An Ivory Park woman has been duped into parting ways with R20 000 after she responded to a caller purporting to be from the United Kingdom-based Clydesdale Bank.
According to the Ivory Park SAPS communications officer, Captain Bernard Matimulane, the modus operandi bears the well-known hallmark of the notorious 419 scam. The victim received a call from the caller who tempted her with a huge inheritance from her dead father.
“The caller is alleged to have told the victim during their phone conversation that she was due to inherit from a London-based company that her late father was a co-beneficiary of.
“She fell for the story hook, line and sinker, went on to fill the papers in, which were emailed to her by the caller, and then deposited the R20 000 via two transactions, first R11 000 and then R9 000,” said Capt Matimulane.
Capt Matimulane said the 26-year-old victim became suspicious when the same person came back to her with another demand, this time for R150 000.
“Their line was that the money was to be converted into foreign currency. She went to one of the well-known banks in the country where she was told the whole thing was a scam. She immediately opened a case of fraud at the police station,” said Capt Matimulane.
The Ivory Park SAPS Station Commander, Brigadier David Ngcobo, has warned the public and urged them to be aware of these scams.
“If it sounds too good to be true, chances are it is fraudulent. Instead of falling for these, please notify the police as soon as possible and never give out personal information such as your identity document and banking account details to strangers whose background you do not know,” said Brig Ngcobo.
