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- Lerato Khumalo* met a man on Tinder, only to get scammed in the name of 'ancestors' and the possibility of getting more money.
- She was told to get loans from different banks and promised that the money would be multiplied. Instead, the man gave her a box full of black pieces of paper.
- She hasn't been able to recover the money despite getting the police involved, as the man denies ever getting any money from her.
I met a man from Sandton on Tinder, and we started chatting on WhatsApp.
He called and asked for my names and told me he was praying for me, and he saw that I'm always broke, and money never stays in my account.
Soon after, he called and told me to wrap R420 in a white cloth and bring two candles and a bag to his house. When I got to the house, he took me to a room where there was a shrine. He said that's where he communicates with his ancestors.
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He took me through the whole house, and the garden where he had several animal hides hanging.
He said they were from the sacrifices he made for his ancestors. About a month later, he told me to buy a 750g Ricoffy tin and bring it to his house.
The next day I went to his house with the requested items. He took me to the shrine and prayed for me. Then he opened the tin, and scary things fell out - they included a R20 note tied with a string, a black plastic doll, and an old bone. He said these were evil things from my house.
Then the lights were switched off in the shrine, and a voice started talking. He told me the voice belonged to his ancestors. The voice told me to go to all the major banks and apply for loans.
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I was given five banks to go to in one day and told that those ancestors wanted to bless me and make my money grow. They also said borrowing money would be a way to keep SARS from questioning me once there are suddenly considerable amounts in my bank account.
The voice also mentioned that they had blessed him with huge amounts of money. They also instructed him to go to the bank and withdraw R2.1 million from his family account. He went to Sandton FNB to put a notice for the money and brought the receipt/letter from the bank to the shrine to multiply it.
The voices kept saying my relationship with him was approved by the ancestors, and they were preparing money to bless us for future generations. I borrowed R950 000 and withdrew R100 000 from savings and credit cards. I was told to bring the money to the shrine, where it would be multiplied, which I did.
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After that, he would bully me daily with phone calls and threats. He was now asking for R1 200 for 6 chickens to be sacrificed. If I didn't give him the money, he would be shouting and swearing at me to a point where I would be crying.
This continued for about a week until he told me to come to the house alone to collect a box with R7 000 000 inside. He told me not to open the box until 11 June. When the day came, he kept saying I shouldn't open the box. I told him the loans needed to be paid, but he kept saying to relax as the loans would be paid off.
About four days later, I decided to open the box, only to find black pieces of paper. The promised money was not there.
I opened a case with the SAPS a few days later, and it seems the police went to his house with the police. He now blames me for bringing the police to his house and tells me to go to the police and demand my money. Now he denies ever receiving any money from me.
Have you been in a similar situation as Lerato? How did you cope? Let us know here.
* Name has been changed and the man's name has been withheld.
