A Kensington man says he fell victim to skelms who sold him a stolen car.
It has been over a month, but Nezaar Adams, 46, still cannot believe that he forked out R72 000 with no car to show for it.
“On 7 December, I went onto Facebook Marketplace and saw a Toyota Corolla Quest for R78 000,” he explains.
“I contacted the guy selling the car and we started chatting on WhatsApp, where we arranged to meet by the BP Garage in Salt River 9.30am that day.”
Nezaar said the seller, only identified as Max, told him that another guy, Thando, was bringing the car which had Free State licence plates.
“Just before 10am, Thando pulled up and I checked the car out and everything was in order,” he says.
“Thando had all the paperwork for the car’s registration, the VIN numbers checked out and there was a sale of agreement.
“The only thing that I noticed was that the paperwork had a woman as the owner, but Max told me that it was his wife and they showed me signed permission from her with a copy of her ID, so we made the deal.
“We even managed to drop the price for R72 000 cash.”
The next day, on 8 December, he took the car for a roadworthy test and the day after that, he transferred it onto his name.
But on 19 January he got a knock on the door.
“The police came to my house and said the car was stolen from a woman in Free State on 6 December at 6.30pm, but she only reported it on the 11th,” says Nezaar.
“So that is how I was able to transfer it to my name but at the end of the day, the car is stolen and it must now be impounded.”
Nezaar said he tried to call Max, but the number was disconnected. He even tried to get video footage from every public place he and Thando visited that day, but to no avail.
“How could they get a car in Free State at 6.30pm and drive it to the BP in Salt River at 9.30am when there was a curfew at the time?” he asks.
“I tried hiring a lawyer to help, but that will cost me R50 000 if I am lucky, so it’s not worth it.”
Nezaar opened a case of fraud at the Kensington SAPS.
Police spokesperson Captain FC van Wyk confirms a case of fraud is under investigation with no arrests yet.