TWO Toti pensioners were swindled out of cash by smooth-talking con-artists who claimed they would be able to lower their electricity costs, in separate incidents on Tuesday, 12 August.
In the first incident, two men visited Bert Chapman at his Toti home, having phoned previously to make an appointment. “When they came, in I asked them whether they were from Eskom and they said yes. They told me I will make a big saving as I will now deal directly with Eskom and not the municipality.”
The men counted the electrical points, had a look at Bert’s electricity bill and told him he would make a R200 monthly saving. “They filled out forms, handed me a water heater and an amp stabilizer. They told me I could pay over 48 months.”
When they told Bert he had to pay for delivery charges upfront, he handed over his credit card. Only after the men had left and when he received an SMS from his bank, he realised that R15,500 had been taken from his account.
Acting quickly, he cancelled his card and has opened a fraud case with the bank. The payment had been made to an energy company.
In the second incident, another pensioner of Illovo was swindled out of R2,000, also by two men. They told the woman, who did not wish to be named that she would pay only R150 per month on her electricity bill. “They came in a Mazda with a Richards Bay registration. They were young, under 25-years-old and business-like,” she said.
They offered to replace her geyser for free and told her she qualified for an R18,500 back payment. She handed over her credit card. “I seriously thought, they were putting money in.” Later she realised she had instead authorised a payment of R2,000.
In both cases, the money was deposited into an account of the same energy company.
