Captain Philemon Khorombi of the Eldorado Park police has laid bare a new scam which was brought to his attention. One of the most worrying scams had mentioned was one where people pretended to be police officers.

Usually, it wouldn’t be the first time that this has happened, but this scenario takes a bad turn.

When carjacking victims report their vehicles stolen, the vehicle information is recorded, but when it is recovered it is highly unlikely that you will get the vehicle returned before it is sent to the storage camp in Lenasia.

So what does this scam entail? Well, it is still unclear as to how these suspects know who the victims of vehicle theft are and how the suspects obtain their contact details, but police have figured it out.

The suspects call the victims claiming to be police officers asking for a certain amount of money to be deposited via the Money Market services.

The victims, who are obviously oblivious to the situation at the time, follow the rules as prescribed by the fake police officer, and deposit the money in the hope that their vehicle would be returned.

Little do they know that a police officer would never ask for payment to be made for the return of a vehicle. Once the suspect/s have the money, the slippery crooks disappear into thin air.

Khorombi said, “We are saying that at no stage will the South African Police Service (SAPS) ask anyone to deposit money using the Money Market service.”

“When we opened any case of vehicle-related crimes, we transfer the docket to the SAPS storage camp in Lenasia for further investigation, we do not investigate those cases and also, we do not operate via scams.”

He added that if there are people who have fallen prey to this scam, SAPS appeals to everyone to help them find the suspect.”

Anyone wishing to lodge a complaint should please contact SAPS on 011 946 0327 or 011 946 0328 or the Eldorado Park Station commander, Brigadier Pieter van Dyk on 082 556 4812 in order for him to forward the case to the relevant unit.

Residents should be wary of Uber drivers being robbed in the community and also urged them to be careful of leaving valuables in cars where they are visible when parked in a parking lot as this draws the attention of criminals seeking an easy payday.

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