Steenberg police have reported a spike in fraud cases in the precinct and advised prospective buyers and sellers to be more alert when conducting business on social media and at ATMs.
Station commander Colonel Johannes Nel was concerned with the increase in cases registered at the station and said there had been a number of cases in April where complainants were defrauded of their money through ads on social media.
“The modus operandi of the suspects are that they place false advertisements on social media and the unsuspecting victims fall prey to it. In other cases victims are defrauded by suspects at ATMs when they pretend to help.”
He asked the public to be vigilant at ATMs and when using social media to buy items on sale and advised that people should not except help from strangers at the ATMs and should safe guard their banking details. “Sensitive information such as identity numbers and pin numbers should also not be shared over the telephone,” he said.
Anyone with any information that can assist with the investigation of these fraud cases is kindly requested to contact Steenberg Police on 021 702 9000, Crime Stop on 08600 10111 or use the MY SAPS application to share information anonymously.
