419 scam: "Mr Pieter Swart" <mr.pieterswart@departmentofmineralresources.org> Contract Project; Department of Mineral Resources.

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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

The so-called "419" scam is a type of fraud dominated by criminals from Nigeria and other countries in Africa. Victims of the scam are promised a large amount of money, such as a lottery prize, inheritance, money sitting in some bank account, etc.

Victims never receive this non-existent fortune but are tricked into sending their money to the criminals, who remain anonymous. They hide their real identity and location by using fake names and fake postal addresses as well as communicating via anonymous free email accounts and mobile phones.

Keep in mind that scammers DO NOT use their real names when defrauding people.
The criminals either abuse names of real people or companies or invent names or addresses.
Any real people or companies mentioned below have NO CONNECTION to the scammers!

Read more about such scams here or in our 419 FAQ. Use the Scam-O-Matic to verify suspect emails.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "dear sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
- "department of mineral resources" (the name of a person or institution often appearing in 419 scams)
- "contract award committee" (the name of a person or institution often appearing in 419 scams)
This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- mr.pieterswart@workmail.co.za (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "Mr Pieter Swart" <mr.pieterswart@departmentofmineralresources.org>
Reply-To: mr.pieterswart@workmail.co.za
Date: Mon, 7 Nov 2016 20:49:05 +0200
Subject: Contract Project; Department of Mineral Resources.

Department of Mineral Resources
234 Visagie Street,
Pretoria, 0002
South Africa

ATTENTION: THE PRESIDENT/C.E.O

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am Mr Pieter Swart the Contract award committee Chairperson.

Terms of Reference

My term of reference involves the award of contracts to multinational
companies.

My office is saddled with the responsibility of contract award, screening,
categorization and prioritization of projects embarked upon by Department
of Petroleum Resources (DMR) as well as feasibility studies for selected
projects and supervising the project consultants involved. A breakdown of
the fiscal expenditure by this office as at the end of the last fiscal
quarter of 2015 indicates that DMR paid out a whooping sum of US$936M
(Nine Hundred And Thirty Six Million, United States Dollars) to successful
contract beneficiaries. The DMR is now compiling the list of beneficiaries
to be paid during the next batch which will take-off from this fourth
quarter till second quarter of next year (2017).

The crux of this letter is that the finance/contract department of the DMR
deliberately over-invoiced the contract value of the various contracts
awarded. In the course of disbursements, this department has been able to
accumulate the sum of US$50M (Fifty Million, U.S Dollars) as the
over-invoiced sum. This money is currently in a suspense account of the
DMR account with the Debt Reconciliation Committee (DRC). We now seek to
process the transfer this fund officially as contract payment to you as a
foreign contractor, who will be fronting for us as the beneficiary of the
fund. In this way we can facilitate these funds into your nominated
account for possible investment abroad. We are not allowed as a matter of
government policy to operate any foreign account to transfer this fund
into.

However, for your involvement in assisting us with this transfer into your
nominated account we have evolved a sharing formula as follows:

(1) 45% for you as the foreign partner
(2) 50% for me
(3) 5% will set aside to defray all incidental expenses both locally and
internationally during the course of this transaction by me and you.

I shall be relying on your advice as regard investment of our share in any
business in your country. Be informed that this business is genuine and
100% safe considering the high-power government officials involved.
Contact me via this e-mail mr.pieterswart@workmail.co.za for confidential
purpose.

Upon your response I shall provide you with further information on the
procedures.

Looking forward to a good business relationship with you.

Sincerely.

Mr Pieter Swart
Director Project Implementation
Department of Mineral Resources

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam