‘Scammer’ threatens journalists
Two journalists from the Northern Media Group have been targeted by a scammer who tried to extort money from them in the form of airtime.
POLOKWANE – The journalists individually received SMSes from a man who gave his name as Eric Shai on Wednesday evening.
“We nd t 2 tk nw b4 u cn be killed. (We need to talk now before you can be killed.) Use only sms 2 tk no calls cos thr here .”
When asked who ‘they’ were, why ‘they’ wanted to kill the journalists and after exchanging several SMSes, the caller said he could not talk as he did not have more airtime. He threatened one journalist and told them to stay at home the next day and to not go to work after the journalist said they did not to have airtime or data to transfer to him. One of the journalists tried to call the number but there was no answer. After the call he sent an SMS in which he told the journalist that ‘they’ are there and he cannot talk to the journalist, only communicate via SMS.
As both journalists did not want to transfer airtime, the caller became more threatening, sending one of them a SMS saying “Gdnt (goodnight) mama and enjoy ur feneral (funeral).”
Here are screenshots from parts of the conversation
The Truecaller application on one of the journalists phone identified the number as belonging to a Thapelo.
Provincial Police Spokesperson, Lt Col Moatshe Ngoepe, confirmed the threatening messages were a scam and urged people not to fall for these scams. He said investigations into the matter and the identity of the caller are ongoing.
