Two Bits: The sharks are not just in the ocean

This is the season, tra la . . . for funny business, as we pointed out recently, the approach of the holiday season means the shysters are out looking for a quick buck from the unwary.
The first phone call we received was innocuous enough. A guy wanted to rent our beach cottage for two weeks in November.

What was the rate and was it available? Yes it was, Rose replied, and this is the rate.

Edward Myers, if that was his name, said he was from Toronto, Canada, and wanted our cottage for a holiday for his elderly parents and his niece. They were currently on holiday on Inhaca Island, Mozambique, and expected to fly into King Shaka on the Saturday, three days away.

He then arranged for proof of payment to be forwarded from Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) branch in Jersey. He himself however, was in Mauritius with his wife and daughter, so was having to arrange all this by remote control, he explained.

This story was starting to turn into a James Bond tale of mystery and intrigue. But, y’know, it’s a global village these days so all these countries and remote bank accounts shouldn’t be a bother.
There were emails and WhatsApp messages flying back and forth for several days, and our Edward even left voice messages. Very polite and above-board by all accounts.
Then things started to get a bit hinky.

Could Rose, he asked awfully politely, help him with a little problem he was having? He needed to send his parents the money to fly from Maputo to King Shaka, but being a Friday evening, his bank would only send the money on Monday (BS alert! In the days of instant transfer?) Could she help him out by sending the money to a friend of his in Maputo? She already had proof of payment of the November rental, so he would be able to pay her back first thing Monday, he assured her.

By now Rose smelled a rat. Equally politely but firmly, she said no, he would have to sort that out with his bank.

And that was the last we heard of Mr Edward Myers. No money was received and the ‘proof of payment’ shown above proved to be a fake.

Examining the evidence in detail, he had gone to a great deal of trouble to make everything appear genuine. The HSBC payment advice appeared to be the real thing, so did the email addresses. Only the language of the letter from his ‘broker’ in Jersey was slightly off, though not enough to set off alarm bells.

Mr Myers’ voice messages revealed what is called a ‘Home Counties’ accent, a well-bred British accent from the right address. Not Canadian, but that in itself means nothing.
Google street view showed that the home address he had given for his parents actually exists – a large house in a leafy Toronto suburb. However, there is no way of knowing who lives there without going to a lot more trouble.

Right up to the point where he asked for a ‘favour’, the whole deal appeared above board. A plausible person, a plausible if complicated story (but designed to be that way, I suppose), proof of payment from a legitimate bank and string of calls, emails and WhatsApp messages.

Okay, the money never arrived, but in retrospect the only real clue that the plan that was not above board lay in the phone logs. He had said he was calling from Mauritius, but the number had a 258 prefix. That is Mozambique, not Mauritius.

So, a lie. But we only looked at that afterwards. If Rose had been slightly inclined to believe him, sucked in by his tales, the money she loaned his ‘friend’ would have been bye-bye.
So, a cautionary tale, especially at this time of the year. Don’t advance money to anyone, however much you want to believe them!

* * *

The Tongaat Hulett pensioners who took on the parent company in a five and-a-half-year-long battle over money they believed was owed to them, have now finally thrown in the towel.

Last month the Constitutional Court rejected their last-ditch attempt to get what they believed to be rightfully theirs. Two former directors within the TH group and pension fund trustees, Bruce Moor and Willem Hazewindus, were so convinced that they had been short-changed by the company pension fund that they fought through the Durban high court, the appeal court and finally laid the case at the door of the constitutional court when the two lower courts ruled against them. The highest court in the land, however, only takes cases that have a reasonable chance of succeeding, and in this case, they said no way, boyos.

The whole process, including having to pay TH’s costs, has cost them about R3.4 million. The 77 pensioners who supported them contributed R500 000, but the rest has come out of Moor’s and Hazewindus’ pockets. Ouch, that must hurt!

* * *

Sign in a church in France:

When you enter this church, it may be possible that you hear ‘the call of God’.

However, it is unlikely that He will call you on your cell phone. Thank you for turning off your phone.

If you want to talk to God, choose a quiet place and talk to Him. If you want to see God, send Him a text while driving.

* * *

News just in:

Patricia de Lille and Julius Malema are forming a new political party.

It’s called DILLEMA.