DURBAN - POLICE have warned pensioners to beware of fraudsters at shopping centres around Durban. This comes after they had several reports of people being conned into giving away money.
Phoenix resident Marlin Govender’s 69-year-old mother lost more than R1 000 at Gateway shopping mall last weekend.
“She was approached by a man (at Checkers), possibly in his late 20s,” he said.
The Indian man was friendly and introduced himself as Denzel. “He told my mother he was my friend, then pretended to phone me. While on the phone he ‘asked me’ if he should take money from my mother to buy something I wanted,” he said.
Govender said the man convinced his mother to part with R1 300.
In January, a 78-year-old Sydenham resident, who did not want to be named, said he and his 75-year-old wife were approached at Musgrave mall by a young Indian man who claimed to have gone to school with their son.
“After pretending to speak to my son on the phone, he convinced us to drive him to Davenport, where he said he had a package for my son. We gave him R2 500,” said the victim.
SAPS spokesperson, Captain Nqobile Gwala, said the couple’s case led to the arrest of Renaldo Chetty, 28, who had been implicated in a similar scam in Verulam last year.
“Chetty was sentenced to three months’ imprisonment, suspended for three years. He will appear in the Durban Magistrate’s Court in April for the Musgrave case,” Gwala said.