The Durbanville Community Police Forum (CPF) has urged residents to be cautious when buying or selling items over the internet, after a resident was defrauded of R53 000.
According to the CPF, the resident was contacted by an unknown person who claimed that he was from Absa bank, informing him that someone was purchasing flight tickets from his account.
He then later found out that he was defrauded of R53 000 from his bank account.
In another incident, a resident was defrauded of R22 000 while trying to buy a car from Facebook Marketplace.
“The complainant contacted the seller to ask if the vehicle was still available and after he found that it was, he deposited R22 000. He never received the vehicle,” the CPF said.
Another resident sold her Dell laptop to the value of R12 550 on Marketplace, but never received her money and later found out that she was scammed, the CPF said.
Meanwhile, police in the Western Cape has also issued a warning for those drawing money, especially where the ATM was a standalone or not in a shop or shopping centre.
“Do not accept people that try to ‘help’ you as they appear. If someone approaches you while you are busy at an ATM, push cancel and remove your card as quickly as possible and rather use an ATM at a more secure site,” police said.
Cape Times