SCAM WARNING: People should not fall for conman who pretends to donate meat

SECUNDA – When something sounds too good to be true, the chances are that it is.

And the story spun by one “Dr Bertie Malan” is so elaborate and amazing that people seem to often fall into his snare. This con man fleeces airtime vouchers out of unsuspecting people who think he is donating meat to the needy.

Mr Louis Trichardt, a local beekeeper in Secunda, said he received a phone call from “Dr Bertie Malan” from the farm Vergelegen between Bethal and Trichardt last week.

“He asked for help to distribute meat to needy people in the area.

“I heard a story of a farm freezer that needs emptying before a technician arrives from afar or else no insurance claim. He said we could collect some meat for free. He told me to hurry and to also give him numbers of other people I think would be able to benefit from free meat donations,” Mr Trichardt told the newspaper.

“I did not give him numbers, but decided to phone a friend myself. We arranged to go together to collect the good fortune to share with needy people.”

Mr Trichardt said as he was about to leave his house, he paused and recalled someone telling him a story of a conman.

“I told my good fortune buddy to stand by. We did not yet leave, because I wanted to test this Samaritan who wanted us to collect free meat from his freezer.

“And sure enough, “Dr Bertie” began calling every five minutes to find out how far away we were from his farm. Then he phoned again to ask if we could bring along three airtime vouchers of R200 each.”

Mr Trichardt was then asked to supply the voucher numbers via the telephone because the so-called doctor was running out of airtime.

“When I eventually confronted him, he yelled at me.”

Mr Trichardt later searched for this so-called farm, but it did not exist.

“I do however, believe the scammer had a very good knowledge of this area, because his directions were spot on up to a certain point.”

A search by the newspaper revealed a similar modus operandi in several cases in Louis Trichardt in Limpopo where a local newspaper eventually warned residents in June not to fall for this scam.

“Dr Bertie” ripped off people from an old-age home, as well as two women who did community work, with the same story of meat that needed to be donated and then asking for airtime vouchers as he ran out of airtime and could not direct them to his farm.

“Once the Samaritan received the voucher numbers, he disappeared and his meat as well.

Mr Trichardt is aware of others in the Govan Mbeki municipal area who have also been lured to a certain place under false pretences.

“If you supply him with your friends’ numbers, he just continues to scam them.”