Labour law ‘conman’ doing the rounds

AN apparent fraudster, using labour law requirements, is apparently conning East Rand companies out of thousands of Rands.

Piet Viljoen and Johann Joubert, owners of two separate companies in Boksburg and Kempton Park respectively, both claim they were scammed by Manpower Law Solutions.

Joubert, the owner of ICT, a wholesale courier company in Spartan, received a call from someone claiming to be from the Department of Labour on July 10.

“A black man called and told me the department was conducting health and safety inspections in Spartan and would be coming to my premises on July 17,” explained Joubert.

Joubert alleged he received another call five days later, this time from a white male, informing him that he was in the area and had heard about the departmental assessment. The man offered his services in ensuring that ICT complied with the requirements.

“He arrived later on the same day accompanied by his wife and daughter. He said we needed to train two staff members in firefighting, evacuation and first aid,” said Joubert.

The bill for training, including a compliance certificate, came to R15 000.

Joubert claims the man said he’d be back on the day of the inspection to conduct the training. An electronic transfer of the money was made immediately and the man left.

“Five minutes after he had left, he called a 21-year-old employee of mine and started making sexual suggestions, that’s when I knew something was not right,” Joubert said.

Joubert started conducting research on the man, whose name is known to EXPRESS, and called his bank to recall the payment. It seemed it was too late. The Department of Labour also never showed up.

“The fraudster called and said the inspector was running late. I told him I was on to him and he kept saying he was not a fraudster and I shouldn’t worry, I’ll get my money back,” said Joubert.

He reported the matter to the man’s bank and his.

He described the fraudster as polite and well mannered. “The next victim is just around the corner,” he said.

Joubert said he doubted he’d get his money back. In the meantime, he started conducting his own investigations. He said the conman had a number of pending judgements and a criminal record. The company Manpower Law Solutions brought up complaints on different websites. He did not open a case of fraud.

In Boksburg, Viljoen, the owner of PAV Service Station, said he deemed it necessary to warn retailers about the scam they experienced on August 15.

“A white, young male approached my attendants inquiring about the name and telephone number of the manager or retailer. They did not suspect anything and gave it to him. He then went into the shop and told the cashier he had been requested to offer training, firefighting and first aid during the coming week but he has to deliver some documents first,” explained Viljoen.

Viljoen said the man said he represented Manpower Law Solutions and his car was branded accordingly.

“He requested the cashier to make a COD payment to the amount of R1 650, as according to him, it was arranged by management. We had training scheduled, firefighting and first aid, so the cashier was easily persuaded,” he pointed out.

The cashier tried to call management but could not get hold of anyone.

“The trickster convinced her he would call the manager himself, even mentioning his name, and made as though he had the number which he obviously got from the attendants. He pretended to phone the manager in front of the cashier, saying he was there to deliver the documents. Obviously he never phoned the manager,” said Viljoen. The cashier was convinced and made a pay-out.

“The guy took the cash and “delivered” a lot of useless documents which included penalties for offences, labour relations act, sexual harassment, etc, and left. The documents are useless,” Viljoen added.

“After discovering the fraud I tried to call the number used in the branding on his car and “invoice” left by him but there was no reply.”

Viljoen made mention that there was another service station in Birchleigh that he knew of that had also been scammed.

Both Viljoen’s and Joubert’s companies have pictures of the man taken from CCTV footage and the same branded vehicle used in both cases.

Viljoen would like to get in contact with anyone that might also have been scammed by the individual so as to strengthen their case.

Contact Viljoen on 011-894-5411.