Lentswe, Klerksdorp - Residents regularly get e-mails or SMSs informing them they have won money, inherited an estate or won an expensive cellphone. South African Police Service management in the province is perturbed by escalating fraud cases in Rustenburg, Hartbeespoort, Lichtenburg and Klerksdorp, among others.
Brig Sabata Mokgwabone, police spokesperson, paints a dark picture sharing some of the harrowing cases the police recently dealt with.
In Hartbeespoort, bank account holders received calls from a person claiming to be a bank employee in the Fraud Department.
The caller requested the account holders to urgently log on to their bank app in order to stop fraudulent transactions.
Consequent to accessing the details, the suspect withdrew monies from the victim’s accounts.
Still in Hartbeespoort, a victim got a message that he was a beneficiary on the estate of a relative who passed away in a foreign country.
The victim was persuaded to pay a certain amount for taxes and clearance of the inheritance. Since then, nothing was heard from the suspect.
“In some instances, potential car buyers were defrauded. The alleged fraudster/s would inform potential buyers that the vehicle will be auctioned unless they secure it with a deposit. The fraudster/s would also share fraudulent documents to convince the potential buyers that the deal is legitimate and to pay the balance and delivery fees. However, no vehicle will be delivered.”
Members of the community are requested to apply the following safety tips:
- Should unsuspecting clients receive suspicious calls, they should hang up immediately if they feel pressured and call their banks’ fraud lines.
- A bank employee will never ask you to give them a One Time Pin (OTP).
- If you do not know a “family member” who lives in another country, then chances are that there is no person who has left an inheritance to you.
- Do not pay for a car if you have not viewed it physically. Cars due for auction will be available for viewing at a given physical address and genuine. Auctioneers will never refuse you access to view the vehicle during business hours.
- Avoid replying to letters / emails / SMSes that fraudsters send to you.
- Never disclose your ID, password or pin to anyone.
- Be careful of something that looks too good to be true, it usually is.
