Provincial Commissioner warns against scams
Victims receive SMS informing them that their sim card has won.
NELSPRUIT – The Provincial Commissioner, Lt Gen Thulani Ntobela, expressed his concern with regard to the number of cases where unsuspecting victims were conned of their hard earned money as a result of three prevalent scams operating in the province.
The scammers operate as follows:
They use a victim’s cell phone number and fraudulently secure a sim swap through their agents who are believed to be employed at cell phone outlets.
After the sim swap has been processed, the victim’s original sim card will stop working and in the meantime the scammers will be using the victim’s number to contact his/her relatives or closest people and con them to deposit money into a certain account or use money market at certain retail stores.
They would tell the family members that the victim is stranded at an isolated area where there is no network and the victim gave them his/her cell phone so they can contact his/her family for assistance.
They would give a bank account number which will be of another unsuspecting person
That person will not be aware that his/her bank account is used by scammers as they would tell that person that their (scammers) bank account is in arrears and they cannot use it.
In another scam, which is more prominent, victims receives SMS informing them that their sim card has won a certain amount of cash.
They are then directed to call a certain number given to them on the sms.
When they contact that number, they are told to buy airtime worth certain amount and forward the voucher number to that person for communication purpose.
There are extreme cases where victims deposit a sum of R5 000 for processing the deposit of the winnings into your bank account.
In the last scam, victims receives a call from an unknown person telling them about their family member who has been arrested.
The caller would then inform them that he had secured bail for that arrested family member, so they need to deposit money at money market of a certain retail stores so that he can facilitate the release.
Lt Genl Ntobela says that it is imperative for the community to be vigilant at all times and as it is the responsibility of individuals to safeguard their money.
“I therefore take this opportunity to warn the public not to reveal their bank accounts to anyone especially over the phone.
“Your bank account should be private and you must not give it to strangers promising you money to avoid being conned”, Lt Gen Ntobela said.
