get scammed by that individual, they will have a profile confirmation to help identify the scammer.
Know who you are dealing with and be suspicious when you are requested to spend large sums of money via unconventional means and circumstances,” concludes Karrim.
Source: Southern African Fraud Prevention Service (SAFPS)