SECUNDA – Dumbfounded! A widow from eMbalenhle says this is how she felt after she was scammed out of her savings, her wedding ring, her phone and her sister’s new Tupperware.
Looking back over events that led to her losing R11 300 on Tuesday 29 January, Ms Miriam Bogolo (55) struggle to grasp how she did not see through the scam.
She fetched her sister at the Tupperware store in town and was about to pull out of the parking when a well-dressed and well-spoken African man in his mid-40’s stopped them and asked for help.
He he had a car problem and urgently needed to collect boxes from a business near the vehicle testing grounds in Manie Maritz Street.
“He claimed to be a salesman of merchandise imported from Kenya. He showed me a product catalogue.”
Ms Bogolo agreed to take the man to collect his boxes, but she was at the time not interested in buying anything.
“Somehow the conversation turned to my wedding ring with a few broken stones.
“He said there was this perfect purple gemstone that I just had to see,” Ms Bogolo said.
“A Pakistani met us next to the testing ground and handed a large purple stone to the African man.
Ms Bogolo’s companion directed her to the parking lot of the Spar Secunda East Side where they met another Pakistani who claimed to be a jeweller.
“He said the stone was worth at least R80 000, but they would sell it for R40 000.”
“I told them I merely wanted to replace the broken stones in my wedding ring.”
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The con man convinced her that if she paid a deposit, the so-called jeweller can cut smaller pieces from the stone and she can then pay for those only and return the rest of the stone.
She eventually agreed and the stone was returned to the man near the testing station.
“We withdrew the money at banks in the CBD, but I did not hand the man the cash.”
The Pakistani in Manie Maritz Street gave Ms Bogolo a brown envelope containing a rock which she believed was the purple gemstone.
The men told her to return to the jeweller on her own and then to return with the money and the rest of the stone when the job was done.
“They demanded that I leave my belongings with them as a guarantee that I would return.”
However, when she reached Spar the “jeweller” had disappeared.
To her horror, she found an ordinary grey stone in the envelope and also discovered the theft of the money.
“That money was supposed to pay my grandchild’s school fees.
“I am also heartbroken over my wedding ring given to me by my late husband, Thomas.”
Capt Bettina Zondo, spokesman for the Secunda Police Station, said: “Do not entertain strangers who approach you with deals that seem too good to be true.”
