The\u00a0Insurance Crime Bureau has issued a warning of a new scam in South Africa after a number of reports from insurers and tracking companies.<\/p>\n
According to the Bureau, following the actual theft of their vehicles, complainants are being contacted by individuals\u00a0claiming to be\u00a0<\/strong>members of the South African Police Services (SAPS).<\/p>\n This \u201cpolice officer\u201d will inform the owner or complainant of the \u201crecovery\u201d of the stolen vehicle in question – usually geographically far away from where the case has been reported.<\/p>\n For instance if the vehicle was reported at Sinoville police station the \u201cSAPS member\u201d will inform the complainant that the vehicle was recovered in Rustenburg, or even somewhere on the Botswana or Zimbabwe border line.<\/p>\n This \u201cSAPS member\u201d is in possession of the complainants, and vehicle owner\u2019s personal detail, as well as detail of the stolen vehicle.<\/p>\n They will then confirm that the vehicle is at a remote location and will request a \u201cfee\u201d from the owner to move it to the nearest police impound for collection, or in some cases delivery directly back to the owner.<\/p>\n The explanation by the \u201cSAPS member\u201d will be that this fee is for a break down service to transport the vehicle back to the owner, or to the nearest pound, or that the fee will be for him to drive the vehicle back to the owner instead of booking it into the closest pound.<\/p>\n The \u201cSAPS member\u201d will also reason that once the vehicle is booked into a police impound the owner will find it difficult to get the vehicle released, but by paying the agreed fee he will bring the vehicle to the owner instead, hence saving him a lot of trouble.<\/p>\n The fee requested by the criminal impersonating a member of SAPS may vary from R1,000 to R3,000 and the request will be to transfer the agreed fee to either a specific account or via e-wallet, PayPal, or other money transfer options.<\/p>\n From prison<\/strong><\/p>\n “The general public is not familiar with police procedure, and they are not aware that the South African Police Service will not ask a fee following the recovery of a stolen vehicle,” the Bureau said.<\/p>\n “Some of the individuals involved in this scam have been identified, and are in fact operating from within prison, where they are serving time for other crimes.<\/p>\n “The criminals involved in this scam are obtaining the personal information and details of the complainants and owners of stolen motor vehicles by randomly phoning police stations, and impersonating senior officers attached to Police Head Office.<\/p>\n “They simply request information of all vehicles reported stolen to the station during the previous 24 hours,” it said.<\/p>\n The Bureau indicated that information it received from within the industry regarding this scam is continuously being updated and forwarded to the South African Police Service, who have established a task team to address this situation.<\/p>\n
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