They managed to ‘steal’ R1 000 from my elderly mother in Greenside on November 15.
They somehow gained access to the townhouse complex in which she lives and told her that the body corporate had arranged that they were to spread manure on all the lawns in the complex. This was not true.
She was told that the body corporate would pay for the labour and she would have to pay for the manure. Being the trusting kind, she let them spread the manure on the lawn of her unit and then they said she owed them R600 for 15 bags at R40 each – something they ‘kindly’ informed her was the pensioners’ discount rate.
Her lawn is minute so that in itself was a complete rip off because if they had actually put 15 bags of manure on the lawn it would have been knee-deep.
They insisted that she pay them immediately, but she doesn’t keep cash. There were three of them and she was feeling uncertain and intimidated.
They drove her to the nearest ATM and because she was nervous about using ATMs they helped her to do the transaction.
They show her the supposed R600 that they withdrew from the ATM but somehow the slip was misplaced.
Needless to say, when she told me about the story, I checked her bank account online only to find that the withdrawal was in fact for R1 000. The sheer gall of it.
She did not take note of the truck’s registration so I’m sure the criminals will get away with the crime.
However, I promised to report it to the police. The world can be a scary place and I have no doubt they have done this to other people.
