Scammers are using high-pressure video calls to terrorise ordinary citizens into believing they are the targets of major criminal investigations.
A 50-year-old woman from Stellenbosch was shocked when individuals posing as police accused her of being "the female version of Pablo Escobar," involved in smuggling ecstasy, fake passports, and counterfeit clothing to Australia.
Believing their claims that she was a wanted criminal, she transferred R9 999 during a four-hour video call, emptying her Nedbank account. They assured her the payment was a temporary security check and promised a refund within three hours, which never materialised.
Left out of pocket, the woman, who is too embarrassed to be named publicly, said she only realised later that the people on her screen were actually professional scammers.
“I was scared and did exactly what they wanted me to do... I truly believed I had been framed and that police were really looking for me as a drug lord, so I fell for it," she said.
