‘I’m the victim, but they made me the suspect’

A resident’s world has been turned upside down when she was scammed and used by what she believes to be a mastermind in the field, Krugersdorp News reports.

As Lynette (surname withheld due to fear of victimisation) has been unemployed for the past five years, she has been on the constant lookout for any possible employment opportunities. When she was offered an opportunity by “Mr X”, she simply could not refuse.

When he phoned her on 24 May, he claimed to have his own pool business near Ruimsig and that his office lady had recently ‘dropped him’.

He then asked her to start on Monday, 12 June, and promised her a salary of R8 500, a company car and medical aid.

Needless to say, she agreed. He then sent her a R29 voucher to download WhatsApp in order for him to send work-related instructions to her prior to her employment.

READ MORE: ‘Dead domestic worker’ scam resurfaces in Pretoria

“He told me the money he was paying into my account was for his employees’ wages. He would ask me to go to my nearest Spar or Pep to do cash-sends via eWallet for him,” she said.

She explained that she was under the impression that he would give his employees the codes retrieved from the instant money voucher cash-sends.

“I didn’t question this as I was so desperate. When I tried phoning him on Tuesday, 6 June, to find out where his office is located, he didn’t answer his phone or messages,” Lynette said.

She went on to explain that she received a strange WhatsApp from an unknown number the next day. In this message, the sender, a woman, asked whether she and Mr X had arrived safely from their wedding in the Free State.

“I told her that she had the wrong Lynette, but she confirmed my bank account number and sent me a copy of my ID. She told me that she had paid me, as the wife of Mr X, R6 500 for a garden cottage in Cape Town,” she went on.

Lynette found this very strange, as she is unmarried and was under the impression that she was giving all her personal details to her soon-to-be employer.

It turns out Mr X may be involved in a scamming cycle – using jobseekers’ personal information to his benefit in order to receive money for alleged false properties. At the end of the day, a total of R25 300 had gone through Lynette’s account.

According to Lynette, she tried to open a case at the police station, but after being accused of being a suspect, she could only fill in an affidavit.

She also mentioned that the unknown woman had decided to open a case against her for stealing her money.

“I am now the suspect in this scam. He was very clever; he said all the right things and asked all the right questions. He ruined my life,” she said.

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– Caxton News Service