An elderly lady became the target of a scam recently.
The woman was in the CBD when a man brushed past her. Immediately afterwards, a woman approached her and told her that the man had rubbed muti on her and that her money in the bank was now unsafe. The scam artist went on to say that if she did not react quickly, by midnight, her money would no longer be available to her. She was advised to immediately remove the money from her bank account and the suspect offered to help her to keep the money safe.
The suspect even convinced the lady that she would ask a police friend to accompany her to the bank to carry out the withdrawal. The old lady agreed and was taken by three individuals (a man and two women) to a bank in Bergville, where the money was withdrawn.
The scam victim was then asked to place her bank card and PIN number, as well as the cash, into an envelope so that it could be kept safe. This she did.
On the way back, they left the woman at the entrance to the Hambrook area and handed her an envelope.
When she reached home, she found that the envelope contained scrap paper. She found herself out of pocket to the tune of R29,000.
These scam artists tend to focus their efforts on those who are dressed in black and appear to be in mourning.
Bergville police would also like to bring to the attention of the public another scam that has been reported in the area – the ‘SIM swap scam’. In this scam, a person receives a call over their cell-phone, where the caller convinces the person that the call is from a cell-phone service provider.
The suspects claim that the person’s SIM card is problematic and that they require their identity number and other personal details in order to rectify the problem. The person is warned that while they sort out the problem, the SIM card will be out of order for a short amount of time.
A short while later, the person finds that their cell-phone does not work. What the person only later finds is that a SIM swap has been done and banking transactions have taken place, which they have not authorised. In some instances, the person will later discover that small loans have also been taken out on their name.
In the interests of keeping your money safe, police would like to warn the community to be vigilant of these scams and not to enter into any conversation over the phone where personal and private information is requested from you, especially with regard to your bank account number and identity number.
Never disclose the fact that you have money in a bank account to a stranger or anyone else, and never entrust your money to strangers who approach you on the street.
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