On 9 March an elderly lady was approached by the man at her house. He said there was a problem on her account and that he could help her to rectify it if she went along with him and pay R350. She refused. She said he knew everything about her. She usually received her municipal account via e-mail. It used to be in her late husband’s name, but the account was recently transferred to her name. When this man, who said he was from the municipality, approached her there was an official ELM account in her post box. The account was addressed to two people. It stated that she now was a co-owner to her own property.
The lady fortunately refused to go with the man, although he was extremely persistent. He left and she went to the municipality with the account. According to her it was a real account and their computer also showed the two co-owner names instead of just hers. They send her to the rates and taxes office where they helped her and deleted the stranger’s name from the account.
Please be vigilant. If you suspect there is something wrong with your account, go to the municipality and do not listen to anyone promising to “fix” things on your account for a fee.
