BEREA police warn prospective students at tertiary institutions to be aware of criminals who are targeting new students desperate to get through long registration queues.
According to Lieutenant PN Naidoo, first year students at DUT were being conned of their registration fees by three unknown african males this week. “The men promise students registration at the university by paying their fees to them. They take the students to their vehicle where the payments are made and issue the students with replica registration forms from DUT.”
Naidoo said a student number belonging to someone else was also issued to the new student making the scam look legitimate. “The student is then sent home and told to come back on a certain day with the balance of the money for the chosen course,” he added.
Captain Kevin Steven and his team received information about the scam on Wednesday and immediately investigated. On Thursday, they made a breakthrough and a 26-year-old suspect was arrested in possession of the fraudulent documents used to carry out this scam.
The man was charged with fraud and detained at Berea SAPS. The Berea team will continue with investigations to arrest the outstanding suspects.
“All students must be aware that no payments should be made in vehicles or on the street, if they need assistance at the university they must go inside and check with the staff of the campus to direct them to the relevant departments,” he added.
