AN alert community watchdog says he caught out a ‘serial crook’ who seemingly makes a living by scamming unsuspected online buyers on reputable digital classified advertisers.
Frans van der Walt, a quantity surveyor and project manager, stumbled upon the charlatan while searching online classifieds for a caravan.
When he came across the ideal full-house caravan, he immediately smelled a rat at the deal of a lifetime – a caravan worth R250 000 on offer for only R75 000.
‘I stumbled across the advert and immediately knew it was a hoax because of the ludicrously low price.
The curious me, decided to investigate.’
And so the local Sherlock Homes threw out the bait on email and the fish quickly bit.
One ‘David Jacobs, construction manager’ responded and explained the giveaway.
‘I am selling the caravan at this cheap price because I am in the United Kingdom with my new job and I have just gone through a divorce.
‘I will be living here for three years, so this is the reason why I want to sell the caravan.’
This ‘verified seller’ would supposedly do the transaction through eBay for the protection of both parties.
‘If you are ready for this purchase, I need to know your full name and address for delivery because as soon as I have them I will start the official procedure and eBay will notify you of this.’
‘Refund policy’
He also generously offered a 10-day refund policy, ‘If you don’t like the caravan or if something is wrong, you will receive your money back on the same day without any charges from your side’.
Thanks to Google, further investigations on the ‘Report a Crime’ website revealed that one David Jacobs under various aliases, sold the same tear jerking story, but no caravan.
The matter has since been reported to the advertiser and all his adverts have been trashed.
Frans says, ‘Buyers beware! Do your research and don’t be naive.’
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