Tongaat woman defrauded of R11,700 by bogus bank official

Communications officer of Tongaat SAPS, Cpt Patrick Ngwane, said, “This comes after a 56-year-old woman was defrauded of R11,700 by someone claiming to be a bank official.”

It is alleged that the 56-year-old victim was at her home in Maidstone, Tongaat, last Saturday, when she received a call from someone unknown to her, who stated that he was calling from the bank.

He informed her that he needed to verify details as they were upgrading to a 2020 system. He then asked her to confirm her personal details which she did. He then told her that she will receive an OTP number on her cellphone and that she should give it to him as confirmation that everything was done.

While on the call, she received the OTP number and provided it to the caller. After a few minutes, she received an message from her cellphone stating that R11, 700 was transferred to another person unknown to her. The victim then contacted the bank and was informed that the caller was not a bank official and that a bank official cannot asked for OTP number.

In another incident, a 62-year-old woman was defrauded of R2,035 after she received an SMS that her number had been a winning number in a competition.

“It is alleged by the victim while she was at her home in Bellgate, Tongaat that she received a message on her cellphone from a number unknown to her indicating that her cellphone number had been chosen as a winning number in a yearly promotion and that she had won the sum of R450, 000. She then contacted a certain person to claim her winnings and the alleged fraudster confirmed the reference number given. The fraudster replied through SMS and informed her that a consultant will be in contact with her,” Cpt Ngwane said.

She was also told that she should call him back, purchase Cell C airtime for R85 and give him the pin number and not to load the airtime into the phone.

The victim was then contacted by a female fraudster, who stated that she should provide her full name and surname via SMS to a certain cellphone number and banking details were requested to transfer the money.

“She was also informed that the winning certificate will be issued to her and delivered to her home after she deposits the sum of R1,950 as this was the cost of the bank transfer and delivery of the winner certificate,” he added.

The next day, she received a call from the fraudster, who stated that the money must be transferred immediately using the cellphone number, and as soon as the transfer was done, she should phone with the details.

The complainant called the fraudster and furnished the details as requested and the fraudster confirmed receipt of the cash.

“She then received another SMS from the fraudster stating that management is requesting a further R2, 550 for residential tax for the money that is when she realised she was being scammed,” he said.

Tongaat SAPS has warned the public against a scam in which victims receive a text message stating that they have won a competition they have not entered.

“We are warning residents to be wary of scams like this. If it seems too good to be true, in most cases, it is. We urge residents not to deposit monies without checking the authenticity of the seller. We appeal to the public that if someone asks you to pay money up-front in order to receive a prize, it’s almost always a scam. Legitimate competitions do not require you to pay a fee to collect winnings. If you have fallen victim to a scam, please contact Crime Stop on 08600-10111.”