Franzette van Niekerk issued a warning on Middelburg CPF WhatsApp groups of a potential scam doing the rounds after she was contacted by a man claiming to be from the Steve Tshwete Local Municipality with regard to a scheduled disconnection of her property, for her account being in arrears.

Franzette explained to the Middelburg Observer that she received the WhatsApp message on Monday from 065 717 9450.

The message had a credible-looking photo attached, of people dressed in reflective vests and overalls busy at a mini-substation.

The message read as follows: “Good day its Kelvin Ndlovu from Steve Tshwete Local Municipality, its in regards to a scheduled disconnection for property [Franzette van Niekerk’s address] because of an arrears in the municipal account I tried calling earlier on but your phone went on voice-mail,We going to be at the premises in the next 2 hours.”

According to Franzette, despite knowing her account was up to date, her natural reaction was to wonder whether she had forgotten something, “I think, because they threaten you with such short notice, a lot of residents might get a fright and respond. I just ignored the message, and nobody arrived to disconnect my property after two hours.”

Having not responded to the message, Franzette is not sure exactly how the contact intended to scam her, but is certain that they are looking to get something out of it.

What bothered Franzette the most was that the supposed scammer had access to her personal information, such as her name, contact number, and physical address.

‘A load of nonsense’

Chantel Appel confirmed being called by the same number, with the same message as Franzette.

“I know perfectly well that my accounts are not in arrears, and immediately knew that the WhatsApp was a load of nonsense. So I blocked the number.”

While Chantel cannot recall the exact name the supposed scammer gave her, she could with certainty verify that the message was almost identical to the one sent to Franzette.

The WhatsApp profile picture of the sender was also the same.

“The message also spoke of a scheduled disconnection due to accounts in arrears, but the time frame was different, and they threatened to disconnect me within 48 hours.”

Chantel found it deeply disturbing that they had access to her personal information, “Someone needs to investigate this. It’s abuse of personal information!”

She further speculated that should someone respond to these supposed scammers, they will likely be pressured to make payments.

“I can only guess that unsuspecting victims might be pressured to make payments on short notice, and will likely be supplied with fraudulent banking details.”

DA Alderman confirms scam

DA Ward Councillor San-Mari Wait confirmed that she is aware of the scam and has issued warnings to residents not to fall victim to it.

“Firstly, the photo being circulated was not taken in Middelburg, and our mini-substations look different.

“Secondly, STLM will not contact account holders who are behind on payments, and their electricity will be disconnected at the mini-sub.

“Should any resident reconnect their own power and the municipality become aware of this, the property’s electricity supply will be disconnected at the main substation, and the owner will be fined. They will not be reconnected until that fine has been paid.

“Payment arrangements can be made with STLM should anyone be unable to pay the arrears once off.”

She also refuted any suspicions that the scam is being operated from within the municipality.

“STLM certainly doesn’t go dishing out residents’ personal information. The truth is that personal information is no longer private and can easily be gotten hold of by scammers. I receive numerous calls, like others, on my phone from strange numbers, and those callers often know exactly who I am. If you receive a call or message from an unknown number, don’t answer it.”

• A media enquiry regarding the scam was sent to the Steve Tshwete Local Municipality, but no feedback was received by the time of publication.