Fake hospital scam operating in La Lucia for years

PROFESSIONALS in the medical field have fallen prey to a job scam that has been operating in La Lucia for four years now, and counting.

Also read: Stolen vehicle recovered after Durban North break-in

The scammers advertise vacancies online at a hospital called La Lucia Healthcare Hospital, offering attractive remuneration packages, but as emails with human resources progress, job seekers, mainly from out of Durban and the province, are asked to pay various amounts of cash to the scammers in order for them to speed up the process.

The address on the Google page and website, however, is 3 Imbenge Close, La Lucia, uMhlanga, 4051, which belongs to Ilala Ridge Estate, an upmarket residential development, so for four years now, security personnel at the entrance of the gate have had to break the news to several medical professionals that they were scammed.

Victim’s account

One of the recent victims of this scam is Phumlani Sibiya from Durban who told Northglen News that he had applied for a job at the hospital on indeed.com in November 2023 but never heard back from the company.

“I applied for a communications assistant position. It’s not really my field as I come from an admin and legal background, but I decided to try anyway. I received an email from the human resources manager, named Stella van Rooyen, stating that the previous candidate had turned down the job and that if I was interested, they would like to offer it to me,” he said.

A letter of offer with a salary of R28 500 was sent to Sibiya, together with a contract, which all looked legit, and because the hospital was looking to fill the position in a rush, Sibiya was allowed to bypass the interview. After Van Rooyen emailed Sibiya, a man, who went by the name of Eric Hadebe, took over.

“Since the job was being organised for me, they asked me to pay R5 000 which I did via e-wallet. The scammers asked for a further R10 000, but I did not pay that to them. The arrangement was that I would pay them after I received my first salary. Most of our communication was done over email. There was occasional calling, but the True Caller app didn’t mark the number as spam, so I thought this was all above board. Although I am from Durban, I have not been to the north in a long time. Things change all the time, so I really did not have a reason to think this was a scam,” said Sibiya.

First day on the job

Within a matter of days, everything was finalised, and Sibiya was due for his medical assessment at the La Lucia Healthcare Hospital. He was emailed a parking disc to give him access to the building, and a porter was meant to meet him to take him to his tests and induction.

“I like arriving early at all my appointments, so I was 45 minutes early on the day and started chatting to the security guards who knew instantly that I had been scammed after I explained my story. While I was still at the estate, I received a call asking me to pay R1 000 via e-wallet for the medicals before I arrived. When I responded that I was already at the ‘hospital’, they dropped the call, and that was the last I heard of them,” he said.

Sibiya said he would like to warn others about this scam and for job seekers to be vigilant. There’s even a website to visit where job seekers can retrieve information about the hospital, along with photographs of the management teams.

“The security told me stories of medical professionals who had resigned and moved from other provinces for these supposed jobs only to be scammed. An anaesthesiologist paid R50 000 for a job and had nothing to go back to. I was also on the verge of leaving a business partnership, but luckily, I didn’t,” he added.

“The website is www.laluciahospital.com which is a fake website. The scammers direct you to this site in an attempt to prove that they are a legitimate business, but please stop all communication with them if you have a similar experience to me,” he added.

Estate responds

The Ilala Ridge III Management Association said it sympathises with the victims of this jobs-for-cash criminal and that the Durban North SAPS is aware of the scam.

“The Homeowners’ Association is also a victim by virtue of us having our name and physical address hijacked and abused for purposes of this crime. The association would like to see the SAPS complete their investigation and bring the perpetrators to book. We have been visited by detectives after the victims laid a charge of fraud, and we cooperate and assist where we can,” said estate manager Louis Fourie.

He added that the Homeowners’ Association had also contacted Google through their ‘report page’ feature but with no success.

For more from Northglen News, follow us on Facebook, X or Instagram. You can also check out our videos on our YouTube channel or follow us on TikTok.