Johannesburg - If you’re not careful, you could get more than you wanted when ordering fast food.
A criminal gang in the Mondeor area is following fast-food delivery bikes to gain access to houses and rob people who have put in an order.
The Glenvista Community Police Forum (CPF) put out a warning on Thursday, alerting residents to the “surprise deliveries” that appear to be a new modus operandi for a six-member criminal gang.
It appears deliverymen are being followed, and as soon as the unsuspecting customer opens his or her front door, the criminals pounce.
While a spate of robberies against fast-food drivers took place across the US at one stage, The Star could find no other reports of criminals using deliveries to gain access to homes.
The CPF said there had been two such robberies in the past week.
On Monday night, a delivery scooter was followed from the Glenanda Shopping Centre to a house in Mondeor.
“The suspects held the homeowner up, taking his cellphone when he opened the door to receive the fast-food delivery,” the CPF said.
On Tuesday night, a delivery bike was followed from another outlet in the same shopping centre to an address in Mondeor.
The deliveryman was boxed in by the suspects but managed to get away.
The CPF said that in both cases, the deliverymen were followed after dark and two vehicles were used – a cream-coloured Mercedes-Benz and a light-blue Toyota Corolla.