Mall con man strikes again
|Published
KNOWN: Mall ‘skelm’ KNOWN: Mall ‘skelm’
Parow residents are warned to be careful of a con-artist
operating in shopping malls and promising unsuspecting shoppers job opportunities and then stealing their cellphones.
Ronald Pillai, security manager from Parow Centre, says after three years the infamous skelm, who dresses in Woolworths and Standard Bank uniforms, has now returned
pretending to be a security guard working for Securitas.
A 54-year-old father from Delft says he became a victim last Monday when the skelm conned him into thinking he could get him a job at Woolworths.
The unemployed father of three says he visited the local housing office to enquire about the progress of his application when the security guard approached him.
“He asked me if I was looking for work and I said yes because my
driving contract just ended.
“He was wearing a Securitas
uniform and told me he can get me work at Woolworths.
“He said he was going to phone the manager and bought R5 airtime for my phone.
“He pretended to phone the
manager and told me to wait
outside Woolies and went up the
escalator.
“After a minute I went to look for him and he was gone with my Samsung Prime cellphone. I made a case at Parow Police Station.”
SCENE: Skurk promises his victims jobs, but steals from them at Parow Centre
Pillai says he went through camera footage and recognised the skelm from cases in 2016.
“In the one case he had a
Standard Bank ID card and convinced
someone that he could pay in their R1000 deposit and he ran away with the money.
“In another case he approached
someone in Edgars and offered them work and used the complainant’s cellphone to phone
someone and ran away with the phone.”
The Daily Voice approached the police for comment about the suspect.
However, they were unable to comment by Sunday night.