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 | Fraud syndicate member questioned following Standard Bank investigation |  |  |
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23 May 2005
An alleged syndicate member linked to the massive e-mail fraud scam attack against several banks last week is being questioned by the Scorpions following an intensive investigation by Standard Bank.
Investigations into the phony internet site scam led Standard Bank investigators to a "runner" who had been recruited to launder money, stolen from customers' accounts, to an eastern European fraud syndicate.
Investigators managed to apprehend the man before any Standard Bank customer lost any money. "Our fraud detection systems were able to track down the runner in record time before he was able to launder any money to the fraud syndicate," said Herman Singh, Director Technology Engineering at Standard Bank.
The man has been handed over to the Scorpions, who are continuing with their investigations into the scam. Standard Bank is working closely with the Scorpions.
Singh said Standard Bank's investigations showed that the syndicate recruited "runners" in South Africa to launder money through their bank accounts. These runners were often not aware that what they were doing was illegal.
"These people, who are often unemployed, apply for advertised positions as 'financial managers'. They are told that their bank account will be used to deposit money from various 'clients'. This money is then transferred to the overseas-based syndicate and the runner is paid up to 15 per cent of the proceeds," says Singh.
He stressed that although this appeared to very lucrative for the runners, it was illegal and punishable by law. "It is a criminal offence and people will go to prison."
He appealed to people who may have been duped into inadvertently using their bank accounts for illegal means to contact their bank as soon as possible. "We will obviously be working very closely with the authorities on this matter. Our objective is to shut down the operation and to frustrate the syndicate behind the scam."
Singh stressed that Standard Bank took security very seriously. It had already shut down the phony internet site and was monitoring the situation closely to ensure that there were no fresh attacks against the bank and its customers. No Standard Bank customer had lost any money in the latest scam.
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