Durban - A Ballito plant hire company is counting the cost of the audacious theft of their new R1m tractor-loader-backhoe (TLB) last week.
Gerhard Grove, of TLB Plant Hire, said the theft appeared to have been carefully planned. A man posing as a customer approached had him last week.
"This guy phoned us for a TLB on Wednesday last week and we did a quote for them. The next day he called back and then he sent us an FNB document with proof of payment and we delivered the machine to an address in Pinetown," he said.
Grove said the TLB operator was driven to Pinetown and put up in a B&B for the evening. They next day, the operator was told to leave.
"He phoned the man who hired the TLB, who said he would be there shortly to fetch him, but then never arrived."
When the operator raised the alarm, Grove checked the TLB’s tracking unit, which showed movement on the morning, but was then disconnected.
"This is a machine worth nearly R1m. The payment also turned out to be a fake and all the company details provided for the person who hired it, named Arnold, are also fake.
"I have had quite a few people contact me and said that they had also had machines stolen with exactly the same modus operandi," Grove said.
Grove has offered R50 000 reward for information leading to the recovery of the earth-moving machine.
News24
http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/brazen-crook-targets-bulldozers-20161024
Gerhard Grove, of TLB Plant Hire, said the theft appeared to have been carefully planned. A man posing as a customer approached had him last week.
"This guy phoned us for a TLB on Wednesday last week and we did a quote for them. The next day he called back and then he sent us an FNB document with proof of payment and we delivered the machine to an address in Pinetown," he said.
Grove said the TLB operator was driven to Pinetown and put up in a B&B for the evening. They next day, the operator was told to leave.
"He phoned the man who hired the TLB, who said he would be there shortly to fetch him, but then never arrived."
When the operator raised the alarm, Grove checked the TLB’s tracking unit, which showed movement on the morning, but was then disconnected.
"This is a machine worth nearly R1m. The payment also turned out to be a fake and all the company details provided for the person who hired it, named Arnold, are also fake.
"I have had quite a few people contact me and said that they had also had machines stolen with exactly the same modus operandi," Grove said.
Grove has offered R50 000 reward for information leading to the recovery of the earth-moving machine.
News24
http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/brazen-crook-targets-bulldozers-20161024
look not far away than local tender operators in the municipal areas around, if not provincial.