NATIONAL NEWS - Criminals are getting ready to pounce ahead of the Black Friday and festive season big money spends.
That’s the warning from police, who urge the public to refrain from carrying large sums of money and risking their safety.
This is the time of year which sees the heightened criminal activity as many people withdraw their hard-earned savings or use their annual bonus to buy gifts for loved ones, to spoil themselves or to take advantage of festive season specials.
Provincial Police spokesperson, Colonel Thembeka Mbele said people should consider using lower-risk methods of making payments, including cellphone banking, internet transfers to pay accounts, swiping a bank card at the point of sale or using ATMs to carry out banking.
‘People are being robbed of their cash or even killed and we want to prevent such incidents in future,’ Mbele said.
The warning comes following an incident on Monday morning when a man was accosted at gunpoint by four suspects in a Durban bank’s parking lot before he entered to deposit a large sum of money.
Colonel Mbele’s warning does not stop at members of the general public withdrawing their cash but extends to business owners paying wages and depositing cash.
She said those who pay salaries to employees, even casual labourers, should rather deposit the money directly into personal bank accounts via electronic transfers.
Business owners depositing cash should take precautions when doing so, such as alternating their banking routines and refraining from driving to the bank in a company-branded vehicle.
How to prevent falling victim to crime
- Refrain from making cash deposits, but if you must, alternate the days and times on which you deposit cash
- Never make your bank visits public, not even to people close to you
- Do not openly display the money you are depositing while you are standing in the bank queue
- Avoid carrying money bags, briefcases or openly displaying your deposit receipt book
- It is advisable to identify another bank branch nearby to ensure your banking pattern is not easily recognisable or detected
- If the amount of cash you are regularly depositing is increasing as your business grows, consider using the services of a cash management company
- Refrain from giving wages to contract or casual labourers in full view of the public
- Make use of wage accounts that can be provided by your bank
- Refrain from driving to the bank in your company branded vehicle on a typical ‘payday’ Consider arranging for electronic transfers of wages to your contract or casual labourers’ bank accounts.
