Advice on procurement fraud

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Anglo American has recently become the focus of phishing and procurement-related scams. In these scams, fraudsters try to get hold of personal information, goods or money by:

• pretending to be Anglo American, or
• pretending to be the sole BEE strategic partner to Anglo American or its organisations in South Africa.

The most common types of fraud reported to us are:

1. Mining Charter-related Fraud

    

   The procurement requirements in Mining Charter 2018 have been widely published. Because of this, many fraudsters are targeting potential suppliers and promising to get them onto the Anglo American Supplier list as well as to secure contracts.

   This type of fraud particularly targets the following suppliers: SMMEs, BBBEE companies, host community suppliers as well as women and youth- owned SMMEs.

2. 'Fronting' Fraud

    

   Similar to Mining Charter-related fraud.

   A BBBEE organisation pretends to be the sole BEE strategic partner to Anglo American. For a fee, the fraudsters enrol SMMEs – often in our host communities — and promise to help them become Anglo American Suppliers or win jobs or contracts with Anglo American.

3. Phishing Fraud

    

   Fraudsters use phishing and procurement-related scams to try and get hold of your personal information, goods or money by pretending to be Anglo American.

   These scams are usually in the form of requests for quotations (RFQs) or similar purchase requests.

How to spot fraudulent emails and documentation

The email and documentation may look convincing, but you’ll know it’s fraudulent if:

• The email address is NOT in this format: [email protected]
  Please note that our Coal, Platinum and Kumba Iron Ore businesses also use [email protected]
• It asks for any of the following up front:
  • deposits:
  • security deposits
  • fees to access tender documentation.

We NEVER ask for payments up front.

• It asks for samples up front.
• It asks for your bank details.
  We NEVER do this on RFQ.
  We capture and verify our suppliers’ banking details during the registration phase, when we require any updates to details.
• It comes out of the blue, i.e. you receive an RFQ even though you have never worked with Anglo American before.
  Our normal process is to contact prospective suppliers to let them know about an opportunity. Typically we also conduct a site briefing to discuss our requirements.)

Don’t respond to an email you think might be fraudulent

If you think that an email or SMS may be a legitimate request, please get in touch with your Anglo American Supply Chain contact and they will take your information and verify the request.

If you receive a suspicious email or SMS (or want to find out more) you can help us by sending the email or SMS details to www.yourvoice.angloamerican.com or to your Anglo American supply chain contact.

How Anglo American does business with suppliers:

It is important to note the following:

• Anglo American never asks for money from suppliers or prospective suppliers to register as a supplier or to take part in a tender, RFQ or RFP event. We also never pay suppliers or prospective suppliers to attend meetings relating to taking part in a tender, RFQ or RFP event.
• Any company (from the smallest SMME to the largest multi-national organisation) can register their details as a new prospective supplier on the Anglo American website: https://procurementsolutions.angloamerican.co.uk
• After registering and submitting all the required documents (e.g. Company Registration Certificate, Company Profile, Tax Clearance Certificate, etc.), a Company becomes part of the Anglo American Prospective Supplier Database.
• Prospective suppliers may be invited to take part in future RFQ or RFP events, based on the goods and services they supply.
• Should their quotation or proposal be successful, the Prospective Supplier will be loaded as an Active Supplier on the Anglo American ERP system when their first contract or Purchase Order is issued.

How to respond to a fraudulent email or SMS request:

• If you receive a suspicious email or SMS (or want to find out more) you can help us by sending the email or SMS details to [email protected] or to your Anglo American supply chain contact.
• All Anglo American employees worldwide do mandatory training on the Anglo American code of conduct, which ensures that we conduct business with Suppliers with integrity.
• If any Anglo American employee does not act in accordance with our Code of Conduct, suppliers and prospective suppliers are strongly advised to read our whistleblowing policy and submit an anonymous report to the external company that receives and investigates all our whistleblowing reports.

Protect yourself and your organisation from becoming a victim of procurement fraud by remaining vigilant.

• Visit the ‘Suppliers’ section of our website regularly to read up on anything related to our suppliers: https://www.angloamerican.com/suppliers
• Prospective suppliers can read all about the process of becoming a supplier in our ‘How to become a supplier’ section: https://www.angloamerican.com/suppliers/how-to-become-a-supplier
• Existing suppliers can read up everything that relates to them in our ‘Tools for Suppliers’ section: https://www.angloamerican.com/suppliers/tools-for-suppliers