A Mandeni family lost more than R160 000 from a scam that had them convinced they had inherited money from a dead relative.
Umhlali SAPS captain Vinny Pillay said a case was opened two weeks ago after the family borrowed money and used their savings in the overseas scam.
“A woman was contacted by a fake courier company in Canada who said they were instructed to transfer R1.2 million to her.
“She was instructed to open an overseas bank account and they kept phoning her to inform her of additional charges before the money would be cleared.
“She eventually used up her savings, her children’s money and borrowed from family and friends, only to find that she had been scammed. The woman also did not have relatives in Canada.”
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Pillay said the public were reporting similar cases at least four times a month. He said most scams came from buying and selling websites.
“A Ballito man was recently interested in buying a jacuzzi from a seller he found on Junk mail. He was instructed to pay a 20 percent deposit which amounted to R7000. He had not heard from the seller after the transfer.”
In a separate incident this month, another Ballito resident was conned out of R46 000.
“He received a call from someone who claimed to work at the bank. They asked him for his pin code and account number and said it was because they were checking on his debit orders.”
Pillay warned people to refrain from buying items online or disclosing personal information over the phone.
“There is always a rise of these types of cases during this time of year. People need to be more careful.”
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