Cape Town – A pensioner says he was defrauded out of his entire Sassa grant by three men pretending to be cops who wanted to give him more money.
The Kraaifontein pensioner says instead of getting the “heap of money” he was promised, all he received was a Game specials leaflet.
According to police, the man went to draw his pension at a paypoint at a shopping centre in Kraaifontein last Wednesday.
He had just collected his grant when a stranger approached him and said he could get more money, all he had to do was come with him to a place around the corner from the centre.
The pensioner decided to follow the stranger, but became concerned when two other men suddenly joined them.
A police source says: “The three of them told the pensioner that they were from the police, and that they wanted to give money to an honest, deserving person."
“He said he was too afraid and overwhelmed to ask to see their police badges."
“They took out an envelope and told him to take out his pension money and count it, and that they were going to ‘mark’ the money."
“He then counted his R1 500, and handed it over to the men, who placed the money in an envelope and wrote a police case number on it. They then left quickly.”
Little did he know, the criminals swopped the envelope with another one.
The pensioner told police that when he opened his envelope a few minutes later, expecting to see more than his R1 500, he got a huge shock to find a Game promotions flyer in it instead.
He then went to open a case at Kraaifontein SAPS.
“I don’t want other people to fall for the same scam. Don’t trust strangers, no matter how honest they appear,” the pensioner told police.
Police spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Andrè Traut, confirms a case of fraud is under investigation.
There have been no arrests.