Fraudsters scam car theft victims

Scammers have reared their heads in a number of provinces in South Africa. Cases of car theft fraudsters have been reported from Pretoria to the South Coast and Benoni in Johannesburg.

The modus operandi is to scan for reports of stolen vehicles and contact the victim, requesting that a certain amount be paid before it is returned.

In a number of instances, the caller will use a police official’s name who is situated at a particular police station.

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This will draw the victim off their scent and make it appear plausible that the police would ask for money to return a stolen vehicle.

In one such instance on May 18 a bakkie was stolen outside a pub in Benoni. After a case had been registered at the police station, a person claiming to be an official attached to the station contacted the victim and asked that they deposit R4 000 via EFT or e-Wallet.

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The victim sensed that something was amiss and contacted the local SAPS to verify that the vehicle had been recovered. It had not, and the Benoni police spokesperson, Capt Nomsa Sekele, confirmed that there were no charges payable by the victim once a car had been recovered.

“These scammers contact people and inform them that their vehicle has been recovered and a fee is payable for the towing costs,” warned Sekele.

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“They further inform them that it has to be paid electronically.”

She reiterated that these  criminals strike when the victim is vulnerable and will do anything to have their stolen vehicles returned.

The scammers often use different telephone numbers, but the trend has been to use the name and rank of an official at the policing precinct.

This makes it easy for people to be duped into paying the requested amount. To avoid any transactions leading to their personal accounts, another trick is to lure an unsuspecting third party to provide their banking details for the transaction not to be traced back to the scammer.

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This is usually a fee for allowing their account to be used, which renders tracking the account activity almost completely futile. A way around this is to immediately contact the investigating officer assigned to your case.

The official will inevitably confirm that it is not standard practice for victims to deposit funds into any account before the stolen car is returned.

Capt Jabu Ndubane of the Barberton Police Station reaffirmed that, in the event that a stolen vehicle is recovered, in accordance with the standard policing procedure, it is taken to the vehicle identification unit (VIU).

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“There is no vehicle that is returned immediately to the owner after having been stolen. It is first taken to the VIU or Camp 13, where further investigations are conducted before it is handed back.

“Remember, the police are tasked with investigating a crime, not with receiving money or acting as facilitator between the victim and a towing company, but to ensure that the crime is solved.

“As an organisation, the SAPS does not charge victims. This is the work of scammers who take advantage of the situation. They act fast and disappear without a trace once the money has been deposited,” Ndubane said