Tanzanite ‘smuggling’ scam

A Middelburg resident said that he was approached at his work by a ‘long distance truck driver’ who wanted to ‘talk business’.

Andre Koch, sells fruit and vegetables for a living. He said that when he initially heard the words “long distance truck driver”, “business” and “Tanzania” in one sentence, he was hoping to strike a deal to send consignments of something like potatoes to the mid-African country.

The man introduced himself as Steven, he is described as an African male, fluent in Afrikaans and English and around 55 years of age. He asked for Mr Koch’s phone number and promised to call him soon.

A day after Mr Koch received a phone call from Steven saying that he needs a “white man” to do a transaction because the person he wants to do business with does not trust black South Africans.

Mr Koch said that although he was certain that something was fishy, he agreed to meet Steven again, out of curiosity.

Steven took him to the Nexbed Hotel where they met a man in the parking-lot named Patrick who claimed that he was Tanzanian.

Patrick showed Mr Koch rough stones he said was tanzanite. He spoke English with a foreign accent and is said to be short, light in complexion and well dressed. He gave one of the gems to them to test.

Mr Koch and Steven then drove to the Pick ‘n Pay in Walter Sisulu Street where they were met by a white male.

The man, tall, reddish hair and somewhat overweight, took the stone and disappeared into the Pick’nPay building. He returned about 10 minutes later.

“He said that he was satisfied with the stone and that he was willing to give us R380 000 for it. I asked how many he was willing to buy and he asked how many we had. Steven told him we have three stones.”

The man said that he had R120 000 cash on him and that, when Mr Koch comes with all the stones, he could come into the building where he was in possession of an electronic money counter at his business to make sure that the amount was correct.

Steven and Mr Koch returned to the supplier at Nexbed for the remainder of the stones. Patrick wanted R20 000 as surety that they would not disappear into thin air once he gave them the gems.

“That is when I knew for sure. I told them to leave me out of this deal because they were wasting my time and left.”

Hours later Patrick phoned Mr Koch to let him know that Steven has come up with R2 000 and that he can come and collect one stone to sell and return to him with the money.

Shortly thereafter someone, claiming to be from eMalahleni, phoned Mr Koch. He wanted to talk business. When Mr Koch said that he was not interested anymore, the man asked him to hold the line. An Afrikaans speaking woman introduced herself as Mrs Zwarts from the Pretoria police. She asked Mr Koch to play along with the dealers because they were investigating a case of smuggling against them.

“I think they called to make me believe that the stones were worth something,” Mr Koch says.

He brought the stone in his possession to the Middelburg Observer who asked the opinion of local jeweler Louwrens Hattingh from Hattingh Jewelers.

Tanzanite not protected

Mr Hattingh said that it is not illegal to be in possession of rough or uncut precious gems and they can be sold to anyone anywhere. Only diamonds are protected by law.

“You can sell them to someone on the street or wherever you feel like it. It just makes more sense to buy a laboratory certified jewel from a jeweler. Otherwise you might end up with something like this.”

After looking at a picture of the stone emailed to him, he said that he is 99% sure that it is a fake.

“Tanzanites are not blue in their rough form, they only turn blue once treated.”

He says that he has come across similar incidents where plastic or PVC were melted around a blue piece of glass, to make it look like rough tanzanites. People only realize that they were cheated once they take the gem to a jeweler.

The fact that everything is done in secret when no laws are being broken is one of the key indicators that this is a scam, means Mr Hattingh.

Patrick never showed for a planned meeting. Leaving Mr Koch with the stone still in his possession.

“If it is worth something, he will contact me again,” Mr Koch said.

• The help of the police were not called in because no laws were actually broken.

• The group of scammers is believed to consist of both white and black men and women and at least one foreign national.

• When the Middelburg Observer phoned Steven, he said that he had diamonds to sell. On request he sent through a picture of the diamond he had to sell. He claimed it was three and a half carats and that he wanted R20 000 for it.

When prompted to meet, Steven said that he was currently in Lephalale (Ellisras).

“Don’t waste my time. My child died and I have to bury him this weekend” Steven said. Whilst on the phone with him, one could hear other phones receiving messages in the background.