CoJ dispels fake notices to Soweto residents
“All of the letters were delivered without envelopes and no signature but it seemed so real."
Residents of Soweto are grappling with fear and concerns over their safety after fraudulent termination notice letters with their particulars landed in the hands of what is believed to be a syndicate targeting people’s houses.
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This comes after the City of Johannesburg issued a warning for residents to verify anyone claiming to be from the City. It denied knowledge of these “contractors” and their authenticity and appealed to residents with these bogus letters to discard them.
This has prompted more questions from distressed Naledi residents who were among the first to receive these bogus letters.
Resident, Liza Ramatlo said the whole thing was strange. “We were surprised to learn from a neighbour that there are people taking pictures of our house.
“We came out in a panic to see who these people were and we did not know them.
“They looked like foreign nationals which raised suspicions. They just said we were sent to deliver final notices but the community got angry,” she recalled.
Wilhemina Kgwatla said she almost fell victim to the scam as she believed the letters were a notice to lose her late father’s house.
“All of the letters were delivered without envelopes and no signature but it seemed so real,” she said.
“My young daughter found it in the mailbox and brought it inside the house. A neighbour told us that she saw these people taking pictures of our home.
“I was panicking thinking we would lose the house and was ready to borrow the R9000 from relatives to pay the amount.”
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Residents told Urban News that the men used different vehicles including a white Hyundai and a silver Avanza driven by different people delivering these notice letters in the area; however when he questioned they drove off.
In two separate letters seen by Urban News, the account number, stand number and in some instances ID numbers listed in the letters correspond to the particulars of the home owners.
Residents questioned how their information got to the hands of the unknown men.
“We are wondering how such sensitive information landed in the hands of people we don’t know and what are they planning. That puts us in danger. That is why we thought it was real because that is exactly our information,” the group said.
Community leader, Thobile Maoba said they did not have a figure of how many people had received these letters but feared that they had been distributed widely and people, especially the elderly would fall victim.
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“At this point, we are alarmed especially after the response of the City. It has been tense and we don’t know who is who. People are scared and alarmed because of the accuracy of the personal details on these letters but the community is alert and suspicions cars have been noted so we won’t let them,” Maoba added.
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