What you need to know about the new direct marketing guidance note
Nadine Mather and Chloë Loubser
Plane e-ticket 'scam'
At least two Eastern Cape families have been caught in an international e-ticket scam that has wrecked their Christmas holidays.
© Elizabeth Crego – 123RF.com
The Fourie and Ellis families were duped into paying thousands of rands for airplane tickets.
While one of the families will lay police charges, Hawks spokesman Captain Paul Ramaloko said people had already registered a number of cases in Limpopo and Western Cape.
"We ask other victims to come forward so that we can have a better estimate of the extent of the problem."
The complaints of fraud have been lodged against Kim Robbertse, 32, an independent travel agent from Polokwane in Limpopo.
She allegedly advertised and sold discounted airline tickets which never materialised.
Contacted for comment yesterday, Robbertse said: "I have no comment. Make sure of your facts though."
Action against KR
Already, a private Facebook group called "Action against KR" has more than 230 members who all claim to have been conned by Robbertse.
Maryna Fourie, 43, of Jansenville, said she had paid for tickets for herself, her husband and three children to visit London in April. "It has always been our dream to go there as a family. When we saw the tickets were priced at R7500 for an adult and R3200 for a child under 12, we believed this was our chance."
Fourie said she contacted Robbertse to make the payments in October.
She said they quickly discovered their tickets were fake after being notified by a relative.
"We plan to take this further if we do not get a refund."
Wilna Ellis, 37, formerly of Port Elizabeth and now a physiotherapist based in Kent, said she and her family had nearly missed their flights to South Africa as a result of the alleged scam.
She said after paying Robbertse in August they discovered the flights had never been booked with British Airways.
"On the night before our flight, I got a phone call to say that Kim was in an accident and was in a coma in a Pretoria hospital."
Ellis was shocked to discover after calls to the hospital that Robbertse had never been admitted.
Ellis said her family arrived at London's Heathrow Airport on December 13 where an associate of Robbertse's paid for their tickets to South Africa.
British Airways spokesman Stephen Forbes said: "We were made aware of this and our corporate security department investigated it. As a result access to our inventory was revoked."
Source: I-Net Bridge
For more than two decades, I-Net Bridge has been one of South Africa’s preferred electronic providers of innovative solutions, data of the highest calibre, reliable platforms and excellent supporting systems. Our products include workstations, web applications and data feeds packaged with in-depth news and powerful analytical tools empowering clients to make meaningful decisions.
We pride ourselves on our wide variety of in-house skills, encompassing multiple platforms and applications. These skills enable us to not only function as a first class facility, but also design, implement and support all our client needs at a level that confirms I-Net Bridge a leader in its field.
Go to: http://www.inet.co.za
Related
