DESPERATE for work, a Durban man has told how he was scammed out of R3 000 by men pretending to work for Umhlanga Toursim.
Simphiwe Mhlongo (not his real name), who has been unemployed since 2015 said he spotted the job application on an online classifieds website. When told he would have to pay to secure the job, Mhlongo didn’t think twice about borrowing from friends and family in order to raise the funds required.

Mhlongo said he was told to pay a ‘cooldrink’, a code word for bribe to get the position. The scam artists initially asked for R8 000 but later brought it down to R3 000.

“I wish I’d seen the red flags, but unemployment made me desperate. My last job was in 2015 and that was a part-time job. When I got the call to say I’d got the position of ‘driver’ at Umhlanga Tourism, I was so happy. It made my day. The men who were involved in the scam sent me an email with the contract and acceptance letter. They said I must deposit the ‘cooldrink’ money into a money market account.

“I paid the fund and I went to the information centre on Chartwell Drive a week later only to find there was no job. I was shocked and I felt hopeless. I didn’t know what to do because I was stranded. I was told I should open a case at the police station but I’m afraid to because these men have my particulars, my address, my name, they could harm me,” he said.

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