Johannesburg - Estate agents have become the target of a “heavy breather” who calls them in the middle of the night to crudely harass them.
The man, who calls from a cellphone number that is never answered as well as a private number, appears to be concentrating on older women and has seen their photos because he describes what they look like.
The Star has decided not to publish the names of the agents involved in case the man increases his persecution of them.
An alert was put out by the estate agents on the eBlockwatch Facebook page. An agent in Krugersdorp said the “heavy breather” was terrorising their female agents.
“You should hear the filth that he spouts,” one agent said.
She gives an 084 number the man uses and asks other agents to ignore his calls.
The telephone number was recognised by another agent. She works in the Roodepoort area and said she was called by the man from the same number just after midnight and on a separate day from a private number at 3am.
“He says ugly things,” the agent said. “He told me he wants to play with my t***. He knows my name. I screamed at him. I told him ‘I’m 62 years old, what is your problem’?”
The woman said she kept her phone on at night because her son was at clubs and also in case of an emergency.
“When your phone rings at those hours, it feels like you are having a heart attack. You fear the worst, that something bad has happened,” she said.
The agent who posted the alert on Facebook said the man had targeted many female agents.
“He called a woman in our office and is very rude. He had seen her photo. He told her he loved her grey hair and he would like to put his parts in her hair. The woman was so upset. She is 70 years old.”
The woman has reported the harassment to the police.
Another agent from the south of Joburg said she got calls at 7am on Sunday. She said the man asked her in Afrikaans how she was, then if she was busy in a sexual way.
“I just put the phone down on him,” she said.
The women on the Facebook page have decided that the next time the heavy breather calls, they will keep a whistle next to their beds and after he says hello, give it a good blow.
The Star