Woman reveals CCTV tender scam worth 201k
Scammers are investing in the bigger scheme of things; be on high alert.
Regardless of the number of attempts to educate people about scams, scammers have a way of sneaking into innocent people's bank accounts.
A woman who was recently scammed out of R201,000 shared her story online to raise awareness of the intricately planned scheme she got caught in.
She received an email on her work email address from a woman posing as an employee of the Department of Labour and Employment. The woman addressed herself as Amanda Amundangesi, proposing a tender to supply CCTV equipment.
The email outlined a very specific requirement for the CCTV and even included the official address of the Department of Labour and Employment, Francis Baard Street, Pretoria.
The first thing she did was Google where she could source the CCTV equipment, and clicked the first result that she saw on Google. She only realised after the fact that this was part of the scheme.
She clicked on this search result and contacted the company for a quote. After receiving the quote, she prepared a quotation from her company and gathered all her documents to submit for the tender.
She only noticed the red flags after the fact, so checking things before rushing through opportunities is important. Always remember the saying, "If it seems too good to be true, it generally is."
Listen to her story below - courtesy of TikTok.
@naometeane Part one of how i was scammed R201 000. #absa #fyp #viralvideos #southafricatiktok #scammer #amandangesi #beteccommodities #cctv #cctvsyatem #tenderscam #departmentoflabourandemployment ♬ original sound - Naome Teane
The second video outlined how the red flags started going off in her mind after she paid the money to the 'suppliers' and informed her family of her good news.
She was excited about the prospects and doors this would open for her and her family, but she didn't connect the dots in time. When she typed the lady's email address into the Google search bar, all the stories relaying scam alerts popped up. Her heart sank, and she immediately informed her partner and consultant, who had warned her that this sounded like a scam.
She contacted UPS (Fighting Fraud in South Africa) and spoke to someone trying to assist her. But after not hearing back, she called the bank to try and freeze the account into which she had paid the money.
She received a phone call from Amanda to say they received her shipment and would like to order more equipment. She didn't want to alarm them, so she played along. She even noticed that Amanda pushed her to contact the supplier, which clearly indicated that they were in cahoots.
After what seemed like a long time - remember that this happened in July 2024, she successfully received her money back and paid off her loan.
You can listen to the rest of her story below on TikTok.
@naometeane Part 2 of how i got scammed R201 000 #viralvideos #SAMA28 #absa #fyp #fyp #southafricatiktok #amandangesi #scammer #beteccommodities #cctvsyatem #departmentoflabourandemployment #tenderscam #cctvsyatem ♬ original sound - Naome Teane
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Image Courtesy of iStock