A woman was unknowingly robbed of her money and without having access immediately to check her bank account, Ms Lizzy Maganyela was victim to the bank scams that was doing the roads when the heat has cooled off on warnings and alerts about such.
Maganyela alleged that she was offered a catering job for a man, who apparently works at the Town Council. She said that she received a call from a Frederick Matlou on December 13, who asked her to provide her services for 50 guests that he will be hosting at a function. A verbal agreement was reached between them and Matlou allegedly promised Maganyela to deposit the money into her account within the next few days. Maganyela had charged Matlou R5000 for catering. On December 14, Maganyela allegedly received another call from Matlou, who told her that he had deposited the money into her account but he made the wrong deposit of R12 900. Maganyela said that he requested that she keep what is owed to her and return the balance to him.
Maganyela did not hesitate to return the R6 900 back to Matlou’s account. She then tried to contact him, after making the deposit back into the account that was provided by Matlou. After fruitless attempts to get a hold of him, she then decided to go to the Standard Bank in Mandela Street, to enquire about the deposits and verify the account details of Matlou. On her arrival Maganyela said that she was told that there was no money deposited into her account, as the cheque provided had bounced, meaning she was defrauded of the amount she deposited into Matlou’s account.
The suspect, Frederick Matlou, is allegedly still not answering any calls either, or his phone is off. No arrest has been made as the suspect’s whereabouts are unknown; an investigation by the police is pending.
