Crafty conman targets pensioner at mall

She was scammed of R4 800 by a man claiming to be a former rugby player who played with Schalk Burger (He didn't specify whether its Schalk Burger senior or his son, who won two world titles with the Springboks).

April 10, 2025

Lebohang Pita 2 minutes read

With tears in her eyes, Rynfield pensioner Ria Buttman warned other retirees to be vigilant of scammers targeting the elderly, after a personal experience at Lakeside Mall.

The 77-year-old claims a conman posing as a former professional rugby player turned Clover ambassador scammed more than R4 000 of her monthly pension on March 29.

“I want others to be vigilant. The man took R4 800 I had to pay my municipal bills, groceries and Game account,” she said.

An unsuspecting Ria Buttman interacts with her alleged conman.

Her ordeal happened inside the Game store while she was grocery shopping.

She alleged that the ‘well-mannered man with grey hair like me’, approached her while getting a box of Weet-bix, telling her he was promoting Clover and an unnamed rugby union offering R30 000 for this campaign.

“He said he was a rugby player who played with Schalk Burger and a rugby union he belongs to is doing a promotion with Clover.

He scammed Ria Buttman of R4 800 of her monthly pension.

“He took me to an aisle where with hair clippers for men. The promotion boxes were there. He said I can only move one box and if there is a present, it’s mine.

“I looked at the boxes and picked the one different from the rest. Behind it was a golden watch in an organza bag. He said it was my gift,” explained Buttman.

She said the alleged conman put the watch in his pocket and told her she had to buy a Clover item because he needed the till slip.

The alleged conman (right) claimed to be a former professional rugby player who played with Schalk Burger.

“I took a box of milk but when he saw the length of the queues, he said we should leave it. He said the promotion required I had to show them how much money I had because for every Rand I would win R15 000 or R20 000.”

The pensioner had money in both her Nedbank and Capitec Bank accounts. She trusted the man and thought nothing of it because he said she could withdraw the money and deposit it back.

“We went to a Nedbank ATM. I put in the card and after punching my pin, he came over my shoulder and withdrew R3 000.

The conman said he was a representative of Clover.

“It was rejected because my daily limit is R3 000. He said I should try again. He came over my shoulder again and punched R 2 000. He took the money, saying he would keep it because they needed it at the end of the promotion.

“I put in my card again. He withdrew R500. He said I should try again but it was rejected because I had reached my limit,” Buttman said.

The man claimed they needed R5 000. They then proceeded to Capitec where, after checking the balance, which was R2 400, he withdrew R2 300.

“After this, he said we should go to Shoprite, where he said I must take five Clover items and I could have a packet of meat for R500 as a gift.

“He said while I was busy getting the meat, he would fetch the camera crew ready to show them how much money I had to get the R15 000 from the promotion.”

“After fetching the meat and the five Clover items, I returned to where I left him. I waited for about 15 minutes but he never returned. It then clicked – he conned me. I went back to my car and started crying,” she said.