Car theft victim scammed by ‘police’
● Before detectives could even pick up the CCTV footage of her car being stolen, a Johannesburg resident received a call from a scammer impersonating a police officer and requesting an “admin fee” of R1,500 for her “recovered” car to be released.
Melanie Olivier, 41, was at her boyfriend’s house in Melville last week when her white Renault was stolen from the street in front of the house.
“It was just after 4pm and I was doing admin inside the house. My boyfriend, MJ, was at work. He returned just before 5pm and asked me where I parked my car.”
The Sunday Times has watched the CCTV footage, taken by a camera at a neighbour’s house across the street. It took the thieves little more than three minutes, once one of them entered the Sandero, to drive off in the vehicle.
“We immediately called the police and a case was registered at Brixton police station. Uniform cops came to the house at about 8pm and took our statements.”
The next day they remembered the neighbour next door has CCTV. “MJ called him and he sent us the footage.”
They notified the police of the footage.
“The detective said he would come and pick it up, but he still hasn’t done that,” Olivier said.
Then on Monday she received what initially seemed to be good news.
“I was working while my phone was on silent. When I looked up there were several missed calls from the same number. There was also a message that read ‘Hello. This is Captain Mohale from Brixton police. Please answer your phone.’”
The Sunday Times has seen this message.
“When it rang again I answered and a man introduced himself as ‘Captain Mohale from Brixton police station’. He said they had been notified that my car was found by police near Komatipoort and that it was in their possession.”
Olivier laughs wryly. “They even said the car was in a good condition with no visible damage. The man knew so much about my car and the case that I didn’t for a moment doubt he was really a police officer,” Olivier said.
Then came the first red flag.
“He said Komatipoort was in another jurisdiction and to have my car released would take five to 15 weeks. The only way to hasten the process would be to pay an admin fee of R1,500.
“I told him I didn’t have that kind of money in my account and he asked me how much I had. I know the red lights should have started flashing seriously when he started haggling about the admin fee, but I was just so hopeful that I would get my car back.”
She paid the fake officer R200 via eWallet. After that she did not hear from him again. The Sunday Times phoned “Mohale” several times but the calls went unanswered.
Police said her car had not been recovered.
Willem Els from the Institute for Security Studies told the Sunday Times the scam is “quite well known”.
“A lot of people know it is a scam, but they suspect it is the actual thieves phoning them so they pay in the hope that their cars won’t be stripped and sold as spare parts,” Els said.
“In the past, police have successfully traced some of these numbers and found the scammer already in a Pretoria prison cell.”
He suspects police officers are involved.
“Either directly involved or involved by supplying the scammers with info from the docket. The scammers just know too much about the vehicles, such as marks on the car as well as items that were left in the car. It is as if they have read the victim statement,” Els said.
Gauteng police spokesperson Col Mavela Masondo, said they are aware of the scam.
“There is a team of detectives that has been established to investigate, trace and arrest the suspects,” Masondo said on Wednesday.
“Police would like to make the community aware that under no circumstances will the police ask the community member to deposit money for the service rendered by the police.
“We appeal to all those who fell victims of such a scam to report to the police immediately.”