Domestic worker funeral scam costs uMhlanga family
The family was scammed out of R3 000 by the suspects.
AN uMhlanga family were scammed out of R3 000 recently after they fell victim to now popular ‘Your domestic worker has died’ scam. A case of fraud has been opened at the Durban North SAPS confirmed Capt Raymond Deokaran.
The modus operandi is to convince you that your domestic worker has died.
“The resident normally receives a phone call from someone who claims to be a relative of your domestic worker who has ‘died’. They then say they need money to help with funeral arrangements and generally ask for between R1 500 to R3 000,” he explained.
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Deokaran said suspects also target unwitting domestic workers by befriending them or eavesdropping on their conversations.
“The scammers also target the domestic workers by pretending to be from the various networks and telling them to switch off their cell phones for several hours under the pretence that the network will be down for whatever reason. They fraudsters then contact the homeowners who are distraught when they hear the news and are only too eager to help.
“In this case, the domestic worker worked for two family members who live on property. Each family was asked to deposit the money in a Money Market account, which they did. However they soon realised their domestic worker was not dead after finally getting through to her,” he said.
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“I urge residents to speak to their domestic workers and tell them not to give out personal information in public or among friends,” he said.
Deokaran urged victims to report incidents of the scam to their nearest police station.
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