A few elderly residents of the Donovan McDonald Retirement Centre were scammed by people claiming to sign them up for a monthly grocery voucher.

According to Salwaa Begg from the Florida, Maraisburg and Fleurhof (FMF) Neighbourhood Link, whose mother is among those scammed, the group of people entered the centre on April 7, using alleged falsified documentation from an official at the Department of Human Settlements, granting them permission to enter and engage with residents.

“They claimed that they are in partnership with local retailers, and that the elderly residents who sign up for the initiative will receive a monthly voucher for groceries.

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“Most of the elderly people who reside here only receive meagre Sassa pensions, thus they were eager to sign up, only for them to receive SMS notifications during the next weeks that they had been signed up for funeral policies with two well-known insurance companies.”

The Roodepoort Record was able to establish that the group, which did sign the visitor’s log, gave false names and phone numbers.

During a meeting with residents on May 6, Florida South Residents Association chairperson Rodney Churchyard warned residents to be extremely careful and to properly verify the identities of salespeople before signing up for anything.

One resident told the Record that the deduction for the policy, which is R210, was not deducted from their bank accounts, but directly from their Sassa payment.

According to Begg, she was in contact with the relevant insurance companies, who had agreed to cancel the policies and refund any monies paid.

“I’m also going to Sassa with my mother to try and get to the bottom of this.”

Begg further said she suspects the scheme involved officials from the Department of Human Settlements, seeing as, during one of her early meetings with affected residents, she was prevented by security from entering the premises.

A case has been opened at Honeydew Police Station by the owner of the company the people claimed to be representing, and another case is in the process of being opened at Florida Police Station by the affected residents.

The Record attempted to involve the Department of Human Settlements in the meeting with residents in order to explain their policy regarding door-to-door salespeople at government old-age homes, but they declined the invitation, referring the Record to their communications department instead.

The Record has submitted questions to the department, and will report their response in an upcoming article.