Those who hire out Tractor-Loader-Backhoe machines (TLBs) have been warned by police to be vigilant.
Crooks are out in force and have, over the past few weeks, stolen four machines that were hired to them by unsuspecting companies.
Police said machines had gone missing in Dundee, Pomeroy and Paulpietersburg.
In one incident, a machine that was parked overnight at a construction site went missing.
Another ploy used by those hiring these machines is to make fake deposits into the hiring company’s account.
“Even if you receive an SMS from your bank alerting you to a deposit made into your account, do not release the machine until you have made sure that the funds are really there. Sometimes an empty envelope only is deposited at the ATM. Some banks immediately send an SMS to you even if no monies have gone into the account,” police warned.