Dating website brings a wave of crime
Tinder scam artists leaves victim heartbroken and robbed
With our current age of social media and dating websites our information has never been more out there than now. As such it has become a haven for con artists and criminals.
This has been the case for Nadine Schreiber, who met a man named Charl Pretorius on the dating website ‘Tinder’. They had spent two separate weekends together, the last weekend being from 29 October to 1 November last year. On the morning of 1 November Pretorius asked if he could borrow her car, a Black Daihatsu Siroin, registration SLV787GP, as he had stuff to do.
Pretorius then proceeded to drop Schreiber at work and said that he would collect her at 2pm but he never returned.
Pretorius went back to her apartment and scavenged through her house as he had the house keys which he found in the glove compartment of the vehicle. An Asus Transformer laptop, 50 Euros, some jewellery, her passport and the original registration papers for the vehicle were also stolen. Pretorius then proceeded to make a certified copy of Schreiber’s passport and sold the vehicle allegedly to a man that replied to his advertisement on Gumtree.
Schreiber approached IRS Forensic Investigations on 9 November and the case was handed to the Senior Investigator, Andre van Wyk, for investigation.
Van Wyk said “I contacted the Metro Police in regards to the current ownership of the vehicle; it was then that I was informed that the ownership had changed and I drew profiles on the new owner of the vehicle and supplied the information to Detective Commander Colonel Mogashu of Douglasdale Police.
Col. Mothapo informed Schreiber that despite the situation the sale was legitimate and that there was nothing she could further do as far as the vehicle was concerned. Col. Mothapo then proceeded to hand back the keys to the new owner who then left with the vehicle. Van Wyk said “This is clearly criminal, I have a mandate for this case and the vehicle was supposed to have been impounded pending the results of a formal investigation.”
Station commander, Brigadier Hugo of the Douglasdale police was notified of this and immediately consulted with Col. Mothapo that indeed this vehicle will be impounded and released pending a full investigation. This matter has subsequently been lodged with the High Court upon which an update will be made by 15 January. We urge members of the public to be vigilant when meeting strangers from the internet. Currently Charl Pretorius is still a person of interest and his last known address was at an adult care centre in Pretoria known as Maranata. Anyone with any information in regards to his whereabouts can contact the IRS on 011-268-6444 or 083-743-4786 alternatively Detective Constable Mothapo on 079-489-1198. We urge members of the public to be vigilant when meeting strangers from the internet.”
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