South Africans targeted for cash online
Posts are not always genuine and without being able to verify individual’s identity, donating money comes with risk.’ POLICE WARNING
MEMBERS of the Kiwi-South African community have been asked to donate cash to car crash victims, however doubts have been raised about whether the accident actually took place.
According to the post, a South African family were the victims of a crash after their campervan was struck by a stone thrown from an overpass as they drove from the Coromandel to Auckland on Labour Weekend.
The poster claimed both parents were injured and flown to hospital in Auckland while their twin toddlers were left without anybody to care for them, and money was needed to cover costs of flying their grandmother to New Zealand.
However, detailed enquiries with emergency services and hospitals found no evidence any such crash occurred.
The controversy prompted a warning from police, who said people should exercise caution when donating money to causes online particularly through social media pages.
‘‘Posts are not always genuine and without being able to verify individual’s identity, donating money comes with risk.’’
Some of the 16,000 members of the Safri-Kiwi-South Africans in New Zealand Facebook page began questioning why the incident was not reported in the media.
Police say no crash fitting the description occurred on Labour Day. Auckland Hospital and Middlemore Hospital confirmed they had no patients in their head injury unit matching the names of the parents.
The Westpac Rescue Helicopter didn’t attend a crash that required two patients to be airlifted to hospital either.
However, the administrator of the page who made the post is adamant the crash did occur and later updated the post to thank everyone who donated money and to inform them that ‘‘the ticket has been paid for from donations we received from Safri-Kiwi members’’.
Yesterday the page was frozen with a post stating ‘‘the Safri-Kiwi Forum has been hacked’’. The admin said they had temporarily archived the page so that an alleged ‘‘virus’’ did not spread.