Cops raise alarm over rising phone scams

Sea Point police are warning residents to beware of telephone fraud after they've received numerous complaints about people getting phone calls from scammers pretending to be from financial institutions.

- OWN CORRESPONDENT AND TAMLYNNE [e-mail]

Sea Point police spokesperson, Captain Cyril Dicks, said the con artists would call an individual, pretending to be from a financial institution such as a bank, and convince the person that there has been a transaction on their bank account. The person is then urged to go into their bank account to block it. The scammer will then send a false One Time Pin (OTP), and instead of the account being blocked, money would then be removed from the person's account.