KEMPTON police are looking for a man for questioning in relation to yet another suspected online scam.
Police suspect this is yet another case where criminals use online trade platforms to scam people.
This comes after a Kempton man lost his white Toyota Quantum combi worth R175 000 after selling it to a willing buyer on Gumtree.
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According to Capt Jethro Mtshali, spokesperson for the Kempton SAPS, the owner of the Quantum combi placed an advert on the Gumtree website on March 6, selling his car for R175 000.
The very next day he received a phone call from a person who identified himself as Collen Armstrong Radebe, saying he was interested in the car. Radebe gave the owner of the car his ID number and contact details.
“He then told the owner of the car to send his account details. They then agreed that the owner will release the car once he gets confirmation of payment from the bank,” Mtshali explained.
Radebe then deposited R150 000 and said he would pay the remaining balance once he received the ‘papers’ for the car.
“On March 15 at about 10.45am, the owner received a message from the bank that R150 000 had been deposited into his account from BARA Mall in Soweto. Then about 10 minutes later, the owner received a phone call from the buyer, asking him if he had received the money – which the owner confirmed.”
Then later at about 11am, a man arrived at the owner’s house claiming he was sent by Radebe to collect the vehicle.
As the owner was not at home at the time, he asked his brother to take a photo of the man, who thereafter left with the combi.
“Then later on in the day at about 3.54pm, the owner got an SMS saying the R150 000 had been reversed from his account. When he told Radebe the money had been reversed, Radebe said it was a mistake and he would go verify the matter.”
By the 18th, the owner had heard nothing from Radebe and his phone calls stopped going through.
A case of fraud was opened with the police.
If people have information regarding the whereabouts of the man pictured, contact Det Serg Tumelo Phaka on 078 337 4572, 011 393 8600 or 08600 10111.
