Woman thought she’d hit big time

Martin Eidmans with his mother Yvonne, who was sure she had won half a million rand. Photo: Zanele Zulu

Martin Eidmans with his mother Yvonne, who was sure she had won half a million rand. Photo: Zanele Zulu

Published Jan 29, 2011

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She had prayed for some money and when she received an SMS saying she had won R520 000 in a lottery, she thought her prayers had been answered.

Durban pensioner Yvonne Eidmans, 88, said she had received the sms last Thursday advising her of a big win and had been so excited, she had started to cry.

“I had prayed and prayed to God for some money and then this message came up on my phone. I was shaking,” said Eidmans.

But her son Martin’s suspicions were raised as soon as his mother told him of her “lottery win”.

“The message said she had won R520 000 in a lottery in England and I thought it was a scam. Wendy Knowler (consumer writer) is always telling us not to give out banking details – if she hadn’t warned us, we probably would have gone ahead and given our details.”

He phoned the contact number for a Mr Anderson given on the SMS and was told to send all banking details.

“He could have been Nigerian and I could hear kids’ voices in the background.”

Over the weekend, he sent a fax saying his mother’s bank had advised them not to provide any banking details, but that a cheque could be sent to her address.

With the Eidmans refusing to give out their banking details, the scam artists moved to plan “B” the next day.

Eidmans received another SMS, saying the transfer of the winning prize to Yvonne’s address had been approved, but that she needed to pay a “bank legal processing fee” of R1 950.

“I told them they could just send a registered cheque, and they have not contacted us again, but my mom is still hoping,” he said.

IT specialist lawyer, Lance Michalson, said when the Protection of Personal Information Bill and the Consumer Protection Act come into effect, the public would have more protection with regard to electronic communication.

“Currently only the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act deals with spam, and it does not do it very well.

“The two new Acts will greatly increase rights of consumers in terms of spam, most noticeably by making communications companies ‘opt in’,” Michalson said.

“This means that people have to get your consent before they send you direct marketing messages, which form the bulk of spam.”

He added that under South African law, there was no legislation detailing what people could do with information they acquired and “list brokering” was the selling of e-mail addresses and cellphone numbers, although there are some exceptions, such as medical details and certain financial information.

“When the Protection of Personal Information Bill comes into effect – hopefully later this year – it will put much stricter measures in place.

“One of the big changes is that they will have to specifically state what they intend to do with the information, and they can only collect information if it is necessary for them to have it,” he said. - Independent on Saturday

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