It’s story time Tuesday and today we are talking about online shopping scams. In a world where everything is more easily accessible online than in a physical shop, we cannot blame ourselves for preferring online shopping. I know I do.

Let’s back track 3 months. I have an adorable lab named Joc (the spelling of his name still an issue amongst my more “vocabulary strong” siblings) and he needed a friend. A cute, small, Schnauzer girlfriend to be precise. So, naturally, I went online looking for said cute girlfriend. And within a matter of minutes, I found the perfect one. Her name is Kira, and she lives with her breeder in Upington in the Northern Cape. I filled in a “call me back” form, and within minutes I had received an email and a whats app from the business. We exchanged information about the puppy and costs which included travelling costs. I verified the person was in fact who she said she was by phoning and tracing the number on true caller, the whats app business account was also verified. I was so excited to meet Kira, so was Joc. So, naturally, I EFT’d the money. The next morning, my mother’s six sense begun to irk. She told me she thinks I should phone the breeder once more just to confirm this is legit.

On my way to work, I phoned the breeder, she did not answer. I phone another 5 times during the course of the morning, and she still does not answer, however, she is online on whats app. Eventually she phones me back and tells me that the puppy is at Upington airport but that I need to EFT R17 000 into her account (which she will refund of course) for the travelling costs. I realized at this point that something is fishy. I told her that the initial money I transferred included the travelling costs and that I will not be paying the R17 000. I requested a refund and cancelled the agreement. I never heard from her again. Through many phone calls I eventually got her bank to block her account for fraud and further had to go to the police station to open a criminal case against her.

I sat at the police station for 4 hours to open the case. After I had deposed the necessary affidavit, the police officer looks at me and said “at least it was not R200 000, I’ve had people coming to me crying because they bought something online for that amount….” As another officer comments “but you’re a lawyer, how could you fall for this?”. And that is exactly that, the techniques used by online fraudster are so advanced, that even the bank could not assist me. The breeder created a front of a bank account. To the bank, it looked like the money I had transferred was blocked and safe and sound, however, it came to light later that as soon as the money was transferred to their bank account, they removed the funds.

I never saw the money again, and Kira probably doesn’t exist. A fair warning to all, with Black Friday around the corner, please beware of the above scenario. Also bear in mind that just because a website looks legit doesn’t mean it is.