How smooth talking con-men convinced Vryheiders to part with thousands
As an educated individual employed as a finance clerk, one would assume that he would be alert to the signs of being scammed, but Mr Mbatha says that these swindlers can be quite persuasive.
CON artists are getting smarter and more convincing, fine-tuning their modus operandi to be able to continue preying on the desperate, the gullible and the greedy.
Learning that there is no such thing as a quick buck cost Ntokozo Mbatha R1 500 of his savings this month, and cost countless other Vryheiders much more. As an educated individual employed as a finance clerk, one would assume that he would be alert to the signs of being scammed, but Mr Mbatha says that these swindlers can be quite persuasive.
Mr Mbatha explained how he was taken in, in the hopes that he can save other residents from suffering the same fate.
1. Mr Mbatha was referred to the con men by a trusted work colleague.
A work colleague, who had already ‘invested’ in a company called Corrolex, convinced Mr Mbatha that she was certain he would see his money double in just one month if he invested. The fact that she had already invested money of her own made the ‘investment’ seem more credible to Mr Mbatha.
2. The fact that Corrolex was renting office space in town made them seem more credible.
If the ‘investors’ had done their presentation in a hall or community centre, Mr Mbatha may have been more sceptical. However, Corrolex representatives appeared to be ‘permanently’ based in the business premises at 118 High Street, across the road from the Bloemnel centre. The company flier further indicated that there was a branch located at 58 Scott Street in Newcastle.
3. Corrolex representatives were neatly and professionally dressed.
When Mr Mbatha visited the Corrolex offices in High Street, he was greeted by well-dressed and well-spoken individuals who gave him the impression that they were business professionals. They even wore name tags.
4. An ‘admin fee’ was built into the ‘investment plan’.
The fact that Corrolex was charging a 10% admin fee on each investment made the investment seem more legitimate to Mr Mbatha. The scam would have been less convincing if they had not stipulated how Corrolex would profit from the investment.
5. There were many other people present at the Corrolex offices who were eager to invest.
The fact that the offices were busy with several other people coming in with cash to ‘invest’ was the final thing that persuaded Mr Mbatha that the investment plan was legit.
So what happened…
Mr Mbatha decided to invest R1 500 with Corrolex. He was promised that R2 700 would be paid into his bank account within three weeks and was even issued with a receipt that indicated as much.
Over the next week, Mr Mbatha began to consider that he would have made even more money, if he had invested more money. He returned to the Corrolex offices a week later with R5 000 to invest.
The offices were empty. There was no sign that it had ever been occupied. The phone numbers he had been given for Corrolex branch manager, Oscar Mthethwa, and for investment specialists, Zakhele Ngcobo and Syanda Mthimkhulu, were going to voicemail, as did the numbers for the Newcastle staff.
“I can’t believe what happened. These people are probably going from town to town robbing people. Through this article, I hope to reach the next victims before they also lose their money. When I told one of my friends what had happened, he asked me to check on the flyer and see if the company was registered with the Financial Services Board. When I told him that it wasn’t, he advised that I should just accept that I had been scammed. Luckily, they didn’t get their hands on the additional R5 000 I had taken with me to invest.”
