SA woman conned out of R1.2m

2010-03-18 10:00

Vicus Bürger, Volksblad

Bloemfontein - A young woman from Frankfort has lost more than R1m after she fell for the well-known 419 scam.

The 26-year-old woman received an email in December telling her that she had won a million British pounds in a foreign competition.

Police spokesperson Sergeant Philani Mvuna said according to the mail, she had to pay an initial amount before getting her prize money.

On January 18 she paid thousands of rands into a bank account. Then she was told she had to go to London to claim the prize but she could not go due to work commitments.

The conmen then told her she had to pay to appoint an agent to claim the money on her behalf.

Excuses

She was also given cellphone numbers of people who would help her to get the prize money. All of them insisted on being paid for rendering "services" to her.

When the money was later meant to be deposited into her bank account, the conmen had many excuses.

At one stage they told her a safe with the prize money had been brought to South Africa and she had to pay an additional amount to have it opened. She paid again but still did not receive one cent of her "prize money".

Mvuna said the woman had made 13 payments totalling R1.2m between January and March.

The woman said on Wednesday she was "in a state" and didn't want to comment.

- Volksblad