As incidents of people who fall victim to scammers escalate, the police have revealed that the perpetrators mostly target elderly people.
In one of the incidents which happened during the just ended festive season, Mochudi police station commander, Superintendent Joel Masilo says scammers managed to swindle P20 000 from a 73-year-old man.
He explained that the old man was not the only one who was scammed during the festive season break but five more middle aged people were also swindled by scammers. He said in his policing area they went around cautioning people during the holidays cautioning them against such incidents but it seems like their efforts fell into deaf ears.
He explained that despite police efforts of warning people against scammers, there are people who still fall prey. He said scammers pretend to be employees of different local network service providers like Mascom, Orange among others.
“I still don't understand why people can freely share their personal identification numbers (pin). When you are given an account at the bank they tell you not to share your pin with anyone even a bank employee. It is sad to see people still falling prey to scammers. I don't know why people are still scammed so easily. I wonder if it is the love for money or ignorance," he wondered.
Meanwhile, Masilo has applauded Bakgatla for good behaviour during the holidays. He said unlike 2021/2022 holidays, crime declined during the 2022/2023 holidays as they recorded 16 criminal cases compared to 25 the previous year.
"Bakgatla like dikhwaere (traditional choirs) ,so a lot of them went to entertain themselves at different areas in Kgatleng. Even though there was no police presence there, they behaved well and the discipline was top notch. We had peaceful holidays and I applaud them for their good behavioru,” he concluded.
