FOLLOWING a number of fraud cases reported at the Pinetown SAPS, police have issued a warning for people to be cautious when intending to buy advertised items from newspapers, especially motor vehicles.
Pinetown SAPS communications officer, W/O Muzi Maphumulo said it has come to their attention that people are getting lured through false adverts.
He said in the advert, a cellphone number would be printed for a person who could be contacted to buy a car.
“When someone calls the number, he/she would be asked to deposit cash so the car could be reserved for them. The deposit amount ranges from R3000 to R5000,” said Maphumulo.
Maphumulo said the first victim who opened a case at the station was asked to deposit R 3000 for a car she only saw on the advert.
“She was then told the car will be brought to her house by a truck and was later told to add R10 000 because the vehicle is expensive. She did deposit the required R10 000 and after a day she was told that the vehicle will be delivered,” explained Maphumulo.
On the mentioned day, Maphumulo said the woman was called to deposit R2000 for petrol as the truck had ran out of petrol.
“She got suspicious and asked that the money be refunded but was told to deposit R5 000 to secure the refund. That is when she reported it to the police. The suspect’s number was changed and he could not be reached,” he said.
He added that there have been about 10 fraud cases with a similar modus operandi reported at the Pinetown SAPS and he urged people to be extra cautious and not to trust so easily. No one has been arrested at this stage.
