Daring crooks – pretending to be City of Johannesburg officials – are threatening to cut-off water and electricity supplies unless residents pay a bribe.
Gullible residents whose water and electricity bills are in arrears have fallen prey to the scam.
So prevalent was the problem, the City of Johannesburg at the weekend said it has learned “that several households are falling victim to a criminal syndicate who are illegally disconnecting water and electricity services in an effort to solicit bribes from unsuspecting residents.”
The City warned residents against allowing unknown persons onto their premises unless they provide official identification.
“It must further be noted that the City has not issued any disconnection notices for the weekend of 30-31 October 2021,” said the City of Johannesburg in a communique issued late on Saturday.
Local government elections take place on Monday, 1 November 2021, which has been declared a public holiday.
This means that staff and contractors will not be available to process and effect the 72-hour reconnection period as stipulated in the Citys Credit Control Policy.
On being informed of the illegitimate disconnections, the City immediately enlisted the services of its Group Forensic and Investigation Services department to investigate the matter and a task-team has been set up to bring the criminals to book, said Councillor Matshidiso Mfikoe, a Johannesburg member of the mayoral committee responsible for finance.
Residents were urged to be vigilant and to report any such incidents to the Citys anti-fraud hotline on 0800 002 587.
