Local business almost scammed

Local businessman, Vincent Venter, was almost scammed out of equipment to the value of R135 000 on two separate occasions last month.

According to Mr Venter, two ‘dexterous fraudsters’ tried desperately to pull a fast one in a period of just 12 days.

The first incident occurred on July 10 when a cheque to the value of R55 000 was delivered to his business as payment for equipment advertised on social media and free advertising sites.

On July 14, Nedbank informed them that the cheque had not been honoured.

“I am thankful we did not deliver the equipment before the cheque cleared. It would have been a loss not easily overcome,” said Mr Venter.
The second incident occurred on July 22. A customer faxed through an internet banking notice of payment to the value of R80 000.

“I immediately noticed that the transaction number appeared to be too long. I also noticed that the columns were not aligned and that the Barclays logo at the bottom of the page seemed to have been copied and pasted from another document,” continued Mr Venter.

“I contacted the customer, who was infuriated when I told him we had not yet received his payment. He demanded we deliver the equipment he had ‘paid’ for immediately. I refused and he ended the call in my ear. We never heard from him again,” said Sales Executive, Graeme Walsh.

After studying the notice of payment, Absa Regional Forensics Manager, Martin van Rensburg said, “It is definitely a fraudulent document.

Different fonts and font sizes have been used, the columns are not centred correctly and the underlining is incorrect in several places.”

The reference number on the document was PFI-005554(1) (2). “A reference number should look something like this:

P000001336-49,” concluded Mr van Rensburg.

Had the businessmen not been as vigilant as they were, they would apparently have lost an astronomical amount of money. “We would like to
use our story as a platform to warn business owners in and around Newcastle to be aware of Internet banking scams.”

Mr Venter expects to see many more attempts at fraud as the business grows and stocks equipment in the price range of a million Rand. He said his staff would remain vigilant, and further urged businessmen and women to be on high alert when it came to selling expensive equipment.

Carte Blanche reported generally on safety precautions to prevent people from falling victim to online ad scams recently. The second “Golden
Rule” listed in the article read,” If you feel uneasy about the deal or have any doubts –walk away.

Rather lose out on a great deal, than end up being scammed. Trust your instinct.”

Vigilance, caution and instinct saved Mr Venter’s business from becoming an Internet banking scam statistic.

Newcastle residents and business owners alike are encouraged to take extreme precautions when buying or selling anything online.

You never know who is on the other side, plotting to scam you out of your hard-earned money.