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Namibian implicated in car, diamond scam

2015-02-02  Staff Report 2

Namibian implicated in car, diamond scam
By Roland Routh WINDHOEK - A man of alleged Namibian descent is implicated in numerous scams involving cars for sale on website OLX and illegal diamond transactions. It is alleged in a South African paper that the man only known as ‘Oupa’ is targeting people selling their vehicles on OLX and then involves his unsuspecting victims in illegal diamond transactions. At times they are asked to pay a ransom. One of the victims made a recording of the man and his client negotiating the price of diamonds. The victim only known by his pseudonym, Derrick Payne, told the TygerBurger newspaper that he wanted to sell his sedan vehicle online in order to purchase a bakkie. Not long after putting his vehicle on the website he received a call from someone who said he was from Namibia and interested to buy the vehicle for his son. They agreed to meet and that is when he suddenly found himself in an illegal diamond transaction. Another victim of the same man also told the South African paper that he too advertised his son’s vehicle on OLX. Renier Wolfaardt from Kempton Park told the TygerBurger that soon after the vehicle was advertised he received a call from a man who claimed to be a truck driver for the De Beers Group. He said the man managed to lure him and his son to Vereeniging where they were held captive until his wife paid R5 000 for their release. The newspaper reported several people contacted them with similar stories even from as far as Namaqualand. According to them someone from Durbanville contacted them and said the same thing almost happened to him, but he stayed calm and managed to take a picture of the man. The newspaper circulated the picture to various of the victims who all recognised him as ‘Oupa’. The newspaper reports that many people contacted them narrating similar incidences. Locally, this also happens although on a much smaller scale than in South Africa. According to Deputy Commissioner Edwin Kanguatjivi the Namibian Police were not informed by their South African counterparts of a Namibian citizen committing offences in South Africa. He said that normally they work through Interpol, but at this stage nothing of the sort has come to the ears of the Namibian law authorities. Contacted for comment, Kanguatjivi said that in such instances people are normally too afraid and in many cases ashamed to report to the police. He said in most cases the seller is duped into either signing a contract without having received a cent or the “diamonds” for which they exchange their cars turns into ordinary stones. According to Kanguatjivi, in these instances the police can’t do anything as it was a “willing seller, willing buyer transaction”.
2015-02-02  Staff Report 2

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