KZN man arrives at Pinetown service centre to find his car is gone

Hansel from Empire Defense Force shared a scam alert on TikTok and said he was a victim of the scam.

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He shared that he booked his vehicle in for a fitment at a service centre in Pinetown. He left his car at the centre, and upon arriving to pick it up, he was told that his vehicle was handed over to the person he sent through to collect. 

Hansel shared that the service centre staff told him they received a call from him instructing them to hand over his car to a person named Calvin, who would collect it on his behalf. 

When he told them that he had made no such call, they were shocked, and then they realised that they had been scammed.

Read more: Woman scammed out of R201k shares the red flags

Of course, there were some gaps in the story, like how the scammer knew his details and the make of his car, but perhaps they were tracking him, or worse, a person at the service centre was involved. 

He said that criminals are targeting vehicle owners in new ways and focusing on service centres, carwashes, and dealerships. 

It was negligent of the fitment centre to just hand over his vehicle without first confirming with him, but he did not share more details about the next steps in finding his car or the legal repercussions. 

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