Late in May I received an email from a Xelia who had placed an ad on a free advertising site for a garden cottage to rent in Helderkruin. She sent me pictures of the property.
When I called her to ask about viewing the property she told me she and her husband were having an open day on the Sunday. With two weeks left for me to move from my current home, I emailed her and asked her if I could please have the cottage and will view the place prior. She told me she would speak to her husband. Later that day she emailed me saying her husband said that I could have it if I secured the deposit. She sent me an Absa account in the name of Justin Fourie. I immediately paid R4 400 onto their account, and sent her proof of payment. She acknowledged receipt and said she looked forward to meeting me when they are back.
I finally had peace of mind that my son and I had a home to go to at the end of the month. The Saturday I called Xelia and there was no answer. I smsed her; no response. I was not stressed about this as I thought she was busy. When I tried calling her again, her phone was off … and has been off since.
Yes I was scammed! I contacted Absa bank and said to the consultant I’m not sure if this is a scam and explained the above to her. I was told to open a case at the police immediately. Before opening the case, I took the images Xelia sent me and put them on Google and lo and behold, three different advertisements come up in different areas, one in fact of the full house in Pretoria that was sold on a private property site. I contacted the owner to tell him, and he said he didn’t know any Justin or Xelia Fourie, and he can’t do anything if they steal his property photos (I agree) .
I opened a case at Krugersdorp Police Station, received a case number and the investigator’s details. I contacted my bank to tell them what had happened as they would have more leverage with Absa than I would.
Capitec informed that Absa has frozen the bank account, and that was the last I heard from the bank. I haven’t heard from the police, despite my phone calls. It blows my mind. Fica is an act, the bank obviously has this person’s details, they asked me to open a case, why not give these details to the investigating officer to assist in this case?
I know out of desperation to keep a roof over my son’s head I acted without thinking – that being said, on the phone Xelia sounded like an elderly polite women, I certainly did not see this coming. I cant turn back the hand of time, but maybe my story can help the next person to be more vigilant, and as per Facebook, it would seem I am not the only one who has been victim to such a scam.
Xelia’s posts, email address and cellphone number (again why do we even have Rica?) were reported to the advertising site and her gmail address to Google.
