Couple falls victim to alleged prepaid scammers
A Noordheuwel couple has recently fallen victim to a possible prepaid meter scam that cost them dearly.
“I feel so bad for allowing myself to fall victim to something like this.”
A discouraged Ronald Forrester has opened a case of possible fraud at the Krugersdorp Police Station after he paid R6 900 for a prepaid meter that the sellers never showed up to install.
“On 6 February I was contacted by a man who claimed he worked for the municipality and wanted to send someone to our home who audits water meters,” Ronald told the News.
Ronald was told that a new prepaid meter will be installed and would cost him R6 900.
“I paid the amount with a cheque and was asked to confirm that the bank approved the cheque,” Ronald explained.
After Ronald had paid the possible fraudsters, he was asked another R500 for the recharge card. Ronald later realised that the number on the recharge card and the prepaid meter number did not correlate.
Ronald still has the meter but it remains uninstalled.
Police spokesperson, Sergeant Tshepiso Mashale said that a case has been opened and police are investigating the matter. Mashale also informed Mogale City Local Municipality of the incident.
Nkosana Zali, the municipality’s spokesperson, said the police are best placed to prove or disprove whether a scam occurred or not.
“However, we can confirm that our colleagues in the police did contact us on the day the Noordheuwel couple opened a case to alert us to a possible scam,” he said.
Zali wants to warn the community to look out for scams.
“The municipality always announces its projects through ward councillors first before rolling them out to communities. It is unfortunate that criminals never stop thinking about where their next ‘meal’ will come from. It is inevitable that they would want to scam people using known government projects. Let us stay vigilant all the time.”
Annette Fourie, a DA ward councillor and who is part of the Infrastructure Portfolio, said that prepaid water meters are installed free of charge and prepaid electricity meters can cost anything from R5 000 to R10 000.
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