Scam artists hit online shoppers

AT LEAST one case involving online fraud is reported every day in Nelson Mandela Bay, with culprits conning shoppers out of thousands of rands. Port Elizabeth police spokeswoman Colonel Priscilla Naidu said yesterday most of the cases involved popular national online shopping sites like OLX and Gumtree. The online scams included bogus property rental, and dog and car sale adverts, Naidu said. “The seller makes empty promises and after the money is deposited, the con artist vanishes.” Naidu said online scams were well organised. “The culprits open bank accounts with false identity documents. They then instruct the online buyer to deposit money into a number of different bank accounts. The money is withdrawn and by the time the matter is reported, the account is closed.”

Uitenhage police spokeswoman Lieutenant Gerda Swart said residents had also been conned. “This week alone . . . one person lost R40 000 after paying a deposit for a [Toyota] Quantum minibus and [another] lost about R3 500 for car parts purchased online,” she said. Gumtree marketing head Claire Cobbledick said measures against such fraud included a new Message Center app which blocked the scammer from communicating with other potential victims. They had also teamed up with a courier service that would hold the money in their account until delivery. “If the buyer is satisfied with the item, he accepts it and the money is paid over to the seller.” OLX did not respond to requests for information.