POTENTIAL CAR BUYER SCAMMED R10,000 BY FACEBOOK FRAUDSTER

The Ivory Park SAPS would like to urge residents to exercise vigilance when responding to online advertisements for properties on sale, as failure to do so would cost them dearly.

A man in Kaalfontein, in Midrand, is the latest person to fall victim to fraudsters after he responded to a Facebook post about a car on sale, except that this vehicle did not exist.

“The two (2) men chatted on Facebook and, eventually, the victim paid R10,000.00 (ten thousand rand) into an account and that was the last he heard from the scammer.”
said Captain Matimulane, the Ivory Park spokesperson.

“The ‘seller’ and the advertisement disappeared from Facebook and the victim was blocked. A case of fraud has been opened at the Ivory Park SAPS, and investigations into the incident will start.” Matimulane added.

Potential buyers are urged to satisfy themselves that the items in question are genuine, that they are in the condition they say they are and that the paperwork is in order, more especially for the cars. All of these should be done before money is paid into any account or any person.

“Any buyer, especially buying from social media platforms, should do all reasonably possible to avoid financial losses. Talk to other people. People tend to be secretive about their online activities only to tell after the fact. By then the proverbial horse had bolted.” says the Station Commander of the Ivory Park SAPS, Brigadier David Mbongeni Ngcobo:

One notable red flag should be when the seller starts demanding money even before the product has been inspected, seen or confirmed.