DURBAN North SAPS has warned residents to be wary of a scam that aims to fleece unsuspecting employers for money to pay for the funeral of a “dead” domestic worker. This comes after five cases were reported this week.
The fraudsters try to get sensitive information about employers’ in order to con them out of money. Northglen News was contacted by an elderly resident (who did not want to be named for fear of being targeted by the con-man) who paid R3 000 to the scammers after receiving the shocking news.
“We received a call on Sunday (9 March) from a man claiming to be a relative of our domestic worker, Anna. The ‘grieving’ man said she died in a car crash on her way to church and that he needed money to make funeral arrangements.
Unable to contact the domestic worker via cellphone, the couple assumed the story to be true and deposited the money into a bank account and completed a Money Market transfer.
“Anna has been with us for more than 30 years, the money was not the issue, I was just so upset and traumatised. It was like losing a family member. The man asked for R110 airtime and then R3 000, which we did. Later that night, we received another phone call demanding a further R3 000. This time the man was extremely demanding and forceful. He asked for the money be deposited before 7am on Monday morning,” she said.
The elderly resident said her husband told the man that they were pensioners and could not afford to give any more. “The next morning, Anna miraculously showed up for work at 7am. We believe the men were trying to get more money before she contradicted their lie. I contacted my neighbours who said they had heard of this scam but this was the first time I’d ever come across it,” she said.
Durban North SAPS spokesman, Lt Raymond Deokaran, confirmed this was the fifth incident reported this week, with another resident paying R2 500 and R150 in airtime. He said this sort of scam normally occurs around the festive period.
“In previous incidents, the scammers phone the domestic worker under the pretext of being from the Labour Department. They ask the domestic worker questions about her family and work. When they’ve set the scam in motion, they normally contact the domestic worker before they make the call to the distraught victims, by pretending to be from a mobile network.
“They ask the domestic worker to switch off their phone for a few hours under the auspices of performing routine maintenance on the network. Speak to your domestic workers and tell them not to give out personal information. There is a chance that the fraudsters try to get sensitive information about employers’ private properties in order to plan burglaries,” he said.
Deokaran urged victims to report incidents of the scam to their nearest police station.
Chairman of the Durban North/Umhlanga community police forum, Haden Searles, said it was difficult to catch these scammers, even if the police had a cellphone number.
“Most of the numbers are not RICA’d (Regulation of Interception of Communications), and if they are registered, are normally under fradulent information,” he said.
Searles said to trace a cellphone number, police had to gain access via a court order as it’s illegal to invade on civil liberties.
“Make sure you have at least two numbers of family members of your domestic worker,” warned Searles. “And if someone does call you, take down the number and say you will phone back once you’ve verified the situation.”
Those who suspect they have been victims of a scam or have information regarding the domestic worker death scam can contact Durban North SAPS on 031 560 8004.
