Rosebank police warn residents to always do business with registered service providers.
This follows an incident where a Rosebank resident was scammed by two suspects who posted an advert online about fixing appliances.
Investigating officer at Rosebank SAPS Constable Tumelo Rabu Rabu said the complainant reported that her fridge was not working.
“She found an advert online about people who fix appliances and called them. Two men arrived at her house to fix the fridge. She paid them R1 500 and they gave her a guarantee on the repair for six months,” said Rabu Rabu.
The complainant alleged that one week later, the fridge was again giving problems and she contacted the same repair men.
This time, they arrived in a truck and said that they could not fix the fridge on site and needed to take it to their workshop. The men then took the fridge away.
The complainant said the repair men ignored her calls for some time and one week later asked for a further R2 000 to get the fridge back. The complainant added that she would not pay the money as they had given her a guarantee of six months on their previous repair job. She, however, relented and gave them 50% of the amount requested. The men did not return with the fridge and blocked her number.
She then opened a case at Rosebank SAPS and gave police the registration number of the vehicle that had been used to collect her fridge.
Rabu Rabu said his investigations traced the number plate to Kempton Park and another man had hired out the vehicle, not knowing that the men would use it to steal a fridge. The owner of the truck said the men took the fridge to a second-hand shop.
Rabu Rabu discovered that the fridge was on sale for R5 400. After speaking to the manager at the store, he was pleased to discover that the correct procedure had been followed, which helped him to trace one of the suspects.
After arresting the first suspect, he was led to the second suspect who was also arrested.
The suspects are due to appear in court soon and answer to the charges brought against them.
The complainant was pleased to receive her fridge back though it was still not working.
Spokesperson for the Rosebank police Sergeant Bongi Mdletshe confirmed that station management was happy to see the swift response of the detectives involved in this case in ensuring the arrest of the scammers.
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