Up to date the total amount of money demanded from victims known to the Record in the Roodepoort area comes to a total of R1.6 million.
A sixth near-victim of the elaborate scam the Record has been reporting on since two weeks ago, has come forward.
The scam involves fake government requests for quotations on a product only a bogus company in Cape Town stocks. The business owner then orders and pay for the product and is informed by the ‘government department’ it has been delivered. The businesses never receive their payment.
The only saving grace for the latest business owner who has been approached is that he coincidentally had to go to Cape Town for business and decided to visit the company, pay for the product and bring it back to Roodepoort only to find no such company exists at the address. When he made an query, a friend of the man at the Department of Health informed him the order number was an old one.
It is suspected the criminals could be targeting businesses across the country and the Hawks has indicated they will investigate what they believe is a syndicate.
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Also read: Update: Hawks involved in Record’s scam exposé
Bogus governments department’s R200 000 scam
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