Fraudsters target Centurion residents
Centurion residents fall victim to an increasing number of fraud occurrences.
Gopolang Chawane
A rash of fraudsters tricking people out of their possessions or money has hit Centurion the past two months.
Lyttelton police spokesperson Warrant Officer Hero Gumbu said cases of property and identity fraud had been reported at the station and were still being investigated.
Mrs Elfabe Olivier fell victim to an electrical scooter fraud a few weeks ago, and she called Rekord after reading about a similar case with a man named Freddie.
A man called her about an ad she placed on Gumtree. She was selling an electrical scooter and the man wanted to buy it. The man provided proof of payment, an ID copy, and SMS.
These later proved to be false. Mrs Olivier said a driver named Webster in a silver hatchback vehicle came to fetch the electric scooter after she had received confirmation from the bank via SMS.
“I even received confirmation via SMS to confirm payment, but the money never came into my account,” said Olivier.
The same recently happened to a Centurion man. Only known as Freddie, he advertised his mother’s electric scooter on social media only to be swindled out of R 9 000.
“I called the driver in a bid to get the scooter back and he said he would return it if I agreed to pay him R500,” Freddie said, but never received the electric scooter.
After contacting Freddie, Olivier said she was sure it was the same culprit.
Olebogeng Motshabi from Kempton Park fell victim to a “flat-to-rent scam” in Centurion.
Motshabi said the fraudster asked his target to pay a deposit into an E-wallet in order to secure rent of the flat.
The flat “owner” then disappeared into thin air.
“We would like to urge the public to be more vigilant when selling their possessions on the internet, especially when it comes to payment for their possessions,” said Gumbu.
“No matter what happens, never let any of your possession out of your sight until physical cash payment is made and you are satisfied with the purchase.”
Also read:
Police breakthrough in tyre fraud
Fraudster hits Centurion tyre outlets
Beware of Centurion flat rental scam
Do you have more information about the story? Please send us an email to editorial@rekord.co.za or phone us on 072 435 7717.
For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites:
For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram.
- We have exciting news! We’re offering a free alert to help you always be in the loop. Send an email with the word ‘Subscribe’ to breakingnews@rekord.co.za to receive your free daily breaking news update.
