Durban - Businessman Jean-Marc Tostee has become a recent victim of a widespread and fast-growing crime – remote jamming. Although it has been a menace for some time, the number of incidents have increased recently, with shopping malls appealing to visitors to double-check they have locked their cars and not to leave valuables in the car.
The worst-hit areas appear to be Musgrave, Morningside and Glenwood.
For Tostee, who thought he had locked his car when he was in Hunter Street in the Durban CBD, it was an expensive lesson when a thief with a remote jammer stole his laptop.
He suspected that a car had followed him from a bank after he had made a deposit.
“A parking opened right outside the car hire where I was going. I got out, locked the doors with the remote and walked inside. While I was standing there, a well-dressed chap walked in and asked staff for their price on rentals. They gave him a pamphlet and he said he’d come back.”
Two minutes later a car guard came running in.
“He said: ‘I think someone has just opened the doors of your car.’ I shot out and the briefcase which was in the back of my car had disappeared,” Tostee said.
He asked the car hire company to play back its CCTV footage for clues.
“What the CCTV showed was that, as I drove down the road and parked, a car was behind me.”
The car pulled over and its occupants waited for him to go inside. In the footage was the man who came into the car rental company while his accomplice was raiding the car.
“We got the number plates and called the police but found that the plates were registered to a Toyota, but this car was a Polo.”
On Thursday Gateway mall, Musgrave Centre and the Pavilion confirmed they had put up signage warning customers about the jammers.
Windermere Centre in Morningside, despite being in a hot spot, said it did not have signage but relied on security guards.
Gateway spokeswoman Sane Ndlovu said the mall had put up signs in all its parking garages warning customers not to leave valuables in their cars.
Musgrave Centre sent an e-mailed response saying it had anti-jamming systems in place. The centre provided 24-hour security supported by CCTV cameras. The centre also urged customers to be “vigilant”.
Umbilo and Glenwood community police forum chairman Ben Madokwe said it was almost impossible to keep up with remote jammers who moved from suburb to suburb. He said the CPF did its best to alert the public.
Police spokesman Thulani Zwane said valuables such as laptops and cameras left in vehicles attracted the attention of criminals.
The Mercury