Durban — A KwaZulu-Natal man was scammed by someone purporting to be a Department of Labour employee on the official Facebook page of the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF).
The victim, who declined to be named, had left a message on the UIF Facebook page after finding out that his online profile had been blocked on the UIF website.
The scammer allegedly used a Facebook profile with the name Rita Van Staden to respond to the unsuspecting victim.
The scammer promised the victim that he would assist with the speedy payout of his UIF claim.
The victim said he became unemployed in February after his contract ended with his company where he had worked for 13 years and had applied for UIF in March.
Officials from UIF assisted him in setting up an online profile to check the status of his claim.
When the victim arrived home and tried to log in, he was blocked out of the account.
“I then sent a message/comment on one of their posts and this person Rita van Staden sent me a Facebook messenger,” he said.
The victim said Van Staden gave him an email address and a cellphone number for another person using the name Dana Viljoen who claimed to work for the UIF.
Viljoen told the unsuspecting victim that she could help him get his claim out, but had to pay a small fee upfront.
“She (Van Staden) said that this lady (Viljoen) had assisted her in getting her payment so I used the number and connected with Dana and she said yes she helped Rita with her UIF payment and she could do the same for me,” the victim said.
Viljoen convinced the victim for an upfront payment of R1 900.The victim received UIF documents with my name on them an hour later. The next day Viljoen conned the victim out of another R2 000.
Viljoen informed the victim that he had an additional amount of R52 280 in his fund and for it to be released he needed to pay someone else in that specific department.
“I called my partner to say that I felt like I had been scammed and he said more than likely. So then I tried to call the number and the phone was off,” the victim said.
Van Staden’s profile only has posts starting from December last year, and features three photos, two of different families and one of a couple at their wedding.
When the number that was said to be Viljoen’s as shared by Van Staden was contacted by the Daily News, a woman on the other end first answered as being Viljoen.
However, when she was told that it was the Daily News calling, the woman quickly changed her tune saying her name “is not even Dana” and that she was a hairstylist and did not work for the UIF.
When asked specifically about payments received from the man, she denied it.
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” said the woman before the call cut.
When her number was tried again it went straight to voicemail.
The Daily News sent voice recordings of this conversation to the victim who confirmed that the voice on the other side belonged to the woman he believed to be Viljoen.
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