Pretoria - The 68-year-old said he was with his wife at their home in Mamelodi East last Wednesday when a man he had never seen before arrived looking for him.
The man claimed to be from a firm that helped with surplus retirement claims.
“What a gentleman he was. He was so kind and very professional. He was the type of man who commands respect,” said Gideon Msomeka.
There have been various reports of the scam on social media, with victims being urged to be on the lookout and report it to the police, if targeted.
The man told Msomeka, who recently retired, that his former employers owed him R320 000 and he was there to facilitate the claim.
“This guy who didn’t know me from a bar of soap, surprisingly knew everything about me, including that I recently went on pension and had money in my account,” he said.
Excited about the prospect of receiving so much money, the pensioner agreed to go with the man, who had three women in his car.
They all got in and went to Standard Bank at The Grove Mall in Pretoria east. “My wife wanted to accompany me, but she was told there was not enough space in the car,” Msomeka said.
All he had to do was to withdraw all his savings to clear the way for the promised R320 000. “The man told me that once my former employers realise there was money in my account, they wouldn’t pay out my R320 000.”
En route to the bank, he said, the man and his accomplices were constantly on their cellphones, talking to “other clients” while fiddling with documents and ID copies. “The whole set up looked legit and I was sure I was going to get my R320 000,” said Msomeka.
On arrival at the mall, the plan changed. One of the women accompanied him inside the bank. “She looked great.” Inside the bank the woman started acting as his wife and was overly affectionate. She held his hand and said he should withdraw R100000.
Msomeka said the tellers asked what they were going to do with the money, to which the woman replied “we need it to buy gifts for family members who are coming back from initiation school”.
They were only able to withdraw R80 000, which the woman put into her designer handbag.
The Pretoria News saw a bank statement confirming the withdrawal.
After walking out of the bank the women asked to be excused so she could use the toilet. “I accompanied her to the toilet and stood outside for a long time. After some time she came out and we went back to the car,” he said.
Msomeka said the plan was to go to their offices from the bank - but they again changed their plans, claiming there was no electricity and the computers would not be able to capture his details. So they decided to take him home and meet the following day.
On the way home, Msomeka said he asked for his money. “The lady gladly gave me the money inside a white money bag and said they were going to drop me off close to my house because they were in a rush to go to Cullinan,” he said.
After being dropped off close to his house, Msomeka felt the urge to check for the money inside the bag. To his surprise he found blank papers. “I nearly wet my pants from the shock,” said the man, as his eyes filled with tears.
Police from Silverton and Mamelodi refused to open a case, arguing that the money had not been forcibly taken.
Msomeka said that a woman who lives a stone’s throw from his house had suffered the same fate at the hands of people with the same modus operandi. She could not be reached for comment.
He warned other people, saying the scammers had enough information to convince anyone. “I don’t want other people suffering the same ordeal. People, especially the elderly, must make sure they don’t fall for these smooth operators.”