Man swindled out of wheelchair
Police are looking for a fraudster who swindled a Lyttelton man out of an electric wheelchair.
Gopolang Chawane
A wheelchair-bound man from Lyttelton was swindled out of an electrical scooter for disabled people this week.
Upon making this discovery, the culprit coolly told him: “Welcome to the way we do business in Johannesburg.”
Police spokesperson Warrant officer Hero Gumbu said the saga began when the victim, who only wanted to be known as Freddie, advertised an electric wheelchair for sale on social media.
Freddie told Rekord he heard from the “buyer” last week and they agreed on a price of R8 500. The two exchanged banking details for the man to make an electronic transfer of the amount.
The man from Johannesburg purportedly did so and faxed Freddie “proof of payment” as well as his ID document and proof of residence.
“When the payment did not reflect in my bank account, the so-called buyer told me this would only happen after 24 hours and he faxed the ‘proof of payment’ again,” said Freddie.
The culprit arranged for someone to pick up the scooter from Freddie last Friday.
This was done and Freddie checked his bank account again, which still reflected no payment.
He called the “buyer”, who told him the scooter was still with the driver who picked it up.
“I called the driver in a bid to get the scooter back. He said he would return it if I agreed to pay him R500,” Freddie said.
He deposited the amount into an E-wallet banking service, but never heard from the driver again. His subsequent attempts to get hold of the man were fruitless.
Freddie got hold of the “buyer” again on Tuesday, who made no bones about the fact that he was a fraudster. He had since disappeared.
Freddie said he had laid a charge at the Lyttelton police station.
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