Jewellery stolen in housebreaking scam

Shireen Vorajee and her family were targeted by a housebreaking scam on Wednesday last week. 

It was about 5.30pm when five black women and one man arrived at her home in Dromedaris Street, saying they had been referred to her by a neighbour to do catering. “All of them were very well dressed and drove a Nissan X-Trail with Gauteng (GP) registration plates,” explains Shireen.

She invited them into her house and they asked if they could be seated at the dining room table.

At this time, the man was speaking to Shireen’s son, Imthiaz, outside on the verandah, telling him that the house was very beautiful and they wanted to buy it. One of the women was speaking to Shireen’s husband, Hassan, about his stroke, and two others said they wanted to use the bathroom.

Shireen discussed the menu and exchanged phone numbers with the group. 

On Thursday, she tried to call one of the women to discuss the serving, only to find that her cell-phone was on voice mail. The woman had told Shireen that she works for the Department of Labour. However, on calling the department, she was informed that they do not have such a person working for them.

Shireen even made calls to the municipality to see if they had a contact number for this person, as the woman said they had booked the Town Hall for the function. No bookings had been made for that day. 

On Saturday night, Shireen went to look for a bangle for her granddaughter, Salma, in her jewellery drawer, only to find that the drawer was completely cleaned out. 

In the wake of the theft, Shireen’s niece in Queenstown told her the very same thing happened to her aunt there. “It’s the same people, as they asked for the same menu and used the same car. The very same thing happened to somebody in Azaadville, Krugersdorp, as well, according to my niece,” says Shireen.

It seems that the scam artists target caterers and home industrialists. 

No case has been opened as yet.