The South African Police Services has advised stokvel or investment society members to make use of electronic fund transfers (EFT) instead of carrying large sums of money this festive season.

This comes after members of a stokvel in Limpopo were recently robbed of R60,000 when gathering to share the money.

According to the police, two armed suspects robbed the stokvel members of their money at the premises of one of the members at Tshware Village, Ga-Mamabolo.

Provincial police commissioner Lt Thembi Hadebe explained that the suspects appeared and told the members to lie down.

“At about 10.30am, before they could share their monthly contributions, two suspects appeared and ordered everyone to lie down. They then took all the money, and before they fled the scene, they locked all of them in one of the rooms,” said Hadebe

Police in the province often receive such reports at this time of the year.

“Stokvel members withdraw large amounts of money and proceed to the house of one of the members to share it, especially during this time of the year. This method obviously attracts criminals. Stokvel members are advised to make use of EFT, which minimises crimes of this nature,” said Hadebe.

The police request anyone with information about the suspects to contact the investigating officer Det Sgt Samuel Malemela on 076 749 8403 or the nearest police station, 08600 10111 or the MySAPSApp.

Fraudulent activity to look out for

The South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) last week told grant beneficiaries using gold cards they will not be able to withdraw their funds from ATMs in December. 

This after Postbank uncovered criminal networks targeting ATMs to access accounts.

Gold card holders have been advised to withdraw their social grant money at any retail outlet nationwide which provides cash back. These include Shoprite, Checkers, Usave, Pick n Pay and Boxer stores.

“In recent months, Postbank has been experiencing technical glitches that disrupted the smooth withdrawal of social assistance benefits,” said Postbank.

“Following extensive investigations, we have uncovered network attacks by criminal elements determined to commit systematic ATM card fraud-related crimes on Postbank payments using sophisticated modus operandi which require further investigation.

“As a mitigating exercise, and in consultation with our partners following the resurgence of these criminal activities at the inception of the December payments, it has become necessary that Postbank suspends Sassa grant withdrawals at ATMs for clients using the Sassa gold cards issued by Postbank.”