Scammers always find new ways to defraud the public, and with the latest trick aimed at residents in and around Hazyview, people are warned to be wary.
A number of people were conned out of their hard-earned money.
One victim, Given Sithole, was conned into repaying a debt that was not his.
“The scammers will call your number and tell you that you have won a cash prize and you need to send the code that you will receive from your phone. Once you give them the code, they take over your WhatsApp and you will not be able to access it. They then text some of your contacts, borrowing money and asking them to do a cash send and send the voucher number and picture, claiming their accounts have issues. In my case, they managed to borrow and ask for almost R15 000 from my one contact, and now I am expected to pay that money back even though it wasn’t me,” he said.
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Tebatso Malele from Vakansiedorp in Hazyview said her WhatsApp contacts lost R5 000 in a similar incident, from scammers pretending they were from her car insurance company. The person told her that she needed to send them the code she received on her phone to confirm she was an insurance holder.
“I did not even read the message, I just sent the code and when I tried to check my WhatsApp, it was gone. Luckily, some of my contacts called me to confirm whether I was indeed in need of money. That was when I realised they were scamming them. I managed to stop some of them and visited the network service provider to reclaim my WhatsApp, but by then some of my contacts had already sent their money,” she said.
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Malele warned people who receive messages that some of their family members are requesting money, to call them first before sending any, to avoid these scams.
The Hazyview, Calcutta, Bushbuckridge and Masoyi police have confirmed such scams have been reported to their stations. They warned the public to be cautious at all times before they send any Pin or code to anyone.
