Durban - A smooth-talking scamster conned a Durban woman out of R180 000 and R20 000 worth of jewellery using a snake in a coffee tin and an elaborate plan that drew her in deep before she realised what was happening.
The snake, a ball python, has since been rescued and is with an experienced reptile handler who is getting it back to health.
The con started with a simple palm reading, but quickly went to finding a cure for bad luck and to a get rich scheme – all within a week.
The drama unfolded on October 25 when a secretary, whose identity is known to the Daily News, messaged a cellphone number in an advert she saw in a newspaper.
The advert read: “Free Readings. Get to know your destiny in life for guidance.” It asked for the person’s name and date of birth to be sent to a Whatsapp only number or to call an 031 number provided.
After a while her phone rang and a woman on the line said the secretary had bad luck and the only way to get rid of it was to do a palm reading for R300.
The secretary, fearing the worst, agreed through a Whatsapp message and five days later a car fetched her. She was taken to an office building in central Durban where her palm was read. They asked for R1 500 to have the bad luck removed.
“When I arrived at the office they said the woman I spoke to was in hospital giving birth. A man said he would assist me. Throughout, the man I dealt with guaranteed that if it did not work he would return my money,” she said.
After her palm was read, the secretary was told to buy a 750g tin of a specific brand of coffee.
They gave her a sea shell and instructed her to place it on the lid. She had to sleep at night with the tin next to her bed and bring it to their office.
“It seemed so real, the whole office was set up with statues of various Hindu deities. He took me into the office and opened the coffee tin. A snake popped out. He jumped back and pretended to be scared. He demanded I speak to the snake and tell it to go back to where it came from. He kept pushing me. I did as I was told,” she said.
They were sitting on the floor in the office in a prayer position.
“He took the tin and snake and put it into a packet and left it in the reception area. He told me that was my bad luck and it needed to die. He said everything will work out with the snake when the ancestral father speaks to me,” she said.
The secretary at one stage told him she did her prayers at home, but he remained persuasive. He switched off the light and a voice spoke out which the man said were the ancestors talking.
“The ancestral father said that I was sinking in debt he wanted to make me rich. He had a gruff voice and there was complete darkness. There were shuffling noises. The voice said there was a metal storage box next to the wall with R2 million inside. All I had to do was put R200 inside the box,” she said.
The secretary was loaned R200 by one of the conmen who switched the light on and off again. The secretary was instructed by the voice to look into the box when the light came on for 10 seconds only.
She saw R200 notes in the box but was not allowed to touch them. The voice said she needed to give them R10 000 to slaughter cows. Soon after, the men arrived at her home and collected the money. The conmen then called the secretary and demanded R200 000 to mix with the R2m otherwise she would die a painful death.
“I used my parents’ savings without realising what happened. Every time he collected the money he told me he was chatting with the ancestors on the phone. He would give me the phone and this voice spoke of how I would die a painful death if the bad luck was not removed. They kept phoning me at odd times,” she said.
The men told her on the phone the ancestors had told them she had more money and she should give it to them for cleansing. The secretary ran out of cash and gave them her jewellery.
At this point she realised something was amiss, but it was too late. The secretary said she was intimidated and bullied. They told her they would cancel the job and return her money, but that the bad luck that would befall her, would kill her family.
The secretary then opened a case of theft by false pretences at Durban central police station, said Major Thulani Zwane.
Police raided the offices last Thursday and took a person in for questioning.
Daily News
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