Car thieves seem to have a new trick up their sleeves to steal vehicles: by pretending to be the owners of vehicles and getting them delivered from unsuspecting panel beaters.
Nelspruit Post reported last week how Huson panel beaters was duped into giving a Mercedes Benz belonging to Mr Eric van Dyk to someone else pretending to be the owner. The scammer had phoned Huson’s claiming to be Van Dyk and proved that he had paid the excess amount before the vehicle was delivered to him at a hotel. This week other well-known panel beaters also revealed how they had become the victims of the scammers.
Mr Rupert Taljaard, owner of Dent Doctor, said the exact same incident occurred at his workshop on the same day. According to Taljaard they received a call from a man claiming to be a client. He asked when “his” Lexus would be ready and also said that he would pay the excess amount of R21 000 via Internet banking. The proof of payment was then sent to reception.
The man then phoned the workshop asking if Dent Doctor would be able to deliver the vehicle to a hotel. Taljaard said the workshop manager was a bit hesitant and phoned reception to make sure that the excess amount had been paid. It was later discovered that the man had gotten hold of a duplicate proof-of-payment document and the excess amount had never been
paid.
“He had the same modus operandi,” said Taljaard. “A situation like this is very difficult, because we want to deliver the best service to our clients. This makes it very hard to trust clients in the future.”
He suspects that the scammer drove past the workshop to see which vehicles were ready to be delivered. The Lexus owner comes from Mosambique which makes the insurance process very difficult at this stage. “I’m amazed at how professionally this scammer operates.”
The exact same thing happened with Auto Magic on the same day. According to Mr Johan Broekam, co-owner of Auto Magic, it also lost a Mercedes Viano valued at R700 000 after the workshop was also asked to deliver the vehicle to Town Lodge. When the real owner of the vehicle walked into the shop an hour later, they realised what happened. The owner immediately phoned Tracker and they found the device next to the highway in eMalahleni (Witbank).
“Later we saw on CCTV cameras that the Mercedes and Lexus was at the same location and left the scene together,” he said.
“It’s shocking to see that they used the same plan with three panel beaters. It is obvious that they targeted particular vehicles,” Broekman said. The owner opened a case with the police and his vehicle was later found in Botswana.
At the time of going to press, the police could not comment on whether they believe a syndicate is still operating in Mbombela.
