Jobseeker loses R900, phone

A jobseeker has been left feeling helpless after she was recently conned out of her valuables in Johannesburg.

The Zimbabwean woman, Flater Tshuma, said the incident happened shortly after she advertised her services as a domestic worker. “I received a phone call from a woman named Pamela, offering me a job. She said she was looking for a person to work Mondays to Fridays and offered me R4 500 a month,” said Tshuma.

Pamela asked Tshuma if she had a passport and a work permit.

“I told the woman I had a passport but no work permit. She said it would cost me R1 400 to obtain a work permit and offered to pay half of the fee,” said Tshuma.

Tshuma said she was told to meet Pamela at an address near an intersection on Linksfield Road. When Tshuma went to meet Pamela, she got lost.

“Pamela phoned me and asked me where I was. Because I got lost she told me she could no longer meet me and told me to meet her driver, who would assist me.”

Pamela’s driver told Tshuma she was not going to be taken to Edenvale home affairs, but instead to the Germiston offices, as they were less busy.

Tshuma said that at Germiston home affairs she was told to put R700, half of the money for a permit, into her passport and give it to the driver, as he knew people inside who could help her. The driver came back and said he needed R300 more, she said.

“I told him I only had R200 on me. The driver offered to pay the other R100,” said Tshuma.

Shortly afterwards, the man returned and told Tshuma he needed an ID photograph of her, she said. “I only had a photograph on my phone so I gave my phone to him. The man took my phone inside and never returned,” said Tshuma.

Tshuma said she phoned the man on another phone and was told to wait as he would be out soon. He never returned. Tshuma has since tried phoning the driver, but received no response. She said she believed she was conned.

“Pamela phoned me and said she heard that my valuables were taken from me. She identified the specific valuables which I had lost. I found this suspicious, as I never told her about it,” said Tshuma.

Tshuma said she tried opening a case at Germiston police station, but was told there was little the police could do as she willingly gave the valuables to the man.

“I don’t have any money, I don’t know what to do,” said Tshuma.

Captain Jean Olckers, spokesperson for Edenvale police, said no cases using a similar modus operandi had been reported to the Edenvale police. The district manager for operations of home affairs in Ekurhuleni, Mamokubung Moeketsi, said the Germiston office had not received reports of such incidents. – Caxton News Service