Grassy Park police are urging residents to be cautious when purchasing goods on social media and online platforms as a sharp rise in cyber crime and online scams has been reported.
Police station commander Col Dawood Laing says when a “deal is too good to be true” then it is most likely a scam.
“We have had a few incidents where people met the alleged seller and then they were robbed.
“The areas they usually meet the perpetrator in is Browns Farm, New Horizon, Lotus River, Ottery and Pelican Park. They (the perpetrators) advertise high-value items like phones and when the buyer arrives they know that they would have cash on them so they rob the person.
“Fortunately, we only had two hijackings and the people were not seriously injured.”
Laing says when purchasing any item online it is important to use common sense and not to pay for anything without first seeing the item for sale.
“In one incident a woman went to Ottery Hyper to meet a person who was selling an iPhone for R7 000. She paid the person and then later discovered that it was a fake iPhone.”
Other “tricks” scamsters use include asking victims to pay thousands of rands upfront before taking out a loan. “People are being asked to make loans but before it is approved, they are requested to pay R4 000 to R6 000. It is mind boggling that if you don’t have money and want to borrow, you need to pay first. People have fallen into this trap.
“We have also had a couple of instances where guys buy vehicles on Facebook Marketplace and they were asked to pay deposits of R50 000 to R150 000 without seeing the vehicle and without any proof of there being a vehicle.”
Laing requested that the public always meet potential buyers and sellers at a public space such as the police station.
“For the last financial year, we had a more than 100% increase in fraud cases and most of these cases were because of scams on Marketplace, Gumtree and WhatsApp.
“People must please meet in a public place and never meet someone alone. It also important to verify the items and not to pay for something you have not seen. If a person can sell their iPhone for R3 000 but the price is R15 000 at a store then it is too good to be true.” Elderly people are especially vulnerable when it comes to being scammed, he added.
“Older people are being scammed so much.
“We had an incident last week Monday where a lady went to Makro in Ottery to purchase a microwave when three women approached her and claimed they worked at Game and could give her a discount.
“She accompanied them and then they asked for her bank card, cellphone and pin number to do the transaction for her.
“Unfortunately, they emptied her account.”
Meanwhile, theft and malicious damage to property is also on the rise in the Grassy Park policing precinct with many incidents occurring during load shedding.
“People will ransack and disconnect wires during load shedding because they have the whole night to rip cables out.
“We had an incident in Ottery where the council came to fix the traffic lights four times but it only worked for a day before infrastructure was yet again stolen.
“We currently have 100 neighbourhood watch and Community in Blue members patrolling in the week and we are very grateful for their assistance.”
