Protect Yourself and Report the Latest Frauds, Scams, Spams, Fakes, Identify Theft Hacks and Hoaxes
There are affiliate links on this page.
Read our disclosure policy to learn more.
Did you receive an email from "Smith Mbani" of "South Africa Department of Minerals and Energy" who wants you to help them scam / steal money from an account? Smith Mbani says
"This amount $28.5m represents the balance of the total contract Value Executed on behalf of Department by a foreign contracting firm, which we the officials over-invoiced deliberately".
It's the usual "over-invoiced account" scam! "Smith Mbani" only wants you to help them defraud the customer, that's all. Except, there is no real customer, account or anything.
Even if what was stated in the email were all true, you would be committing several felonies and would end up in prison. In reality, it is all a scam. Smith Mbani (not his real name, obviously) hopes to con you into sending money for various "fees" to free the fortune. If you would like a step by step explanation of how this type of "Advance Fee Fraud" works, click here!
Notice (highlighted below) some of the other obvious signs that this is a scam are poor spelling , use of free Yahoo/Hotmail/etc email accounts, proposals that make no sense, etc.:
From: smithmbani1960@aol.com
I am Mr.Smith Mbani, Director of Project, South Africa Department of Minerals and Energy. I am making this contact with you based on the Committee need for an individual/company who is willing to assist us with a solution to a money transfer.
This amount $28.5m represents the balance of the total contract Value Executed on behalf of Department by a foreign contracting firm, which we the officials over-invoiced deliberately, of which the actual sum has been paid.
Should you be willing to assist us in the transaction? Your share of the sum will be 25% of the $28.5million, 70% for us and 5% for taxation and miscellaneous expenses.
To enable us commence, I will need your personal telephone/fax number.
Please send your response to smithmbani@yahoo.co.uk
I await your immediate response.
Best Regards,
Mr.Smith Mbani
*