Another would-be victim has told of how “bogus cops” nearly robbed him of his money in Silverton on Tuesday.
This comes after Rekord reported that a woman had a similar experience on the same day in the same area.
Eduan van Zyl (55) said he was stopped at a traffic light in Pretoria Street by men dressed as police officers. He said they showed him their badges and asked him what he had in his bag. They also asked him to hand over his wallet.
“I explained that I had groceries in the bag. They asked me to hand over my wallet because they were investigating some criminal activities happening around Silverton,” Van Zyl said.
He said he handed over the wallet to one of the “officers” while the other searched his bag. They then took his bank card and asked for his PIN. “At that stage, I realised something was wrong and I gave them a fake PIN,” he said.
Later that day, Van Zyl said he received a bank message notifying him that his card had been deactivated due to “exceeded PIN retry”.
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On the same day, also in Pretoria Street, Cynthia Tredoux (69) escaped the clutches of two robbers posing as police officers. She told Rekord they tried to body-search her claiming to be on a hunt for a suspect matching her description.
Tredoux said when she walked towards a nearby car dealership and threatened to call the police, the men drove off.
Silverton police spokesperson Jan Sepato said police had not received reports of such incidents.
“If this happens, people must please contact the police immediately. Officers have no right to ask for anyone’s bank PIN or wallet.”
He said one of the warning signs that these were bogus cops was that “male police officers” tried to search a “female suspect”.
“People have the right to insist to be searched or questioned at the police station,” he said.
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