Matric pupils targeted in uMhlanga accommodation scam

EVERY year thousands of matriculants from around the country descend on uMhlanga and Ballito for the party of a lifetime or ‘rage’. It’s estimated that the party goers boost the economy of uMhlanga and Gateway alone by more than R20 million.

However, every year another problem persists, and it’s a site all too familiar for upmarket guest house owners in the North.

Where young people pay for accommodation only to discover, at the last minute, it’s non-existent or that they have indeed found a legitimate holiday spot but have paid a conman.

Peter Rose, chairman of Umhlanga Tourism, said one of the con artists had been using the website OLX, using other people’s property but boldly undercutting their prices.

Rose discovered his own guest house on the website but when he clicked on the advert to book he noticed the con artist had simply lifted his details and photos and posted them on a fake ‘website’.

Once reported the con man deletes the fake profile, uses a different alias and email address and brazenly creates more profiles.

“He claims to represent more than 630 accommodation establishments. The matter was raised with me at the Umhlanga Tourism recently and one of the members complained to me about this scam.

“Not knowing how wide spread it was I received an email the next day from the same member who sent me a link which took me to a website which had my guest house on it. This fraudster had hijacked my page and copied every detail verbatim,” a shocked Rose told Northglen News.

Rose said he anticipated a flood of disappointed youngsters over the December holidays.

“It’s a disaster for tourism here in uMhlanga and it damages the reputation of the area. I fear many people will fall for the scam, because while the more mature person is more discerning about paying deposits, the students, who the fraudster is targeting are desperate and easily convinced that what they are ‘paying for’ is the real deal,” he said.

Rose added the fraudster had used the company name Gate-Way Vacation Home.

“When you phone the number, the fraudster is evasive about address details and has a distinctly foreign accent,” he said.