Cops warn of new 419 scam
2008-09-29 12:38
Johannesburg - Police warned investors on Monday to apply the "too good to be true" motto to avoid falling for the latest version of the 419 scam, after two businesspeople were kidnapped for ransom last week.
"They offer very attractive deals and it is very important to become suspicious," said the police's Superintendent Andre Neethling. The warning came after a new version of the scam emerged in the last week.
Nine people were arrested after two separate incidents in which two businesspeople - one from Japan and one from Sweden - were taken to a house after their arrival in the country, then held captive for ransom.
Neethling explained that the luring method was the same as the original 419 scam, but that the process of extracting money had changed.
Bulk e-mails would be sent out to individuals and companies offering a very attractive investment opportunity, or the same would be advertised on a website.
Neethling said the syndicates realised that their targets had become wise to the requirement of a large upfront payment to help transfer of a "secret" fund. They had also stopped using hotels to conclude the ruse.
Kidnap for ransom
Now, after grooming their targets they arranged to pick them up at airports and kidnapped them for ransom.
Neethling said it was important for investors to be very thorough in screening potential business partners.
"The old rule 'too good to be true' applies," he said.
He urged investors to contact police to screen the people they intended doing business with. International investors should contact the embassy of the country they intended visiting for a similar security check.
"International people must check with local law enforcement," he said.
He warned that simply checking if a company was registered was not enough, as the latest alleged front company, Jeffdon Properties, was registered.
He added that many apparently excellent deals were also pyramid deals and "people cry later".
Offshoots of scam
He added that the scam has developed many offshoots - a current one involved duping people to invest in the scrap metal market. Trading in this market was competitive. Not many details about it were public and easily verifiable, making it difficult for an investor to make sure he was not being tricked.
The two people arrested and implicated in the kidnap of the Swede late Tuesday/early Wednesday last week would return to court on October 8, after an initial appearance in the Kempton Park Magistrate's Court last Friday.
Senior Superintendent Vishnu Naidoo said they faced initial charges of kidnapping, intimidation and assault and would remain in custody until their next appearance.
They allegedly lured the Swede to South Africa on the belief that he would be part of an investment opportunity with Jeffdon Properties.
They met him at OR Tambo International Airport on Tuesday and took him to a house in Rosettenville where they allegedly tied him up, robbed him and demanded a ransom of about R235 000 from his family.
Head of the police's detective services Commissioner Rayman Lalla got a call from Sweden about the matter. The Swede was tracked down, rescued and his two alleged captors arrested. The pair had been linked to three other cases in which they allegedly kidnapped Americans as part of the same scam.
Syndicate cracked
On Sunday police arrested seven more people in connection with the kidnapping of a Japanese businessman in a similar modus operandi, with a ransom demand of $5m.
National police spokesperson Director Sally de Beer said police believed they had cracked this syndicate.
The seven would also appear in the Kempton Park Magistrate's Court on Tuesday.
The 419 scam got its name from a section in Nigerian law which criminalised getting people to pay an advance fee, in return for a cut of a large sum of non-existent money they would help move.
- SAPA