Yummy mummy con hits the rich
Credit card skimming is on the rise with syndicates targeting restaurants by employing waiters to operate skimming devices. Credit card skimming is on the rise with syndicates targeting restaurants by employing waiters to operate skimming devices.
They are dubbed the “yummy mummies” – a gang of pretty young women who steal identities and then hit the banks, withdrawing large sums of money from people’s accounts.
Their hunting grounds are sports clubs, golf clubs, gyms and private school sports days where they know the well-off leave possessions locked in their cars or in unattended handbags.
And then they pounce, stealing ID books, cheque books, payslips and credit cards. Within hours, they have assumed their victims’ identities – sometimes even dying their hair – and they begin their bank-fraud spree.
“They don’t raise suspicion at all,” said one bank employee, who may not be named because she has no authority to speak to the press.
“They are attractive young women. Not typical fraudsters at all. And they have ID books and it all seems so legitimate. When they come to town, the banks can collectively lose up to R500 000.”
The South African Banking Risk Information Centre (Sabric) has confirmed that the syndicate has been dubbed “the yummy mummies”.
Sabric CEO Kalyani Pillay said it operated in KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and the Western Cape.
“The yummy mummies target social settings, such as school sports meetings, where they pose as parents to gain the confidence of their victims.
“They go to great lengths to ensure that they blend in with the social settings they are targeting, such as adapting the way they dress,” Pillay said.
“They also seem to target gyms. They steal from handbags and cars.”
Pillay said Sabric did not have a full dossier on the syndicate and could not quantify the fraud.
“We again urge the public to take adequate care of their personal information and not to be readily trusting when socialising with strangers.”
Another bank official, who also could not speak to the press, said members of upmarket clubs were often targeted because the fraudsters knew they would have money in their bank accounts.
“There has been a marked increase in identity theft, with the runners being attractive white females. Most are escorts, but they are coached well and they are very convincing.”
Several arrests have been made over the past two years and The Mercury has numbers for at least five cases, but by the time of going to press could not confirm the outcome of these.
One of the victims was a Pietermaritzburg attorney and another a member of a running club in the city.
The Mercury understands the yummy mummies are part of the same syndicate that recruited Anthony Strauss who assumed the identity of an SAA pilot, wearing his uniform, name tag and carrying his leather flight bag, to steal more than R56 000 from his account.
As reported in The Mercury last Friday, the uniform and documents had been stolen from the pilot’s car outside an upmarket golf club in Cape Town.
Another car was also broken into and Strauss admitted in court that he had come to Durban and assumed the two identities to con bank officials and commit fraud.
He is now serving a seven-year jail sentence.
The man police say is the mastermind of the syndicate, Claude Maart, has been on the run since absconding from court earlier this year.
Anyone with information regarding his whereabouts should contact Warrant Officer KG Chetty at 084 622 9114 or Captain LF Helberg at 082 567 4183. - The Mercury