Pick 'n Pay's GM of corporate marketing, Tessa Chamberlain, is appealing to all schools and charities throughout the country to be on alert for the group, which sends letters to schools, charities and frail care facilities that appear to come from Pick 'n Pay, saying that funds are going to be deposited into their account for a social responsibility donation.
Some time later, they then telephone the school or charity saying they have made a mistake and deposited, for example, R16 000 instead of R6000 and ask them to deposit R10 000 back into their account.
"Fortunately, one of the schools contacted us when this first broke and our security personnel checked out the account, which is held at a major bank and with the co-operation of the bank concerned, the account has now been closed. However, they have now opened further bank accounts to continue what they are doing.
"We have now had reports from a number of our suppliers, which shows that the group has extended its reach. They work on the same premise, pretending to work for Pick 'n Pay and alleging that they have erroneously paid the supplier, and asking for a refund. They even fax proof of payment, which once we checked, is from a public fax booth in Hillbrow.
Continues Chamberlain, "We're appalled that a group could fraudulently use our name in order to extract money from schools or charities in South Africa who are so hard pressed for funding in the first place. This is an outrageous thing to do and we continue to report all cases to the SAPS.
"We'd like to call on all South African schools and charities to be especially vigilant. We do not give unsolicited donations and our communications with social responsibility recipients is always personal.
"We are also communicating with our supplier base to warn them of the scam," she concludes.
The scam is being investigated by the Commercial Crime Unit of the SAPS. If anybody receives such a letter, please fax it to Inspector Swanepoel of the Commercial Crime Unit of SAPS on tel +27 (0)11 870 5322/16.
