Scam on OLX costs Free State farmer R21,000
A Free State farmer has lost R21 000 after he fell victim to an online scam. Stefan Weydeman said he responded to an OLX advert selling animal feed earlier this month.
“I wanted to buy cattle feed, so I deposited the money immediately after I verified the seller’s banking details,” he said.
When he tried to contact the person selling the feed, the phone was off. The animal feed was never delivered.
“I asked the bank to reverse the transaction, but it was too late. The bank said the money was already withdrawn.”
Weydeman used social networking site Facebook to warn other farmers about the online scam.
“After I posted the warning on Facebook, one of the suspects contacted me and started to threaten to kill me if I don’t remove the Facebook post,” he said.
Police spokesperson Captain Chaka Marope said they were investigating a case of fraud. Two other cases of online fraud were also opened at the Theunissen and Welkom police stations.
No arrests had yet been made.
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