EDITOR- I am writing this letter so that someone else may not be subjected to the stress which I was subjected to on Sunday, 9 November.
At about 8.40am my landline rang. When I answered it, I was told it was Nancy’s (my domestic worker) cousin. He said there was trouble at home and he needed Nancy’s cell number, which I duly gave to him.
Approximately five minutes later the landline rang again and this time the person told me that I had misunderstood him and that Nancy had chest pains on Saturday and she had died. I was terribly shocked and alarmed. He then requested me to give him airtime via SMS but I told him I was not aware of how to do this. He said they needed money urgently which they would refund on Tuesday. I asked how much and he said R3,000. As we are pensioners I told him that this was impossible. I then informed him that I was late for church and would have to speak to him when I got back. He got very irritated and proceeded to tell me this matter was more important than me going to church. He asked how much I could give him and, not suspecting anything, told him I could spare R500. He said ‘what can I do with R500’ and proceeded to end the call. At this stage I became suspicious and on arriving at church shared the story with a fellow parishioner who informed me that Wendy Knowler had been warning people about this very same thing on radio.
Fortunately my maid is fine and she informed me that she had been phoned by someone pretending to be from Vodacom who told her to switch off her phone until 3pm. This was to prevent me from phoning her, as when I tried to contact her the phone was on voicemail.
The burning question is-where do these con men get our details-as he knew Nancy’s name, my name and my landline number.
I have reported the above incident to the Brighton Beach Police Station.
JUNE MACDONALD
