Beware of this elaborate, clever scam
Seems the scamsters are targeting the elderly.
There have been warnings on various community WhatsApp about criminals posing as City of Johannesburg (CoJ) employees who, in a very ingenious way, scam residents out of their money.
Also read: Beware: New ingenious scam surfaces
One such resident, whose name is being withheld, said she thought she would never fall for these scams but then nearly did when her parents were approached by the scamsters. We quote her verbatim as per her Facebook post:
“You hear of these scam stories and you never think you will be ‘stupid’ enough to fall for them like other people do. Until it actually happens to you.”
“On 28 February my parents and I were almost scammed in the Helderkruin/ Wilropark area. Someone by the name of “André” phoned my parents’ home phone and claimed to be from the Johannesburg Municipality Head Office/ Council. He proceeded to ask information such as how many people live in the house (my mom said it’s just the two of them). He then wanted to know where my dad was and she told him he was out. He also asked when my dad would be back home as they wanted to send someone over to speak to them about the pensioner rebate. (He also knew of an official letter regarding the pensioner rebate that had been posted to my parents from the council, which made me wonder whether he had inside info?,” she explained.
“He told my mom that either an Indian man by the name of Qale or a white woman by the name of Natasha would come and speak to my parents. He also gave my mom a reference number that Qale or Natasha had to confirm on arrival. My dad arrived back home and shortly after the Indian man arrived. He was dropped off by a red vehicle which immediately left, it didn’t even pull into the driveway. A neighbour’s CCTV camera showed that there were two black males in the front of the vehicle that dropped him off. Unfortunately no number plate was visible on the footage. They have also been reported to be using a white Polo.
Also read: Is it a real employee – or an imposter?
“The Indian man came inside and proceeded with a very legitimate-sounding story that the municipality was changing the electricity and water meters and that the meters inside the property were for our own account (he even had an example of the new meters to be installed). He proceeded to tell us that it would cost R4 000 for the meters on the property (but the council would cover the costs of the meters placed outside the property) and that we could pay cash, by credit card or EFT but if we paid immediately, it would be R3 000. We said we didn’t have that kind of cash at home but I said I could go draw it,” she said.
“Slightly before this stage I started feeling uneasy as his story with regard to the benefit of paying immediately, in cash, kept changing slightly. But I thought I was perhaps being overly suspicious. He also stated that if we paid they could still come and install it the same day.
“Furthermore he knew personal information about my parents such as how much my parents’ monthly expenditure was in terms of their debit orders (again inside info?). That was quite scary, but we still thought he might have access to that info because he’s from the council. I was going to go draw the money and he was going to wait with my parents at home. But then he said he would go with me. I was confused and asked why and he explained that I could give him a lift back to our gate for ‘Natasha’ to pick him up once he had the money. During all of this he would intermittently communicate telephonically with ‘Andre’ and ‘Natasha’ (‘Natasha’ supposedly had the Speedpoint with her but she was busy),” explained the near-victim.
“My mom came with us at the last minute to go to the ATM as she had also started feeling uneasy. I had said I was going to the garage ATM but I drove past that one and went to the one inside Pick n Pay. When my mom and I were drawing the money we discussed how we felt uneasy about the whole thing. When we got back to the car and started driving back home, my mom voiced her suspicions to him and he was not impressed. She told him that the person who phoned hadn’t given her his name (which he didn’t when he first phoned) and that the municipality hadn’t informed her before this that the meters would be changed.
“He must’ve been communicating via SMS/ WhatsApp during the ride because as we got home my dad had just received a call from ‘Andre’ (who now gave his name), who was supposedly following up on ‘Qale’. ‘Qale’ came back into the house with us, probably assuming that ‘André’ having given us his name would change things, but we had decided not to go any further. He then ‘cancelled’ the documents but wouldn’t give them to us when we requested them. He had already gotten my parents’ ID numbers and my dad had signed some documents. I’m hoping they can’t do anything with those particulars,” she expressed her concern.
Also read: City Power employee busted for bribe
“‘Qale’ then left and was quickly picked up by the red vehicle which didn’t pull into the driveway and they drove off. They seem to be targeting elderly people as another incident in the Helderkruin/ Wilro Park area has been reported by our community security group.
Do you perhaps have more information pertaining to this story? Email us at roodepoortrecord@caxton.co.za (remember to include your contact details) or phone us on 011 955 1130.
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