Photo: SAPS / Twitter
Photo: SAPS / Twitter
In the last week, the South African Police Service (SAPS) launched a huge recruitment drive for entry-level positions across the country. Despite the renewed enthusiasm in the force, it seems that a particularly deviant scam has surfaced, endangering families and putting them severely out of pocket.
In a statement released on Tuesday, SAPS revealed that criminals pretending to be police officers were making calls to homes of applicants who were looking to join the police. They would phone up, demand that R2 500 is transferred to an anonymous account, and target either the prospective employee or their parents.
SAPS recruitment scam
It’s understood that someone masquerading as a police captain would put the squeeze on their victims, telling the families and applicants that they would need to pay the fee to go ahead with the training. A number of people have fallen for this scam already in Tabankulu and East London, in the Eastern Cape.
The law enforcement body has stressed that applicants and parents “must refuse to be subjected to this kind of scam”, and they should report the matter immediately to the nearest police station. In their words, police employment “is not for sale” and people have a right to apply for work with SAPS free of charge.
Avoid the fake officers
The police have brought more clarity to the application procedure, telling citizens to avoid paying any sum of money in exchange for employment. There is a list of secure, contactable numbers that are provided to all potential workers upon completion of their forms:
“SAPS’ official advertisement for entry level posts does not provide for payment by an applicant, nor is it responsible for the collection of money or anything in exchange for employment. Both nationally and provincially, SAPS has no policy or instruction regulating the collection of monies for this particular purpose.”
“Any person who claims to have received authority from the SAPS to collect monies from people with a false promise to secure employment for them, such a faceless individual is not from the police and is not representing the department. All official’s contact numbers are indicated in the job advertisements.”
SA Police Service
#sapsEC #SAPS is issuing a warning to people who have applied for entry level employment posts in the police, to exercise vigilance against bogus police who are out to rob unsuspecting communities of their monies. MLhttps://t.co/1lAJLD5ivf pic.twitter.com/Yt70mInng2
— SA Police Service (@SAPoliceService) October 1, 2019
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