Power-ful scam for unwary
The Citizen|June 19, 2024
It'll cost you more for an already expensive utility if you fall for it.
Adriaan Kruger
Power-ful scam for unwary

Advertisements on social media platforms offering all kinds of opportunities to cut the cost of electricity seem to have increased lately. Most of these offers are fake.

Facebook Marketplace crawling with people offering prepaid electricity at bargain prices.

Complete with pictures of machines printing pre-paid electricity vouchers, these advertisements offer electricity bundles starting at R100 for 500 kilowatt hours worth of electricity. This is equal to 20 cents per unit, compared to the local municipality selling electricity for around R2.75 per unit.

The only way to find out if these sellers - Ntsako Nkuna from Daveyton, Phumza Maphhisa from Mossel Bay, Nkuriso Molamodi from George, Nomtha Wellanga from Oudtshoorn and all their competitors - have found a way to hack the municipality's system, or if they are liars, was to buy some electricity.

It turned out to be the latter, with an exceptionally simple con.

If anyone asks to buy electricity, the "seller" assures them the purchase is real and without risk.

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