Mbuya alerts public to scam

Lieutenant-Colonel Vuyelwa Mbuya.

Cape Town Central’s newly appointed commander of the commercial fraud unit, Lieutenant-Colonel Vuyelwa Mbuya, has warned the public about a car-purchase scam taking place in the city centre.

Lieutenant-Colonel Mbuya said the same scam had raised its head four times over the past two months and involved a man responding to adverts of people selling cars online.

She said the man, known to the police as Amos Rakedi, would respond to a seller with interest in the vehicle they were selling, and promised to pay for the car. 

He even sends “proof” of payment. The man then sends another man who claims to be his son, only identified as Alvin, to have a look at the car, and then leaves with it. The car’s owner then realises that they did not pay.

She said there was no specific car that they targeted.

Lieutenant-Colonel Mbuya started her career at SAPS 28 years ago.

“I love the police service, and its my passion to see justice being served. My father was a cop, and I watched him work to put criminals behind bars which fascinated me. I enjoy the challenge.”

She started as a general detective and then moved to the Wynberg Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences office in 2005.

“It became too much for me, working with the children. I became overprotective and sensitive to the cases, so I moved back to the general detective office in Muizenberg.

“I worked there until I was appointed to commander of the commercial fraud at Cape Town Central.”

She said working with fraud was challenging because you were working with faceless people.

“In Cape Town, you get various fraud cases from ATM frauds to wills and internet frauds.”

She said tourists needed to be educated about ATM fraud and scams in the city, as they were too trustworthy.

“We want to welcome our visitors, but at the same time, we want them to be vigilant.”

She warned people to not make transactions using social media or the internet without properly verifying details.

A man was arrested
for theft in Strand Street on Saturday June 22 after he allegedly pick-pocketed a woman’s phone. The woman pointed the man out to security who arrested him and handed him over to the police.

Also on Saturday June 22, police arrested a man for possession of presumed stolen property in Waterkant Street.

Officers on patrol attended to a complaint where cellphones went missing inside a club. With the permission of the manager, the officers searched a man and found two cellphones in his possession.

Police arrested a man for unlawful possession of a firearm in Long Street on Sunday June 23.

Police officers acted on a tip-off received by a member of the public regarding two firearms inside a silver BMW in Long Street. The vehicle was searched and police found one firearm underneath
the driver’s seat and the second firearm inside the car boot. The driver could not produce a valid licence for both the firearms. The officer continued his search and confiscated three bags of dagga found inside the car behind the seat.

The two fire-arms confiscated were a .38 Astra revolver and 7.65 Berna Della pistol.