New attack trend at shopping malls
Mall robbery syndicate member arrested during attempt to rob CPF member
A SUSPECTED robbery syndicate is operating at shopping malls in Johannesburg, and possibly the whole of Gauteng. This gang scouts potential victims at banks in shopping malls and follows them around inside the mall before they strike with a convincing confidence trick.
A 42-year-old woman was apprehended by South Gate Mall security after an attempted robbery on a woman who had withdrawn R10 400 from one of the banks on March 12.
“I was at South Gate Mall on the escalators when I felt something on my feet, when I looked back I saw a lady fiddling with money and I asked her what are you doing? She told me not to be loud, because someone had dropped their money and didn’t realise it. She insisted that I come with her outside so that we could see how much it was,” said the woman, who was almost a victim of the syndicate.
The woman said she immediately suspected foul play as she’s a Devland CPF member in the South.
“I signalled the mall security, and we followed this woman who was now rushing, because she saw that a security officer was hot on her trail. She tried to run and that is when the woman was arrested,” added the victim.
Mondeor SAPS Communications officer Constable Mnguni said: “The suspect is one of a syndicate that drops money in front of unsuspecting victims, whom they will request to go share the money in a remote area, and they will rob the suspect of their money. The targeted victims are the ones who came to withdraw large sums of money from the banks.”
The stack of money was found to be papers bound together with R200 notes on the top and another at the bottom, for show.
