Police warn against ongoing online scam

CAPTAIN Poobalan Naidoo from Berea SAPS is warning residents to be wary of an ongoing online scam that he says many residents have fallen victim to. “Members of the community are warned of the ongoing online scam. The scammers are encouraging the victims to make deposits into banking accounts, and they are promised high returns or good profit.”

“Later, they find out that they are unable to make withdrawals and are unable to communicate further with the company. The members of the community become aware of investment opportunities through social media and people who have already joined. They interact with the suspects who pretend to be knowledgeable and wish to assist them with registrations and deposits. The victims are promised high returns, and further communication stops when huge sums of money have been deposited,” said Naidoo.

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The SAPS captain offered some safety tips for residents to follow to avoid getting tricked:

1. When you receive a call from an unknown person stating that he or she is from a bank, and there is a fraudulent transaction taking place, and they require your personal details, kindly inform that person you will go to your branch and sort this out.

2. Do not give anyone any information about yourself on the phone because you cannot verify who is on the phone.

3. No bank will call and ask for personal details.

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“We are recently receiving cases of this nature where people are losing thousands of rands, so be very cautious when it comes to your money,” said Naidoo.

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