POLOKWANE – Scamsters in the city have taken full advantage of the fact that load shedding has become a part of daily life.
Polokwane police spokesperson, WO Lesiba Ramoshaba, said according to the victims of the scam, they were approached by two men of different races, between 30- and 40 years old, supposedly selling geysers and solar panels.
One man dealt with the prospective buyer while the other man waited in the car.
The man dealing with the prospective buyer asked permission to do a balance check on the prospective buyer’s bank account with the card machine the two suspects had at hand. While doing this, as much money as possible was then transferred to another account without the victim knowing.
Once the criminals had the money safely transferred, they left with a promise to deliver the goods, but never returned.
Polokwane police spokesperson, Capt Nthobeng Phala, urged people to only buy appliances from registered dealers.
He said that other cases had been reported in which fraudulent advertisements on popular online shops were used to sell vehicles and rent houses to unsuspecting victims. In these cases victims were shown vehicles and properties for rent or sale and only after money had changed hands, did the victims realise they had been scammed.
“It has been found that many of the people involved in these scams have prior knowledge of houses, flats or vehicles to be rented or sold. They then make use of this knowledge to show future victims the property or vehicles and give them bank account numbers in which to pay the deposits. The victims are then promised delivery within a couple of days, which never happens,” Phala said.
He requested that anyone with information on similar cases call their nearest police station as soon as possible.
