AN uMgeni Park resident was scammed out of R250 and by a man claiming to be a pastor on the online classified website, Gumtree. What is more, when Candice Forrest attempted to confront the scam artist by reporting him to the police, she was threatened.

The scam artist went a step further by trying to blackmail the Buttery Road resident by putting her WhatsApp profile picture on various escort websites.

“My family needed a washing machine and I saw an advert on Gumtree for a reasonable price. The man whose number was attached claimed to be a pastor and said they had a number of washing machines and TVs given to his church in Amanzimtoti and he was trying to sell some of them off.

“He asked for a deposit of R250 which I paid. He promised to deliver the washing machine to my home but on the day of delivery he was nowhere to be found. He didn’t answer any of my calls. He then responded on WhatsApp saying I needed to pay R650 for a special clearance with SARS. He claimed that SARS had a roadblock, which I didn’t believe. I eventually told him I was going to report him, and that’s when things got nasty,” she said.

“I have opened a case of fraud at the Durban North SAPS. I had a sick feeling in my stomach when he began stalling. I’m shocked that he tried to blackmail me afterwards. He saved my WhatsApp profile picture and then said he would use my face to paste on escort adverts. I just want to warn people to not fall into the same trap I did. My hope is the police catch this guy,” she said.