Power meter conman threatens his victims
Scam artists threaten Bluff family.
BOGUS Eskom agents struck on the Bluff again, but this time one of the unscrupulous scam artists took his act further by threatening the lives of his targets.
In August, 50-year-old Marius Roetz was contacted by a man selling electricity meters. “He claimed to be working for a company contracted to the municipality and Eskom,” said Roetz.
When he agreed to meet with the man, he was conned into buying an electrical meter that promised to reduce electricity costs for his house. “What arrived later that day was a sub-meter – not the unit I had paid for.”
When Roetz tried to resolve this issue, he was stonewalled and eventually realised he had been conned. The Sun was shown the faked documents used in the sale, which name the same company that conned Bluff pensioner, Jessie Moffatt out of R1,500.
After opening a case of fraud with Brighton Beach SAP, Roetz, who is a private investigator, began his own investigation. “I was able to determine that the man in charge of the scam operates under many false identities and is a phantom tenant at the building he claims to work at. He also scammed some of my neighbours out of money.”
The death threats began after Roetz contacted the scam artist from a new phone number. “I haven’t used this number for anything else but to phone this man, so I know the calls are from him. He would phone night and day and say ‘I’m coming for you,’ and he threatened to kill my wife.”
A case of intimidation has been opened at Brighton Beach SAP against the man and Roetz has handed over all the information he has gathered about the scam artists.
Eskom’s senior general manager for integrated demand management, Andrew Etzinger confirmed that Eskom has not commissioned any suppliers to conduct free energy assessments and advises home-owners against letting anyone into their homes.
The scam artists operating on the Bluff have promised a massive reduction in expenditure or hinted at fines being imposed if home owners do not immediately switch over to other operating systems.
“You are under no obligation to allow anyone into your home to conduct energy assessments or sell you energy saving products. If you are approached by sales personnel claiming that a technology or device has been endorsed by Eskom, be sceptical,” said Etzinger.
Call Eskom’s solar help desk on 011-800-4744 or visit www.eskom.co.za/idm for a list of accredited solar water heating system suppliers.
