It’s one of the oldest tricks in the book. A police officer approaches you privately, telling you there’s an outstanding charge against you. All you need to do to make it go away, is pay them a nominal fee. Only thing is, the police officer is really a con artist, the charges are fake, and the whole thing is a scam.
How the scam works
This scam used to happen face-to-face, but in the digital age it has moved, like so many other scams, onto your phone or computer. Now, instead of wearing a fake police officer’s uniform, the scammers impersonate a real police officer by using their image as their WhatsApp avatar.
That’s what happened to Sergeant Heinrich Bester of the Boksburg North South African Police Services (SAPS). A photo of him in his police uniform, swiped off Facebook or elsewhere on the Internet, appears in a widespread scam targeted at the Johannesburg area. The fraudster will contact you claiming to be “Officer John Smith of the Boksburg SAPS”, claiming that a case of sexual harassment or assault has been opened against you. They then demand money to help you “get out of the mess”.
A similar scam has been doing the rounds in KwaZulu-Natal, where you get an SMS telling you a case has been opened against you for failure to pay a traffic fine and stating that you need to contact “Constable Baloyi” (or another random name) to arrange payment.
In some cases, you may get a message from someone making similar accusations, claiming to be a person you met on the dating app Tinder.
What if it happens to me?
If you’re not guilty of a crime, you have nothing to worry about. Logically, you know that. But getting a message on your phone from someone claiming to be a police officer can be scary and make you question if a mistake has been made. It’s only human instinct to panic. The scammers play on this.
Even if you do have an outstanding fine or suspect someone may have reason to lay a charge against you, police officers don’t use platforms like WhatsApp to inform you of this. They’ll typically meet you in person, or telephone you first. And if someone claiming to be a police officer does call you, always verify their identity by asking for their name, rank, eight-digit force number, and the police station where they’re based. Then ask to meet them at your local police station.
Impersonating a police officer is a criminal offence – and the scammer will know that. If they’re a real police officer, they’ll be prepared to meet you at the police station. If they’re not, they won’t want to be anywhere near the real police!
The golden rule is not to pay anything to this type of caller. Instead, report the matter to SAPS.
Besides police scams, there are many other types of fraud going around online. Educate yourself about the dangers that are out there and also how you can avoid being a victim with our guide to online fraud.
