A man is warning mense about a fake police scam involving kaalgat pictures on social media where skelms pose as detectives and threaten to arrest unsuspecting men if they don’t cough up bribes of R5000.
The 45-year-old father, who asked not to be named to protect his job and family, says he got a skrik when he was approached by a “detective from Parow Police Station”, claiming he had sent a woman naked pictures.
“It all started with an invite on Facebook,” the Johannesburg man explains.
“A woman named Monica Keish Anastasia invited me and I saw we had mutual friends so I just figured the person knows me and I accepted.”
He says they chatted about “general things” until Monica wanted to move to WhatsApp.
After asking him about his family and work, she suddenly sent kaalgat pictures.
“It just came out of the blue and I got such a shock and showed my wife. She told me to delete it and I blocked the number,” he explains.
“The next day another number sent me a WhatsApp message saying they are Jacob Smith from Parow Police Station in Cape Town and claimed that I asked for pictures and sent pictures of myself, which I never did.”
The distraught dad says the fake cop used the profile picture of a police officer and sent him fake case numbers, police dockets, a police badge and even a screenshot of a SAPS computer to convince him.
“He told me I must pay R5000 or he will register the case against me. I called the station and they had no record of this person.
“So I blocked the number and paid them nothing because I did nothing. They even sent pictures of my family stolen from my Facebook account, but I have now secured my account.
“I just want to warn people because sometimes a friend request seems innocent. I have been married for nearly 20 years and have a family, I don’t have time for such nonsense.
“I went to the police station but they said as no money was exchanged, there is no case.”
SAPS’ Andre Traut says online scammers often masquerade as cops to intimidate their victims.
“The messages referred to should immediately trigger alarm bells as it is very clear that it is not sent officially by SAPS,” he says.
“The images of Parow SAPS and the empty case docket are easily accessible and a weak attempt to make the scam look official.”
Traut says fraudsters will usually catfish victims on social media platforms, and in some cases nude or sexually explicit images are exchanged.
“This is how they gain control over their victim in order to persuade him or her to part with their cash. If you receive a message of this nature, and you have not shared any nude images with any one, you have absolutely no reason to be concerned,” he adds.