Moot residents continuously lose thousands to online scammers
One of the Moot residents has been defrauded of more than R140 000, say police.
A high number of Moot residents have lost thousands of rands owing to increasing rate of cybercrime, Wonderboompoort police said.
Police said unless people practiced precaution, more people were likely to fall victims of online scammers in the festive season.
“We urge residents to always be vigilant when making use of online banking,” Wonderboompoort police spokesperson, Constable Mandlakayise Zwane, said.
He said cybercrime levels often increased towards and during the festive season where almost everyone needed money.
“Cybercrime often rise this time of the year, and criminals target unsuspecting members of the community.”
Zwane said the situation was worsened by the fact that the country was still under Covid-19 pandemic environment where most businesses opted to operate online.
“As a result, a high number of people now use online banking services, which provide the criminals an opportunity to defraud some of them of their hard earned money.”
He said people should familiarise themselves with doing background checks before transferring money to any individual or companies. They should not provide to strangers sensitive information such as bank card PINs.
Police said among several residents who were recently defrauded of thousands of rands, were a 37-year-old woman, 64-year-old man, 58-year-old man and two 47-year-old men.
According to Zwane the 37-year-old woman was defrauded of R2 000 after she had deposited it into a bank account of a stranger who had advertised a two-bedroom apartment for rental online.
ALSO READ: Party reflections: DA did well in Tshwane under the circumstances – Steenhuisen
“The contact person on the fake online advertisement was someone named Britney. The complainant called the so-called Britney who responded and advised the complainant to deposit R2 000 into a certain bank account.”
Zwane said soon after the complainant had deposited the money, “Britney” disappeared with it.
The victim opened the case of fraud and misrepresentation with the Wonderboompoort police last Tuesday.
In another incident, a 64-year-old man was defrauded of more than R140 000 after responding to a cellphone call from a fraudster informing him that irregularities were taking place on his credit account, Zwane said.
He said a woman called the complainant and asked for his credit card number, expiry date and the security code, which he provided. He also provided the same details for his debit card.
“The total value of R149 800 was taken from various bank accounts of the complainant without his consent.”
In another case, a 58-year-old man lost R30 000 after he deposited the money into a bank account to buy a car on auction, after the culprit who had posted a fake advertisement advised the victim over the cellphone on September 8 to deposit the money.
On September 10, a 47-year-old man was defrauded of R75 000 online, and on September 7, another 47-year-old man was defrauded of R11 678, police said.
Zwane said police were investigating several cases of fraud and misrepresentation related to online scams.
Do you have more information about the story?
Please send us an email to editorial@rekord.co.za or phone us on 083 625 4114.
For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites: Rekord East
For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram
