Nobody would give away an expensive piano

It was a good day when Janice Lawson sent me an email saying she has a Yamaha grand piano to give away – for free. She was looking for somebody who loves pianos and would get joy from the beautiful instrument that belonged to her husband, who apparently passed away unexpectedly.

He seemed like a very sentimental old boy, with the new widow saying that he would have wished her to gift the piano to somebody to enjoy it, rather than her selling it. (Maybe Mr Lawson played Mozart’s Requiem too often and it got to him.)

“I’m moving my properties to another place and I don’t think my husband will be happy if I sell this piano. At the same time, I am settling for a home with less space, so I’m hoping to give it out to someone who is a passionate lover of the instrument.

“The Yamaha Baby Grand Piano GC1 model used to be owned and played by my husband who passed away last year. It was last tuned sometime last year before he passed. She’s about 3 years old and in an impeccable condition,” Lawson explained in the email.

The only requirement for the ‘gift’ was that the piano was in storage with a transport company and the lucky recipient had to pay for transport.

“The piano is currently in storage with the movers I employed to move my properties from my house. The movers can deliver anywhere. However, the beneficiary has to pay moving costs,” says Lawson, instructing me to contact the movers to arrange payment and delivery.

However, it is unlikely that anybody would give away an expensive piano to an unknown stranger. The Yamaha GC1 retails for around R380 000 in SA. A piano that is only three years old would not be that much cheaper.

Warning

The Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) issued a warning just last week to caution people against scams involving requests for advance payments on such promises, whether expensive goods or promises of cash.

“An advance-fee or bank transfer payment scam refers to an instance where a fraudster promises a recipient that they will receive a significant share of a large sum of funds in return for an upfront payment to release the funds,” says the FSCA.

“The alleged funds could relate to a number of situations and are not limited to unclaimed inheritances or business deals. Fraudsters often request for an advance fee from victims to pay, for example, clearance certificates, insurance costs, courier services or registration fees.

“These payment scams are quite common and usually take the form of phishing and spam emails or text messages, which offer access to unrealistic monetary amounts in return for an upfront payment. Fraudsters, who have no intention of keeping to their end of the deal, continue requesting additional funds when they start receiving payments from unsuspecting victims, resulting in victims suffering much frustration and significant financial loss over time.”

The FSCA adds the usual warning that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Fake invoice

The offer to pay transport of R5 250 to get a beautiful R380 000 baby grand qualifies as a ‘too good to be true’ offer – and too good an opportunity to troll the fraudsters for this journalist to pass on.

Agreeing to pay the transport fee quickly elicited a response and an invoice to pay for delivery, sent by Linda Nkosi.

“Please take note of instructions from Janice Lawson that the first person that will make a payment for the cost of delivery will be the right person that we hand over the baby piano to and any other payments will be refunded to the second person and note for now no one has made payment yet.

“We thank you for using PICK FORDS Moving & Storage. We look forward to serving your future needs,” said Nkosi.

The invoice turned out to be an amateurish fake, using the Pickfords Removals corporate logo. It contained multiple formatting and design mistakes.

The fake invoice

One Adam Nkosi called the next day to ask when he could expect payment, while Linda Nkosi and Lawson sent several emails complaining that I had no sympathy for the widow and caused her to suffer emotionally while she was still mourning her husband.

Meanwhile, enquiries at African Bank confirmed that the bank account mentioned does not belong to a business.

“African Bank currently offers personal or individual accounts. With our acquisition of Grindrod Bank, we will be offering business accounts in the near future, but this is not currently the case,” it says, adding that the account had already been flagged by its transactional fraud team due to the activity on the account.

“The account has been blocked and additional documentation has been requested from the customer in question,” according to African Bank.

The banks says accounts that look suspicious are blocked and additional documents are requested to verify the legitimacy of the account and the activity on the account. If fraud has been identified, the accounts are sent to the bank’s forensics team to do further investigation before a decision is made whether the business relationship will be continued or discontinued, and to involve the relevant authorities.

“The bank has various systems and rule sets to detect and prevent fraud. We take the security of our accounts very seriously and ensure that we are protecting our customers and the bank from fraud. Regular reviews are done to our systems and rule sets to enable the bank to identify new and existing fraudulent methods and activities.

“We engage with other banks and the South African Banking Risk Information Centre (Sabric) to aid in the detection and prevention of fraud,” it says.

Prevention

The FSCA says members of the public can protect themselves from advance-fee payment scams by taking the following precautions:

• Do not respond to business opportunities or requests received via email or text message that require any form of upfront payment. In many cases you will be informed that the offer is exclusive for you and must be kept confidential.
• Do not divulge any of your personal information, including identity numbers or bank account information.
• Fraudsters are increasingly using the names of reputable institutions and businesses to try and give their scams legitimacy. If you are in doubt, contact the institution or business directly to verify if the request is legitimate.
• Be wary of persons or entities that do not have direct telephone lines, that are never available when you call or always promise to call back at a later time.
• Members of the public can check with the FSCA if the institutions offering money or big returns are legitimate companies and registered financial service providers.

The free piano scam has been going on for years. Fraudsters must have some success with the this scam – and others – if they continue to send their email and social media messages.

Grand pianos are beautiful, but apparently lethal.

While talking to the grieving Lawson and her accomplices, one Pretorius Lindie (sic) sent an email with the news that her husband passed away unexpectedly and she is moving into a smaller apartment with no space for a Yamaha baby grand …