Single and widowed women warned of fraudsters targeting their hearts and wallets

The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) has warned single and widowed women about a rapid increase in dating scams in Limpopo.

The warning came after a 60-year-old Polokwane-based teacher was allegedly scammed over R800 000 of her pension money.

According to the victim, she randomly met a man (the suspect) at a shopping complex in Polokwane at the beginning of the year.

Hawks’ spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Matimba Maluleke said the man allegedly proposed love to the teacher, who was due for retirement in June this year. Maluleke added that while waiting for her pension to pay out, the teacher visited the suspect at his rented house in Ivy Park, Polokwane.

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Victim told R3.8m was waiting for her

“According to the victim, she was taken to one of the rooms in the house by the suspect so that she could be introduced to the ancestors,” the Hawks said.

“While inside the room, the victim alleged that she heard a voice coming from nowhere telling her that she has been suffering for a very long time, but her suffering was over as there was an amount of R3.8 million waiting for her.” 

Maluleke added that the teacher alleged that the man, whom she was dating, kept asking for money in order to redeem her “fortune”. She ended up paying the suspect over R800 000 until she became suspicious.

Still suspicious, she allegedly visited the man’s house in Ivy Park, but she found that no one was there.

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Suspect gone with the wind

“When she enquired from the neighbours about the whereabouts of the suspect, they told her that a few days ago, the suspect came with a moving truck, took his stuff, and left,” Maluleke said.

As a result of increasing cases of fraud (dating scams) being reported to the Hawks, particularly well-off single or widowed women, the Hawks have advised women to be careful of these scammers who would come into their lives in the name of love.

Dating scammers target the following categories of single women:

• Women with stable jobs (scammers convince them to resign)
• Women who are recently divorced and have acquired some assets (they convince them to register assets under their names or sell them)
• Women who are in business (scammers come up with fake business proposals that need funding)
• Women who have inherited wealth
• Women who are about to retire
• Women who are widows.

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