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Wednesday / 12 February 2025
HomeFeaturesGetting robbed twice – Scammers are targeting car theft victims in South Africa

Getting robbed twice – Scammers are targeting car theft victims in South Africa

South Africans are being made the victim of not one, but two vehicle-related crimes in short succession, as scammers try to take advantage of people whose cars have recently been stolen.

One of several new tactics in the local criminal world is to impersonate a police officer and contact people who reported their car as stolen, only to request a “fee” for the supposed return of the vehicle.

Once isn’t bad enough

There have been numerous reports over the last few years of criminals attempting to impersonate a police officer in order to scam funds out of individuals for alleged services.

These cases usually occur in larger metros such as Pretoria, and the fraudsters tend to be small-time financial criminals who focus on siphoning funds from victims through various scams.

With regards to stolen cars, victims have to fill out reports with a police station and their insurance providers, which creates a pool of information that criminals can potentially tap into to make their story more believable.

The simplest and most common form of fraud is for the perpetrator to contact a car theft victim stating that the police have recovered their vehicle and that the individual needs to pay a release fee of around R1,500 to get it back.

They will provide a bank account or a mobile money wallet, and once the funds are received, they will quickly deactivate or dispose of the SIM card they used to communicate, leaving the victim without a means to contact them further.

Since the demand for an upfront payment is generally seen as a red flag for many citizens, fraudsters have also started ramping up their operations with more elaborate ploys.

Sometimes they will request that the car owner meet them at a certain location at a set time, which can lead to the person being robbed or assaulted if they fall for the trap.

Criminals are even going as far as to present information that only the car owner or the police should have access to which they get from corrupt insiders, lending credibility to their claim that they have found the stolen vehicle.

A victim of one of these crimes told MyBroadband that a scammer was able to provide the make, model, and colour of her car, as well as her ID number and address, and the case number from the police report.

An anonymous source told the publication that corrupt South African Police Services (SAPS) officials often share sensitive information with criminals which enables them to perform these kinds of scams.

Safe practices

The SAPS stresses that it will never ask for any fees for the return of a stolen vehicle.

Furthermore, a police officer will never request that individuals meet them at a random location, even if it’s a public venue.

SAPS requires that victims of stolen cars report to the police station or impound in person with personal documents and the vehicle’s registration papers as proof of ownership.

You can request for the police to provide photos or videos of the car as proof, and request for your insurance agency to send someone to pick it up on your behalf.

At any time, citizens can also request for an officer to produce their appointment card, which must be carried by SAPS personnel at all times.

If you do receive one of these scam calls, you should report it to the nearest Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID).

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