Another victim of fraudsters

ANOTHER elderly man was defrauded by men from the notorious Global Energy Company recently.

Lionel Stewart, an 87-year-old Umbilo resident, lost R16 000 to these men, and contacted the Berea Mail after seeing a recent article about this scam.

Stewart said the company had phoned his landlady, Theresa Lassak, on many occasions, and she finally agreed to a meeting with them on 29 January.

“The men arrived at 11am. One man stayed in the car and the other, a young, neatly dressed, well-spoken man, talked about load shedding and how it would be continuing for another five years. He said he could give me a system which would cost R160 a month for two years to save on electricity costs, and I fell for it,” said Stewart.

He said the man had punched R160 into a card machine, which was brought inside by the second, older man. His card was inserted and he put in his code and signed a letter.

Only 10 days later when he went to the ATM to check his account did he see that R16 000 was missing.

“I am so careful with my money as I am a pensioner and I have been unwell. I can't sleep at night! I got hold of my daughter, who is helping me with this matter. A woman at my bank said she would motivate for me to get my money back as it was not carelessness on my part. I don't know how that man changed the amount, I also have a limit on my account,” he said.

Theresa said the man also conned them out of R760, as he said they had to each pay him R380 for call-outs.

“Stupidly we gave him the money, although we didn't call him out. He didn't give us a receipt. This is the same company, with the same address and contact number as reported by Geoff Oldfield in Berea Mail,” she said.

She said it was shocking and that usually she got a feeling about people, which she didn't with this man.

“He was charming and very professional and looked us straight in the eyes. It is totally disgusting, and I wish someone would take this very seriously and catch these men,” she said.

Another resident who laid charges in January advises any victims who used their credit cards to immediately phone their bank’s helpline and report the matter. The same goes for cheques.

“It seems to me that people need to be made aware that they can reverse the charges. Maybe this will help some of them,” she said.

In response to queries by Berea Mail, eThekwini municipality's communications head, Tozi Mthethwa, said: “eThekwini Municipality has received numerous enquiries to validate suppliers and contractors calling on customers on the pretence of being eThekwini representatives. These suppliers are using the eThekwini name to gain entry into people’s homes, claiming that they want to advise them on energy savings, meter installations and/or readings and to perform other alleged council-related work.”

She said the municipality confirms that while it supports all energy efficiency efforts by businesses and residences, it does not endorse any particular product or service unless it falls within an initiative undertaken by the city.

“Customers are urged to be vigilant to avoid falling prey to criminals posing as municipal employees. Any representative of the municipality will have an ID tag with a photograph and ID or employee number with the municipal logo,” she said.

If residents are suspicious of anything they can call to confirm with the municipality’s 24-hour call centre on 080 131 3111.