Gospel and Tshivenda music artist Pfarelo Mahandana was left high and dry after being scammed by a "Good Samaritan".
The singer from Tshidzini, outside Thohoyandou, was over the moon after he appeared in Limpopo Mirror for the first time on 10 March this year with the release of his latest offering, an album called The Best of Pfarelo Mahandana. The album is a collection of hits from his previous albums. In the article, he also appealed to anybody who could help manage his music business to make contact with him.
Soon after the article appeared, calls started pouring in; mostly just to congratulate him on his new album. He became very excited when he received a call that he hoped would change his music career forever, as it came with the promise of a donation of musical instruments. His joy, however, was short-lived as the caller, who identified himself as Mr Maluleke from Giyani, turned out to be nothing but a fraudster. Instead of receiving the generous donation, Mahandana was left with an outstanding payment for airtime vouchers to the amount of R700 at a local spaza shop.
"On Saturday morning, 11 March, at around 06:30, I received a call from a 015-landline number. This 'Mr Maluleke' told me to make out a quotation of my needs. Things started to go awry when he called again and told me that he will transfer R1 200 to a local grocery store, so I can buy groceries and electricity, and that he would later take care of my music needs. I got a local shopkeeper, who gave him her Capitec account detail, and she received a message showing that he had transferred R1 500. His story changed when he told the shop owner that he wanted airtime vouchers for R5 000. But the shop owner had only R700 worth of airtime, which we sent him. It was after sending the voucher that we realised the bank message was fake. We tried to trace the number he had called from, but it was dead. That was when we realised that we had been scammed."
Mahandana is now left to settle this debt that was made by the man who scammed him. Fortunately for him, he happens to know the shop owner and they agreed that he could pay the R700 back.
"My advice to others is to be very careful of these scams, where people promise to help you but first want something from you. I have learnt the hard way and do not wish to see others go through what I had experienced," he said.