Amen! Braam ‘prophet’ scams student
Fake prophet manipulates Wits student into giving him three laptops and flees the scene
Student warns of con man using fake cocaine for scam
A Braamfontein student has warned others about being vigilant of a Nigerian con man who offers money in exchange for safeguarding his fake cocaine.
Jabulani Makoko*, a student at the Auckland Park AFDA found himself in a scam earlier yesterday when he agreed to safeguard 2kg of what appeared to be cocaine.
Makoko said that he was sitting by the stairs of the building opposite the Pick n’ Pay on Jorissen Street, in Braamfontein, waiting for a friend.
After a while a well-dressed Nigerian man came up to him, saying he needed help.
“I believe him yeah! Cause hey man he has the money here and he has 2kg of coke, which you’re not gonna leave with anybody, that’s worth a lot of money! So I trust him.”
Makoko said the man explained that he desperately needed his phone to make a call to meet a ‘white dude’ who would be upstairs in the building.
“I believe him yeah! Cause hey man he has the money here and he has 2kg of coke, which you’re not gonna leave with anybody, that’s worth a lot of money! So I trust him,” said Makoko.
The man offered Makoko R500 to hold the cocaine which he would pay the student when he returned. Makoko says he was “desperate for the money man! I was broke. And the guy came up to me now and made it sound so legit, here’s R500 bucks in cold hard cash.”
Makoko then gave him his cellphone, and the Nigerian man made a phone call in front of Makoko. The Nigerian man then said he needed to move closer to wherever the ‘white man’ would be watching him and he moved closer towards the street.
Makoko now says that was ‘my biggest mistake.’
Makoko says he was too busy looking at the ‘coke’ anxious about what he had gotten himself into, and not so far away from him were two female metro cops. Makoko says that’s when he began to panic but decided to remain silent.
“What if this is something that could possibly go wrong and I’m implicated in this,” said Maloko.
After 20 minutes Makoko realised the man was gone and after 30 minutes Makoko said he began to believe that the man is not coming back. After an hour Makoko says, “That’s when it hit me that ok this guy is not coming back and maybe this is not real coke.”
When Makoko’s friend arrived he related the whole story to her and she said to him there’s no possible way that someone would leave that much cocaine with him.
After two hours Makoko checked the bag of cocaine to discover cake flour, he then called his phone and it had been switched off. Makoko said he had assumed the cocaine was real.
“[I didn’t] really look at it to analyse if its baking powder or the real deal. You just know if it’s a Nigerian dude, it’s got to be real.”
Makoko said he was still fearful when he left the bag of ‘cocaine’ where he had been sitting.
Makoko said that the same con happened to a friend in Milpark.
*Names have been changed.
Facebook scammer needs identity booklet
I recently accepted a Facebook friend request from someone with the same name as my brother.
The “Facebook friend” Jabulane Zwane and I became friends about two months ago. Soon after that he told me he had been abandoned by his biological parents, lived with his adoptive parents and needed my help to get a South African identity document (ID). Initially I was apprehensive as there are scams around. I wanted to delete but instead I decided to ask questions.
When I asked him how he would like me to help him he responded “go to hmeafairs n confes dat u knw me”.
This was clearly a problem for me as I didn’t know this Jabulane Zwane. I began to wonder if he was a desperate person in need of an identity document or if this was a case of an identity theft scam.
Home Affairs spokesperson, Ronnie Mamoepa told Vuvuzela: “There are black people who were not registered on the database of the country; these people need to apply for a late registration birth.”
Mamoepa said the person must present themselves at Home Affairs and they can apply on their own behalf. They should bring their birth certificate, police affidavit, people who know them and a school report.
There was an incident in 2009 when a young boy killed himself because he had such trouble getting an ID. Skhumbuzo Mhlongo, born in 1987, killed himself in frustration. The Home Affairs official who was conducting his interview was not satisfied with the information Mhlongo gave and accused him of lying. The official tore his papers, threw them at him and said Mhlongo was clearly not a South African citizen. They called him a derogatory name used for foreigners.
My Facebook “friend” Zwane about two weeks ago, claimed to have the same issue “eish I dnt hv mum n dad n I lv wth th stp parnts n I dnt hv brthcirtficate”, he wrote on my private inbox. He said that as a result of not having an ID he’s been told to stop attending school “ja n thy say I cnt go to xkul if I dnt hv it.”
Zwane claims that he went to Home Affairs with his adoptive parents to apply for a late birth certificate. His application was rejected, he said, because he didn’t have enough information to prove that he was a South African citizen. He has now become desperate.
