| 2025/04/08 |
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Media Statement BLOEMFONTEIN – Corporate Communication and Liaison Services officials, Lieutenant Colonel Thabo Covane, Warrant Officer Mohloki David Mangojane [Bainsvlei Fraud and Cyber Crime Investigator], and Cst Nelisa Prudence Mbali [Bainsvlei Fraud and Cyber Crime Investigator] participated in an live radio interview at Kovsie FM with SK Level Tshiamo [Radio presenter] to raise crime awareness and heighten public education on fraud and various commercial crimes carried out on the internet space. The following is a summary of trends, patterns, modus operandi, and tips shared by the team: ATM criminals: targeting the elderly and performing card swaps where the client’s card is swapped for a fake card. Bank debit orders that are unfamiliar: to the clients, the bank normally refunds the money to the client once they are done with their internal investigations and can conclude that the client did not pay out the money willingly to the suspicious account, they did not share OTPs and their card information. Blackmail and extortion cases: victims receiving phone calls from people claiming that criminal cases have been opened against them and then the case will be cancelled if they pay money. Fraudulent bank phone calls: victims get scammed by criminals who say they are bank consultants, giving them instructions claiming that they are helping the victims to secure their money in their accounts. Only to find that they are sending money to other peoples account numbers. The suspects provide the account numbers. Facebook Market place selling: victims are contacted by a person who wants to buy the product they selling then the person sends a payment notification to the victim only to find that it’s a fake payment notification and the money never reflects in the victims bank balance but the victims give the products thinking that the payment was really done. Telegram and WhatsApp scams: Victims are invited with links to watch videos on social media platforms with the promise of getting commission and/or to complete tasks with the promise of getting paid. Victims deposit money with the thought that they’d get it back with interest, so they keep depositing as they are promised more money but the profit is never paid. Crypto and investment sites: criminals impersonate famous celebrities. They phone victims via WhatsApp video call where a short clip of a celebrity is played and the victim will think that it is the celebrity phoning them for an opportunity to deposit money and invest in Bitcoin or crypto currency. The victim then deposits money and is scammed. Extortion and blackmail of a victim who shared nude pictures online. Rental Property advertisements: cm victims deposit money for renting a property, which is a scam and fake. Pictures are usually copied from other pages on the internet so meaning that they do not exist as they are purported by the criminals. Visiting unknown links: might be the cause of personal information to be intercepted and exposed. This information is then used to make victims believe that the phone calls they receive are genuine. The following are tips to prevent internet fraud; Do not click on Unknown links Do not give goods without seeing payment in your bank balance Read what the Banking App says about the latest criminal activities Read about what the bank will do and not do, get insight. Ends
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