A local funeral parlour claims they were scammed and robbed of R550 by a man and fraudster who pretended to be in need of their services.
Deidré Mears, assistant at the parlour says she received a call on Wednesday, 27 April from an elderly man, stating that he needs them to collect his brother who passed away on his farm in Vlaklaagte, close to Rodora.
At this stage she was with another employee, Nicolene Kunneke. Kunneke then rushed off to the office to pick up another employee and while driving there, they received a call from the fraudster saying he needs airtime to inform the family of his brothers passing.
Out of good faith and always helping the families of the deceased, Mears transferred R275 worth of airtime to the fraudster’s cellphone.
After about five minutes he called back wanting another R275 saying that the first amount was not enough. Mears then transferred another R275. When they approached the place where the fraudster said he will meet them, there was no sign of him and his cellphone was switched off.
Kunneke then turned around and headed back to the office. On Thursday, 28 April, the fraudster once again phoned the office where he asked Martie Botha, manager of the parlour, why they never collected his brother. Shockingly, he once again asked for airtime.
Botha and her employees then played along, saying they will transfer the money and collect his brother.
Botha then went to the Randfontein Police Station to enquire about opening a case but did not open one as they thought nothing would come of it. When she returned to the office, she Googled the name the fraudster gave them and found that people all over the country are complaining about the same alleged person.
People from the Free State, Tongaat, Kromdraai and Kuruman reported that this fraudster also tried to trick them into transferring airtime. Botha then informed the Herald that their branch in Krugersdorp also was targeted by the fraudster earlier this year. They had to transfer R400 to his cellphone.
Botha and her employees says that all businesses and individuals should be aware when receiving calls from this fraudster. The two cellphone numbers the fraudster uses to obtain airtime starts with 082 and 076.
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