CrimeNews

TZANEEN: Thieves get wiser by the day

Transferring cash money can be a risky business as a pensioner from Tzaneen who tried to help her son to pay his rent, recently discovered.

On Monday September 7, a 77-year-old woman from Tzaneen asked her daughter to transfer R4 000 to her son residing in Polokwane in order for him to pay his rent.

Money transfers can be done in South Africa and cross-border at any PEP, Pepcell and PEPhome retail stores by means of a simple process.
After producing your ID book or ID card and supplying your cell phone number, the cashier will accept the cash and ask you to enter a 4-digit pin number of your choice.

The cashier will then hand you the cash slip with a 10-digit withdrawal number which together with the pin number and the amount, is then sent to the intended recipient of the funds.

The money is then available at any Pep Store, Absa Bank or Shoprite / Checkers store.

The daughter made a deposit to the amount of R1 000 at the PEPhome store, only for her brother to discover that no funds were available.

After checking on their system, PEPhome confirmed that the amount of R1 000 was deposited at 14:46 and withdrawn at 15:02 at an Absa ATM at the Tzaneen Crossing.

As a maximum amount of R1 500 per transaction is allowed at a time, two R1 500 deposits were then made at PEPcell in the Tzaneen Crossing Mall.

After informing her brother that the amount of R3 000 has been transferred, he then proceeded to do the withdrawal only to find that half of the total amount that was transferred was available.

After checking on their system, PEPcell identified that an amount of R1 500 was withdrawn at an Absa ATM at Tzaneen Crossing, four minutes after the deposit was made.

“I am sure nobody was looking when I created the pin numbers and nobody was near me when the cash slips with the 10-digit withdrawal numbers were issued to me so how is it possible that someone except my brother can make the withdrawal?” the daughter told the LETABA HERALD.

The HERALD was referred to the communication department at PEP head office where it was requested from them to explain the transfer process and what happens to the money once a deposit is made.

Their response will be published in a follow up article in next week’s edition.

At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading!
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Emelda Tintswalo Shipalana

Tintswalo Shipalana, a journalist for the Letaba Herald, has been in the media industry for over a decade. She started her journey in radio, but ended up in print which is her first love. She joined the Herald newspaper as a cadet in 2016, where she graduated with a journalism qualification from the Caxton Training Academy. She also has a qualification in Feature Writing from the University of Cape Town and a Media Management qualification from Wits University. She is completing her BA Communication Science degree with UNISA. She sleeps well at night knowing she is a voice to the voiceless and her work contributes to promoting local talent, businesses and service delivery. Her love for her community keeps her working hard every day.

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