An Ivory Park woman has recently lost all her money in her account after falling victim of a cell phone scam.
According to Ivory Park police, the woman responded to a call from someone claiming to be from a cell phone company. After their phone encounter and exchange of information, the culprits made a sim swap of the woman’s number and withdrew money from her account.
“We are urging communities in its locality to exercise caution whenever they conduct transactions originating from the Internet or via their cell phones,” said the spokesperson for Ivory Park Police, Captain Bernard Matimulane. “We advise anyone receiving calls purporting to be from cell phone service providers to terminate those calls as soon as the caller starts to ask intrusive information.”
Matimulane said the police station has received a number of fraud cases in which unsuspecting victims lost their money and in other cases vehicles as a result of not exercising due diligence on transactions they came across online. “And in some cases, people get defrauded from monies which were supposed to have been deposited to their loved ones via money market transfers, and online fraud for those in Internet and cell phone banking.”
To guard against being a victim, Matimulane said people should never give out their personal information on the Internet or over the phone. He said if they receive a call from someone claiming to be from a particular company, they should investigate the legitimacy of the company.
“As for buying products you came across online, better satisfy yourself that the item in question actually exists and that it is in the condition the seller claims it is. And in instances whereby you are the seller, make sure you have money in your possession before you give your vehicles keys and papers to a stranger.”
Matimulane concluded by reminding people that jobs were not for sale and to not pay for employment.
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