Roodekrans resident Mauritz Jonck recently nearly fell prey to a scam that seems very convincing.
On 1 April he received an email from what seemed to be the City of Johannesburg (COJ). The email informed Jonck that COJ have changed its banking details and a new ABSA account’s details were given in the email to which transfers henceforth must be made. (The City still banks with Standard Bank.)
Jonck says he nearly made his payments to the new account but at the last minute decided to query the email. At ABSA bank he found out the account is in the name of a private individual and that the account has been active since 2014. The bank also told him that every time money is deposited into the account it gets withdrawn immediately.
At the bottom of the email there is the signature of a person on behalf of the finance department, and although he does work for COJ, he is actually employed in their legal department.
The Record is currently waiting for the city to indicate exactly how they will announce such a change if ever the need arises. In the meanwhile residents should query any change of banking details announcement from any institution they deal with.
A City representative said COJ was not aware of the scam.
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