Scamming 101

Sad week that past.

Our family was desperately searching for holiday accommodation for the upcoming Christmas season. We settled on the beautiful Garden Route nestled in the Eastern Cape. So the search commenced.

Spending hours trying to filter “available” places in popular towns like George, Mosselbay, Hartenbos and the likes, I put “available” in quotations because of websites saying a place is available only to find on the last step of booking that in fact it isn’t, Sigh. 

I managed to find a company that sources holiday homes and spoke to a nice lady by the name of Carene. She was extremely helpful and advised that we left it a bit late and that most, if not all, holiday places will be fully booked and usually are a year in advance. Needless to say, she said she would do her best to locate something for us.

Later that day I received a call from Carene saying that she found a woman, that’s not a regular advertiser that has a home for rent, in Mosselbay, right on the beach. Wow. And at a very very good rate… She did tell me that she has never dealt with this women and that she is just forwarding the contact details of the woman so that I can deal with her directly.

I made contact with the woman (Tania Visser) and started the process. At first it was plain sailing. She sent me the indemnity forms, T&Cs etc. We completed them and sent them back. Thereafter, we asked for the banking details for the deposit. I didn’t receive it that day. The following day I got a call from her asking if I had made the deposit yet…? I said no, I don’t have your banking details. In which she responded, oh I thought I sent it, let me send it again. Later that afternoon I got a call from her again asking if I had made the deposit. I replied saying I still haven’t received the details. She said she already sent it twice. I asked her for the details telephonically, and wrote it down. Then I contacted my mail service provider, asked them why I couldn’t receive any emails from their (Tania Visser) email? They responded saying it’s impossible everything is fine. I replied to an earlier email from her asking again for details, saying I won’t make a payment without something (proof of account). She immediately called me asking if I had made the deposit, I said no. I haven’t received any details, she asked for an alternative email a dress, I gave her 5.

My wife then contacted Carene, telling her the whole story and copying Tania as well . It wasn’t 5 min we got a reply from Tania saying that she will cancel the reservation. And do everything to protect her banks identity. As she claimed none of her mails went through to me and came back as undeliverable… I say bullshit, since her last mail trying to defend herself magically manage to get through to me… At the same time my mail service provider confirmed a mail from her address just came through, and nothing else. We responded with a simple go ahead and cancel. I only later on found out that Tania made contact with Carene and was extremely rude. 

We however managed to find another place, not on the beach, but a 5min drive away. More expensive, but from a reputable agent.

Why I say this was an attempted scam.

1. Pops out from the blue with something someone needs
2. Priced too good to be true
3. Consistent pestering for payment
4. Avoiding any paper trail
5. Rude when things don’t go their way, try to intimidate 
6. Disappears

My online dealings have made me well aware and more careful of most if not all scammer tricks. 

So Tania Visser, Wake Up And Smell The Hummus you bottom feeding excuse of a human being.