“I rathr die, myb thngz will get bttr 4evry1” he wrote. I started getting concerned about his well-being, bearing in mind Mhlongo’s suicide.
But as Mamoepa said “the danger is you don’t know who approached you, you are taking a chance”.
I still don’t know whether Zwane is a scam artist who has access to the internet, a Facebook account without a profile picture looking to scam students or if he’s a 19-year-old young man desperate to get an ID in order to further his studies.
“Con Mommies” strike Braamfontein
Lutendo Maiwashe standing at the door of the Legit store where she was scammed. Photo: Shandukani Mulaudzi
A group of “motherly” con artists scammed a Wits student last week after luring her away from a clothes store with promises of back door deals.
Lutendo Maiwashe, 2nd year BEcon Sci, was browsing through clothes at the Legit store in Braamfontein when a middle-aged women approached her.
The woman said she had a cousin who could help her get clothes at half price.
“The lady seemed very sympathetic to the fact that I’m a student and clothes are expensive. She said we could go meet her cousin outside,” Maiwashe said.
The woman led Maiwashe outside and, as they were walking, another woman joined them. They all walked to a spot outside a bottle store on Melle Street.
“The second woman asked me if it was the first time I was doing this and also convinced me that it was a great deal and for my benefit. She referred to the ‘cousin’ as Zandi,” Maiwashe said.
Maiwashe said that very soon after they had stopped outside the bottle store, “Zandi” joined them. The first woman said she needed to quickly go to the bank and left Maiwashe with her belongings. Maiwashe thinks this was to establish trust.
“Zandi” explained Maiwashe would come with her to the store and they would go through the staff entrance. For this reason Maiwashe would have to leave her bag behind.
When they got to the store “Zandi” suddenly realised it was closing time and said Maiwashe should come back with her friends on the weekend. When Maiwashe went back for her bag, the other women were gone. And so was her bag.
“It was traumatic. I mean I would never have expected this from women. I am a trusting person and now I’m not. These women represented a mother figure,” Maiwashe said.
After the incident Maiwashe recalled that one of the women was wearing a pale blue shirt which looked like it could belong to a Pick ’n Pay employee. After searching the streets with some of her friends they went to Pick ’n Pay to ask if they could check the surveillance cameras to see if they could identify the con artists.
A Pick ’n Pay manager, who asked not to be named, confirmed they had heard of two similar incidents in the past two weeks. She said, however, these people were not employees of Pick ’n Pay.
Simangele Bhila, a Legit employee, said she had also heard of two incidents, one at their store and one at Pick ’n Pay. She said the one who robbed a lady at their store was a man who was allegedly working with women.
Maiwashe has reported the case to the police but she said she wasn’t sure if they would investigate as they did not ask her to describe the perpetrators.
“I could’ve just bought the shirt, it was only R80 and I had the cash in my bag,” said Maiwashe, adding she has been put off discount offers for life.
Mugging duo after iPhones
A first year Wits student, who was mugged at gunpoint, was the latest victim in a series of iPhone robberies.
Ryan Deacon (18) was waiting to be picked up after class along Enoch Sontonga avenue when he was approached by a person he described as an Indian man, with a gold tooth in tattered clothing.
The man asked him for money for a homeless shelter, to which Deacon declined and the man left. Seconds later another man approached him, aggressively asking: “Did you see the Indian man?”
Deacon answered “yes”. The second man then forced the student’s hand against his stomach, where Deacon felt the handle of a gun tucked under his belt.
Deacon believes the first man was used to scout for something worth stealing as he was much smaller in stature.
The second man, described as being a coloured male in his early 30’s with no front teeth, instructed Deacon to run in the other direction towards the bridge over the De Villiers Graaff Motorway, otherwise he would shoot. Fearing for his life, Deacon did as told and the man got away with the phone.
Another Witsie reported almost being robbed by someone with a similar description as the Indian man.
Refilwe Molatlhiwa (@Fifi_Mo) tweeted on Wednesday: “A guy with a gold tooth just tried conning me of my phone. On campus. By Chamber of mines. Where is campus control?”
Robert Kemp, head of Campus Control, said three similar mugging incidents have been reported along Enoch Sontonga Avenue from two Wits students and one UJ student. In some incidents a knife was used to threaten students and in others the suspect indicated he had a gun.
In all cases, the students were robbed of their cell phones. None of the students were injured.
“It is probable that the criminals are hiding in the Braamfontein Cemetery or the nearby squatter camp. Students are advised to be alert along Enoch Sontonga avenue and avoid the area if possible,” said Kemp.
Kemp said that Campus Control is currently arranging to extend their Jorissen street patrol to cover the Enoch Sontonga gate area.
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