Many people have been defrauded by fake service providers or sellers who regularly advertise on websites or in publications such as “OLX” or “Junkmail”.
Some of them claim huge growth in money that is invested with them, but steal the money that unsuspecting members of the public pay over into their accounts without offering anything in return. They typically ask for money upfront for “service fees.”
A golden rule is to never, ever, pay money into the account of someone who you have not met personally or who has not been verified through a reputable source. All of these fraudsters use fake or stolen ID’s, which makes it is impossible to trace them. “Even if such a person does send you a copy of their ID, the photo may not be that of the person to whom the ID number belongs, and it is, therefore, untraceable. It can also happen that the ID number does not exist on the government’s database at all.
Many of these fraudsters may also be in possession of multiple identification documents.
You might even find that the account you paid into, does not exist once you start asking questions.
The police often can not do further investigations into such a case because the perpetrator is, for all practical reasons, impossible to track down.
While it is true that the identity of cell phone owners is recorded as part of the Rica process, these fraudsters also supply false information when they register their SIM cards to make them untraceable. Some of these criminals offer goods, such as cars, for sale but disappear as soon as the unsuspecting buyer has paid the money into their accounts.
If it sounds too be good to be true, it most probably is not true.
