Business owner scammed
He was promised that R950 would secure him three months of advertising and his business would reach 60 000 people.
A CBD business owner is furious after he was scammed by an advertising company claiming to work on behalf of numerous charity organisations.
Mr Kuben Govender started a new business in the Edenvale CBD late last year.
In January he was approached by a sales representative from a marketing company, which claimed to place adverts in hand-delivered booklets.
He was promised that R950 would secure him three months of advertising and his business would reach 60 000 people.
The sales representative said that in addition to marketing his business, he would also support various charities which benefit from advertising sales.
“We would be advertising our new business and supporting charity at the same time,” said Mr Govender.
But, instead of exposing his business to thousands of people, he is now thousands of Rand in debt.
“We pushed our life savings into this business and with the prospect of exposure to so many people, we purchased additional stock from Durban,” he said.
Mr Govender was assured that his first advertisement would be published at the end of February.
In March, when he enquired why his advert had not been published, he was told there was a delay in printing.
By last week he had still not received any feedback on the advertisement as it had still not been published.
“We were expecting an influx of customers but now we have a storeroom full of stock we cannot sell because we have no clients,” said Mr Govender.
The R100 000 investment into the business is not the only burden Mr Govender has to deal with.
“Our electricity was cut off because we could not afford to pay and we are R12 000 in arrears with our rent.
“I now have to sell my car to try and catch up on payments,” said Mr Govender.
If he fails to pay his business accounts, Mr Govender will be forced to close his store.
Mr Govender’s attempts to contact the marketing company for a refund of his money has been unsuccessful.
“The phone number given to us never works and the e-mail address we were supplied with does not exist,” he said.
“How many other businesses have been caught by this scam?” asked Mr Govender.
The NEWS tried on numerous occasions to contact the company in question.
Voicemails were left at the number given to Mr Govender and e-mails sent over a two week period were returned because the email address does not exist. The landline number given on the invoice is no longer in service.
Research conducted into the company revealed the company is registered.
The address given on the invoice differs from the address supplied on business classifieds pages, although the telephone numbers given are identical.
The acting spokesperson for the Edenvale SAPS, Lieutenant Colonel Robbie Roberts, encouraged businesses to be alert.
“There are constantly new scams hitting our streets. Every day business owners are scammed out of their hard-earned money,” said Lt Col Roberts.
“Report scam artists to the SAPS immediately and remember if it sounds to go to be true, then it probably is,” he added.
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