| Welcome to the web page of the
South African Police Service. We are a professional organization
and pride ourselves in service excellence.
The South African Police Service is the principal
Law Enforcement Agency in South Africa, and is committed to the
creation of a safe and secure environment for all the citizens
of our country.
The mission of the South African Police Service
is to:
- Prevent anything that may threaten the safety
and security of any community;
- Investigate all crime that may threaten the
safety and security of any community;
- Ensure that criminals are brought to justice;
and
- Participate in efforts to address the root
causes of crime.
The South African Police Service has forged close
co-operation and enjoy good relations with other police agencies
across the world. We have established, and maintain effective
communication channels due to our dedicated, foreign liaison-officer-network.
Further information on the South African
Police Service is also available on the following website:
www.saps.gov.za
Fraud Alert!
It has come to the attention of the
South African Police Service that unsolicited letters, faxes and
e-mails are being sent all over the world by fraudsters, purporting
to be senior government officials from South Africa or officials
within our central banking institution, the South African Reserve
Bank. In such unsolicited correspondence most commonly sent out,
the fraudster will claim to have over inflated government contracts,
thus generating a personal profit. The recipient of the unsolicited
correspondence is offered a reward of between 10 to 30% in return
for help in smuggling the money out of the country.
These types of letters are an "Advance Fee
Fraud", or what is more commonly known as "419-Letter-scams".
They are most definitely not distributed by South African government
officials or officials from the South African Reserve Bank. It
is, however, a fact that, in many instances, the fraudsters are
not even operating from within South Africa, but are distributing
the correspondence from other countries. They have absolutely
nothing to do with South Africa, and have merely engaged in a
process of identity hi-jacking.
Although "419-Letter-scams" can take
on many forms, certain common "characteristics" do exist
that should alert the recipient:
- There is a sense of urgency to the matter;
- Total confidentiality is an absolute requirement;
- The unsolicited letters/faxes/e-mails reaches
the recipient unexpectedly;
- A large sum of money is involved;
- The letters are very convincing;
- The names of official government departments
and banks are abused.
You are advised not to respond to these
unsolicited letters, faxes and e-mails, unless you have made one
hundred percent sure that it is a legitimate, bona-fide business
proposition from an authentic organization or institution.
Do not underestimate the fraudsters - they
can be very convincing and specifically target the most common human
weakness, namely GREED! Most recipients are skeptical and immediately
realize that the correspondence is a fraud. It is, however, a reality
that hundreds of people have lost large sums of money after being
lured into these scams. Other individuals, who have responded simply
out of curiosity, have had their names and company letterheads abused
in other fraudulent scams.
Advance Fee Fraud affects many countries, and
there is close co-operation between foreign police agencies at
an international level, to combat this crime.
The following advice if offered to UK residents:
- If
you have received unsolicited correspondence that you find suspicious,
kindly report it to your local police station or
Fraud Squad for
investigation.
- Due to the volume of the "419-Letter-scam" this
office receives on a daily basis, if you are a victim and have
actually
lost money, please contact
our Head Office Interpol by e-mail at: 419scam@saps.org.za. Commercial
Branch has a task team that investigates victims of 419 scams, especially
those who have incurred any loss. All scam letters without loss are being
fed into
a database and the letters, names, and contact details are analysed to
check for similarity in order to determine the origin of the scam letters
and who
is behind them.
- If you have incurred a loss you must also report this to
the nearest police station from where the money was transferred
and the police
will liaise with this office if the need arises via mutual legal
assistance. You must submit an affidavit statement together with
all communications that took place between yourself and the fraudsters
to the police before they can start their investigation.
You are reminded to view our website on crime prevention for the purpose of
awareness:
www.saps.gov.za – click
crime prevention and then on commercial crime and you will see
a link ‘4-1-9
scam’.
Click this link to see all information regarding the 419 scam.
The UK website for fraud awareness is www.met.police.uk/fraudalert
contact them at:
Please do not contact the South African High Commission directly regarding
this type of fraud. This office only facilitates investigations between the
host country and South Africa and not from individual complainants.
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