About this Project
The South African Police Service established a Task Team within
the Commercial Branch to investigate 419 scams. Introduction
The aim of this team is to reduce the amount of Nigerian 419
and Lottery Scam letters circulating through the Internet by
forcing hosting and phone service providers to immediately suspend
services to fraudsters, or else face severe criminal and civil
actions, which could ultimately lead to the closure or liquidation
of such service and hosting providers.
Nigerian 419 scam and Lottery Scam letters are currently
flooding the e-mail boxes of innocent Internet users and
website users. Most people ignore these letters, but the
fact is that many people fall victim to these scams and lose
thousands of US Dollars. The Nigerian 419 Scam is currently
the world’s largest scam in terms of monetary losses.
419 fraudsters are arrested continually throughout South
Africa as well as around the world. The problem is that upon
the arrest of one fraudster two more are replacing him/her
and continuing the mailing of 419 scam letters.
In addition to the losses incurred by the victims to the
losses incurred by the victims, many people who do not fall
victims become frustrated by the never-ending stream of
e-mails filling up their Inboxes and are very keen for this
type of spam to be stopped. It is a fact that not all
offenders can be traced, due to their use of modern
technology. Most service providers have been requested by
Law Enforcement agencies around the world to remove websites and
e-mail addresses of fraudsters when they are identified. The
hosting providers simply refuse to do so and repeatedly demand
court orders to comply with requests. This is an impossible
situation for Law Enforcement agencies. Our service will change
the way in which service providers’ deal with Nigerian 419
fraudsters. Once a Nigerian 419 letter is reported to us, our
legal professionals will confirm whether the letter is indeed a
scam. Notifications will then be forwarded to the hosting
providers of the websites, e-mail addresses as well as to the
telephone operators of the telephone numbers involved. Once the
notification has been served that their technology is being used
to commit crime, the service provider will be obliged to act. We
will keep record of all processes followed. Once a person falls
victim to a Nigerian 419 Scam he or she can contact us to
determine whether a hosting provider was notified of the client
using the account for criminal activities. If so, all our
documents will then be made available to victims who can use such
documents when launching Civil as well as Criminal actions against
hosting providers and phone operators who did not act after they
were notified of irregularities. Our team of legal experts will
also be available to give testimony in any trial.
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The aims of this project:
The aim of this project will be as follows:
- Identify Fraudulent websites and blacklist as such
- Identify fraudulent e-mail addresses and blacklist it
as such
- Identify telephone numbers and blacklist it as such
- Providing a facility whereby searches can be conducted
- Bring under the attention of website hosting companies
and phone service providers the fact that they are hosting
fraudulent websites or e-mail accounts or phone numbers.
- Acting against hosting companies and service providers
not adhering to requests and continue to assist fraudsters
in hosting their sites.
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How the Project will operate:
This website shall contain the following services and
information:
- Information on all reported email addresses of
fraudsters
- Information on all fraudulent websites
- Information on successes achieved during the project
- Assistance for victims of scams after service
providers were notified and did not act
- Information on 419 scams
- And much more
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Results of the project:
The results of this project will lead to 419
fraudsters being unable to receive replies from victims
as their accounts will be closed the moment we receive
the e-mail and notified the hosting company. Websites
of fraudsters will be closed down affecting credibility
of their e-mails sent to victims. Fraudsters will be
frustrated as they will receive no replies from victims
leaving their e-mails worthless.
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Protecting Victims:
This service is dedicated to protecting victims
against 419 and lottery scams. In affect, the only
institutions that can prevent these crimes are hosting
and phone service providers. Should these institutions
refuse to take actions against fraudsters, they
practically assist in the promotion of the crime.
Victims will have access to all our information and
evidence, which can be used in civil and criminal
actions against these institutions.
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