The District Commissioner of Tshwane, Major General Samuel Thine, has noted with great concern the emergence of a criminal trend where suspects falsely claim to represent SAPS Pretoria Moot detectives to defraud unsuspecting members of the public.
These scammers call victims and claim to be from a state agency.
They then inform the victim that their cellphone is being used by scammers to defraud people.
The suspects then advise the victim that they can assist them if they agree to pay-off a so-called ‘standby prosecutor’, who is demanding R10,000 to resolve the matter.
The phone is subsequently handed over to two suspects who claim to be detectives from SAPS Pretoria Moot, responsible for investigating the alleged case of fraud.
The alleged detectives then threaten the victim with imminent arrest. Victims only realise after contacting the police station that they have been scammed.
The public is advised to remain vigilant and to ask anyone who calls them about a case to give them a case number, a police station where the case was registered and then immediately contact that police station. Any SAPS police station contact details may be found on the SAPA website, www.saps.gov.za or on MySAPS Application which can be downloaded from any smartphone.
SAPS Pretoria Moot may be contacted on the following numbers:
(012) 331 3603
(012) 331 3598
Furthermore, the public is reminded that offering or paying money to individuals in order to make cases ‘disappear’ is bribery and a criminal offence.
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