WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2008-10-30 Time: 08:00:12 Posted By: Jan
He desperately wanted an Apple iPhone, and he’d asked his Vodacom outlet to reserve one for him. But he wasn’t all that keen to pay R6 500 for it.
“And then something came over me,” is how a Durban businessman describes his sudden determination to find a bargain iPhone online earlier this month.
He went on to Gumtree, the free local online advertising site, and found several appealingly priced iPhones, settling on one advertised for R3 600.
He called the cellphone number listed in the advert, and “Edmund”, who had an accent that sounded Nigerian, said he would SMS his banking details to the businessman.
He would have to transfer R2 000 into Edmund’s Absa account and pay the balance when he got his phone.
The businessman, who has asked not to be named, then went to an Absa branch and made the deposit, and faxed Edmund the deposit slip as requested. He was assured the phone would be delivered to him that Saturday afternoon.
When the phone didn’t arrive, he called Edmund, and was spun a typical “advance fee scam” line.
“He told me his boss had told him that the full amount needed to be paid and they would ship the goods only then, so I paid R1 600 into his account on the Monday. He then called me and told me the phone would get to me on Monday afternoon.”
Of course, the phone still didn’t materialise.
But the fraudster wasn’t done yet. They seldom are at this point, because people usually keep on paying, not wanting to “waste” the money they’d already paid.
“This time he wanted shipping charges of R1 100! So this was my position – either I take a gamble and pay the R1 100 in the hope that I’d finally get my phone, or lose the R3 600 I’d already paid.
“So I paid that R1 100. Guess what? I still didn’t get the phone, and when I tried his cell number he didn’t answer.”
So he SMSed Edmund, saying he was going to report the matter to the police and the bank.
And that’s when the fraudster sent him a confession SMS. This is exactly how it read: “IT IS A SCAM. U CAN NEVER FIND ME. ALL INFO GIVEN TO YOU ARE FAKE. SIM CARD WILL BE DAMAGED SOON. SO DON’T CONTACT ME AGAIN.”
And then came another. “WE GOT MORE THAN 50 FAKE BANK DETAILS SO THAT IS NO PROBLEM”.
Sure enough, when the businessman’s sister called the same cellphone number, Edmund had become Gugu and he asked her to pay her money into an FNB account.
The businessman has since reported the matter to the police and given the case number to Absa officials, but he’s not holding his breath.
“How is it that with all the Fica (Financial Intelligence Centre Act) documents required by the banks it is not possible to trace the guy? And how can one person open several accounts with different names?” he asked.
Susan Coetsee, head of the SA Banking Risk Information Centre’s commercial crime office, said this scam did not require any collusion with bank staff to be successful, but relied on a victim’s willingness to keep paying.
Fraudulent ID documents and proof of residence were used to open bank accounts, she said.
“Victims must report crime immediately, giving full details of the crime and the stage that it’s at, so that the investigating officer can act immediately.
“The sooner the crime is reported, the better the chances of mitigating losses and tracing the fraudster,” Coetsee said.
Ask for the commercial branch of your local SA Police Service, she said. They have the expertise to understand and investigate such crimes.
And both the victim’s bank and the bank into which the deposit was made should be informed of the scam.
I tried to get Gumtree’s comment on the abuse of its free advertising site, by sending an e-mail via the website, but have received no reply.
Meanwhile, the businessman has paid R6 500 for his iPhone, bringing his total outlay to more than R11 000. And those “bargain” iPhones are still being advertised online.
Moral: free classifieds’ websites are fraudsters’ natural hunting ground, and they use everything from puppies to holiday accommodation as bait. Proceed with extreme caution.
If the price of a desirable item seems too good to be true, it almost certainly is.