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POLICE have warned the public to conduct thorough due diligence on every deal to avoid falling prey to fraudsters.
The warning comes in the wake of increasing cases of people being duped by fake agents.
Fraudsters have been posing as nursing recruitment agents facilitating travel documents to the United Kingdom.
There are also some con-artists posing as property agents and land developers.
The police urged people to check if the agents were registered with the relevant Government departments and to verify references before getting into any arrangement.
National police spokesperson, Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi, said it was sad that most people only start checking after they have already been conned.
“The police have arrested some fake agents and are still hunting for some who purport to be agents facilitating documents for desperate people intending to go abroad.
“People are losing their hard-earned money while some take loans or sell their properties to raise money which they end up losing to these scammers.
“Therefore, we urge people to first check the genuineness of any agent before getting into a payment arrangement,” said Ass-Comm Nyathi.
He said people were free to go to any police station and ask to be assisted with all types of checks.
“The public should be very careful of these syndicates sprouting up everywhere to fleece people desperate for a certain service.
“We are the people’s police service, and members of the public must feel free to approach us to help weed out criminal elements from society,” he said.
Mathew Masinge
Online Reporter