Gran conned out of thali

A CON artist, who preys on elderly people at shopping malls, recently conned a Durban North grandmother into handing over her treasured 50-year-old Thali (gold marital necklace) to him.

The man, 30, of Clayfield, approached the 72-year-old grandmother while she was shopping at La Lucia Mall on the pretext of being a distant relative and knowing her son through “work”.

He asked after her family and enquired why she was at the mall.

She told him she had a problem with her cellphone and he asked to see it. “After a few minutes, he said he had fixed the problem but they should go to his friend’s shop to make sure it was in order,” said a relative of the pensioner.

She claimed the man had attempted to lead the grandmother out of the mall, but she refused. “He then pretended to receive a call from her son. He told her that her son had said she must pay him R700 for the ‘work’ he had done and that he (her son) would pay her back.”

He allegedly also told her that her son had asked him to help her at the ATM. Although she was hesitant, she obliged and he escorted her to an ATM where she withdrew the money, the relative said.

The man allegedly asked for her Thali, saying he needed to finalise the ‘work’ and would need it for size. As her son was a designer, the grandmother agreed. She handed over her Thali and rested on a bench, while he said he would go to the store. He assured her he would not rob her as they were “like family”. He never returned. The grandmother then alerted her daughter. The man was later nabbed by police and charged with fraud.