An Illovo Glen pensioner was scammed out of R32,000 on Friday, 12 June.
Gertuida Swanepoel (76) said she received a phone call on her landline at her Berrio Avenue home at about 11am from a man who said he was from eThekwini Municipality.
“He said I qualified for a rebate on my electricity and someone would come see me about it,” she said.
When she put the phone down and turned around, another man was already in her house. He claimed to be from a company called Universal Technic and he could cut Gertuida’s electricity bill from about R700 to R266 if she purchased one of their geysers. She gave him R350 for the geyser, which he said they would install the following day.
She also had to pay the R266 monthly fee upfront for the following month’s electricty. “He gave me a card machine to swipe my credit card and without thinking, I put in my pin number,” said Gertuida.
The man left after filling in some paperwork and within an hour the R32,000 was withdrawn from her account.
“I want to warn the public to be careful and to be aware of these conmen,” she said.
