Is there a scam artist targeting Newcastle?
Business owners are urged to exercise caution.
A scam artist is allegedly doing the rounds and targeting businesses in Newcastle.
A business owner dealing in glass and aluminum products claimed she was recently targeted by the con artist, but was fortunate enough to escape with her funds intact.
“I was sent an email on Monday, February 22, by a person claiming to be a Mrs L. Peterson. She requested a quotation on glass and asked if she could also have our banking details so she could deposit the money through EFT if the quote was affordable,” said the business owner, who wished to remain anonymous.
The email further stated the business owner could contact the sender’s husband, Peter Peterson, who is apparently the owner of a construction company in town, once the order was complete.
“The order came up to an amount of R17 700 and we sent an email confirming the quotation and contacted Mr Peterson.”
It was then the business dealings allegedly took a suspicious turn.
“A cheque of R76 600 was deposited into my account and Mrs Peterson contacted me via email to notify me of the error.”
Mrs Peterson requested the business owner to deduct the invoice amount and deposit the surplus back into her account.
However, this signalled a red flag for the business owner.
“The person deposited the cheque via one bank and wanted me to send the cash into a different bank account. I sent an email stating that I would do so, once the funds were cleared and whoever was picking up the glass could then pick the cheque up when they collected their order.”
To date, Mr and Mrs Peterson have remained silent and are still to respond to the business owner’s email.
Newcastle Sun attempted to contact Mr Peterson.
Mr Peterson evaded questions about the location of his business and cut the call with the journalist on more than one occasion.
Further phone calls to Mr Peterson proved fruitless, as he ignored all calls made to his phone.
Captain Shooz Magudulela, police spokesperson, said he was aware of similar scams in Newcastle under investigation.
He said it was imperative that business owners should contact the SAPS if they suspected fraudulent activity.
“Business owners should not give a quote to a person if they suspect it is a scam. They should also contact the police if too much money has been deposited into their account and refrain from depositing the money back,” he said.
“I just wanted to warn people to be aware of what has happened to me so that this does not happen to anyone else,” the business owner concluded.
