AN Empangeni pastor’s family, friends and congregants, have been conned out of thousands of hard-earned rands after the pastor became the latest victim of a sim swap scam.
The ordeal began last Monday evening when Pastor Khumalo, of the Empangeni Baptist Church, realised his cell phone had no service while he was attending a conference in Pretoria.
Putting it down to a network issue, he did not pay it too much attention, but soon realised something was amiss when some of his congregants contacted him on his other line, asking if he was okay and what he ‘needed the money for’.
When he asked his congregants what money they were referring to, they told him that he had telephoned them, asking to send him money and saying it was an emergency.
Putting two and two together, the pastor realised his phone had been hacked and that the scammer was pretending to be him in order to steal money from the people on his phone’s contact list.
‘The calls to my congregants from this criminal started at 5am last Tuesday,’ said Pastor Khumalo.
‘They said that when they asked the man for banking details, he refused and said they had to send money through e-wallet.
‘I have never used e-wallet or anything else. The only way I withdraw money is by using my card.
‘This scam amounted to about R15 000.’
Pastor Khumalo has opened a case of fraud at the Empangeni Police Station.
‘I opened the case as soon as I returned to Empangeni, but not after trying – unsuccessfully – to have my number blocked by MTN, so the scammer could no longer defraud the people on my contact list.
‘Despite MTN saying this crime is an inside job, they refused to block my number.
‘They did, however, initiate a sim swap reversal so I could get my number back, but I have no idea if this would allow the scammer to continue accessing my phone.
‘I just want people to be warned that if anyone is asked to send money via e-wallet to someone on their contact list, to first ensure the request is legitimate, so they don’t suffer the way my family and friends have.’
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