East residents increasingly falling victim to ‘quick money cons’
“The arrest rate is low due to the suspects remaining unknown. It's not easy to trace them.”
Police in the east of Pretoria are worried by the continued spike in fraud cases in the area.
Thirty-six cases were opened in Boschkop as the local community continued to fall prey to ATM, competition and online scams.
Local police had recently warned residents against scams after a 60-year-old woman lost about R400 000 to an online scam last year.
The victim received a message that she had won a cash prize in US dollars and was made to pay R398 106 to claim it.
Boschkop police crime last quarter figures show an increase in commercial crime from 2018:
– October to December 2018: 35
– October to December 2019: 38
– October to December 2020: 63
– October to December 2021: 75
– October to December 2022: 84
Boschkop police spokesperson Sergeant Yeroboam Mbatsane said despite warnings regarding online scams, the number of residents who continue to fall victim to fraudsters is rising.
He said already the number of fraud cases recorded last month was the highest for February at 36.
Mbatsane said what worried the police the most was that the trick that was netting the most victims was the one they have been warning against for a long time.
“The trick hasn’t changed so that means the community is ignoring our warnings.”
Mbatsane said the end goal of the “lucky winner” scam was to get to your money.
“Victims are falling for the ‘lucky winner’ trick even as they know they did not enter the competition or gamble.
“Other victims buy goods online without authenticating the seller or items.”
He said bank-call fraud was also a problem in the area.
This involved scammers pretending to be from a bank’s fraud department calling victims to tell them that there was a fraudulent debit order pending against their account.
He said the scammer then asks the victim to give them the “one-time password (OTP)” sent to their cellphone to enable them to stop the transaction.
He said if the victim sends the OTP, the scammers can remotely switch off their cellphones long enough to make a withdrawal from their accounts.
He said by the time the victim receives the withdrawal notice, the criminal and the money are long gone.
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