The festive season, also infamously known as the silly season, is a period when thugs go wild, committing opportunistic crimes.
This year is no different. One of the rifest crimes at the moment is a scam related to vehicle theft and hijacking cases where police impersonators contact victims of car theft or hijacking and mislead them about the recovery of their stolen vehicles. They then request payment for towing the vehicle back to the owner.
Victims are likely to fall for this scam as these bogus officers are able to quote sensitive information pertaining to the case, such as the case number.
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One wonders how such sensitive information is leaked to the public. Honeydew Police’s Lieutenant Colonel Sipho Mabaso said in a statement that these criminals identify themselves as police officers when requesting information at the police station.
“It has come to the notice of this office that there are people who mislead the community. These people are calling into the station asking for information about complainants of theft of motor vehicle and hijacking cases. They then call the complainants, informing them their vehicles have been recovered and that they must pay a sum of money to have them delivered to them,” he explained their modus operandi.
He added that these ‘smarty pants’ have knowledge of police operational systems. “They use the correct names of members and claim to be attached to a Vehicle Identification Section (VIS) or Provincial Office,” he said.
However, Mabaso cautioned that police do not ask for any payments on recovered vehicles.
He encouraged anyone who encountered this problem to visit the station for a status report on their cases.
For more information, contact Honeydew Police Station on 011 801 8400 or Crime Stop on 10111.
