News24 | Scammers use Western Cape police commissioner’s phone number to defraud victims

Scammers are using the Western Cape police commissioner’s official phone number to defraud victims through intimidation and threats.

• Scammers are using Western Cape police commissioner Thembisile Patekile’s official phone number to defraud victims through intimidation and threats.
• Victims are falsely accused of crimes and pressured to pay money to avoid arrest or prosecution by impersonating officers.
• Police have urged the public to report suspected scams, emphasising they never demand payments to resolve cases.

The official landline phone number of Western Cape provincial commissioner Lieutenant-General Thembisile Patekile has been cloned and is being used to defraud the public, police warned on Friday.

Police spokesperson Colonel Andrè Traut warned that the scammers are using the number 021 417 7148 – which belongs to Patekile.

“In these cases, the caller ID reflects the official SAPS number, creating the false impression that the call is legitimate,” Traut said.

He added: “Victims are then contacted, sometimes via video call, by an individual impersonating a police officer and wearing a police uniform.”

Victims are falsely accused of being linked to a parcel containing contraband allegedly intercepted at an airport. Through intimidation and threats of arrest or prosecution, the scammers pressure victims into paying large sums of money to have the matter “resolved”, Traut added.

Investigations are under way into the misuse of the telephone number and the cases linked to the scam, Traut said.

READ | ‘Escort’ scammers posing as cops use fake rape claim to extort Milnerton businessman

In September last year, News24 reported on a Milnerton businessman who narrowly avoided being conned by people posing as police officers.

The scammers claimed he was facing rape charges linked to a woman he allegedly met through an escort website and demanded money to make the case disappear.

The businessman sought assistance from private investigator Craig Pedersen of TCG Digital Forensics, who said businesspeople are often targeted because they are perceived to have money and reputations to protect.

The calls allegedly stopped after Pedersen confronted the suspects.

Traut said police would never demand money to prevent arrest or prosecution, nor would they request payments via telephone or video calls.