Facebook users say they have exposed a fraudster who posed as a poor mom looking for donations for her hungry children.
The hard-up “mom of three”, using the name Taskeen Pillay, claimed her husband had recently died, that she was unemployed, that her one child suffered from a rare gastric disease and that she has no family to turn to.
But users smelt a rat when the woman only responded to those asking for her banking details.
Pillay posted the “heartbreaking” message in the Facebook group MAMAHOOD Cape Town last Tuesday, begging strangers for help.
Part of the lengthy post reads: “Salaam/hello ladies, I know this is ripping the skin off my face but I have come to a point in my life where I would do anything my husband passed away a year and a half ago...
“...my kids cry most nights of hunger, right now I don’t even have milk for the twins, the girl (Aashurah) has Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) so she drinks a different milk.
“My twins had a slice of bread each that my five-year old sacrificed for them and he went to bed hungry, I don’t even have porridge for them, no electricity in my Wendy, nothing, all I have for them is black rooibos tea.”
She added: “If anyone can even lend me a 50 rand till 1 Feb so I can buy bread milk sugar...” (sic)
Help soon poured in with people asking for her banking details and an address so people could drop off donations.
'PLEA FOR HELP': Post shared on Facebook
But Facebook user Sihaam Arend, 26, from Wynberg, says it was all a scam.
“It really hit home with me because I know what it feels like struggling as a single parent, before I got married,” she says.
“I didn’t give her anything yet, I was in talks with friends of mine who are involved in major charities to help her out.
“What made me rethink was the fact that she only responded to messages asking for her banking details. The address she gave was not her own, but a friend she claims to be Taskeen Pillay. A gentleman went to the address and confirmed that no one by that name lived there.
“She then provided her contact number which someone Googled and it ended up belonging to a Tymea Lee Cox, which she claimed was her landlord.”
Sihaam says when people called her out on her scam, “Tymea” said “Taskeen” stole her phone and hacked her Facebook account, but raised more suspicion.
“Taskeen’s Facebook account was then deleted and Tymea continued to try and defend herself, but eventually confessed,” says Sihaam.
In a Facebook chat, Tymea wrote: “Can I be honest with you? Yes, it was me pretending... but only because I am desperate and I’m too ashamed to say it as myself My situation is very similar to Taskeen’s, I just couldn’t mention it under my own name as I know allot of ppl in the group(sic)”
The Daily Voice went to the Bridgetown address “Taskeen” provided, but the house belongs to an elderly couple who said they didn’t know a Taskeen or Tymea. The cellphone number provided also did not work.
Sihaam has called on people to beware of scams on Facebook: “These people need to be exposed. There are too many of them playing on the sympathy of innocent people!”