Durban — The KwaZulu-Natal Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) has warned the public about conmen using the department’s name to defraud unsuspecting tender applicants.
Cogta MEC Sihle Zikalala said the department warns members of the public about fraudsters who are scamming members of the public through false claims on tender processes.
Zikalala said that according to the information at hand, these fraudsters allegedly send emails to unsuspecting businesspeople, claiming that they have the power to award tenders for a certain fee. This intricate scam appears to involve criminals forging emails based on publicly available information about tenders conducted by the department.
“We wish to warn members of the public not to get caught up in the scam that is being done by these criminals, who seek to fleece unsuspecting victims,” Zikalala said.
“The department distances itself from these criminals and calls for anyone who might be a victim to report to their nearest police station.”
“The department has standard policies and processes that are outlined by the Public Finance Management Act when it comes to the procurement of any goods or services and all these tenders are advertised publicly,” Zikalala added.
In August KwaZulu-Natal police warned the public not to fall victim to tender fraud scams after a spate of incidents in which fraudsters would contact small-business owners and mislead them into believing that they had been awarded tenders from government departments.
Police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Nqobile Gwala said that fraudulent letterheads and email addresses were used to request these businesses to supply a specific product or unusual product.
Gwala said that to source the products, the small-business owners would search the internet and identify a specific supplier who was also part of the scam. Only after paying an amount of money to the alleged supplier to order the items did the victims realise that they had been scammed.
“The scam has been in existence since 2015 and slowed down by 2020 after previous warnings from police.
“Approximately 68 cases were reported where the suspects have reverted to using the same modus operandi,” Gwala said.
“We are appealing to community members to be aware of these ongoing scams and verify with the relevant government departments if they receive such requests,” Gwala added.
Daily News