Toner scammers strike again

Namibian businesses are once again being targeted by a group of South African-based fraudsters - this time pretending to be the sole supplier of limited stock of toner cartridges for a particular model of Toshiba copying machines. In the latest incident a Windhoek [name withheld] said a man phoned to say that the usual supplier, Maxes Office Machines, had run out of E-studio 2500ac toner, insisting that the order should be done through a bogus company, First Golden, instead. The source at the company said the man spoke Afrikaans and apparently made the call from Namibia. In an email which followed shortly thereafter, the fraudster, using the alias Samantha Bredenkamp, wrote that Toshiba in South Africa had run out of the toner and that the next shipment would only arrive in June or July. The email stated that the Toshiba management had “authorised” the company to order six toner cartridges at N$3 995 each from First Golden. Maxes Office Machines, a supplier of Toshiba copiers and toner in Windhoek, said the fraudsters had pounced on its unsuspecting clients with the claim that Maxes could not supply them with toner. What is particularly strange, said Frank Snyman of Maxes Office Machines, is that the fraudsters knew exactly which clients had Toshiba copiers and which ones had ordered toner. “This is a gimmick,” Snyman warned, stressing that Maxes' clients should contact them should they receive suspicious emails. Atlantic Distributors, the agents for Defy home appliances in Namibia, in 2014 fell prey to the toner scam when, despite initial misgivings, they went ahead and ordered from First Golden. Andre van Zyl of Atlantic Distributors said the company paid but the toner never arrived. “These fraudsters are very shrewd. They have done their homework very well,” Van Zyl said. Jacked up Sean Siqueira of Copy Type Electronics Toshiba South Africa, which supplies Maxes, said the First Golden fraudsters have been getting away with the scam for years without consequences. “I believe these guys are very jacked up,” Siqueira said. “These are proper crooks. The problem is we cannot do anything about it unless our customers come to us and report that they have been ripped off.” Of the apparently leaked customer information, Siqueira said the fraudsters could be using a huge spam email list, but acknowledged that there could be leaks within the company. Siqueira suggested that companies put up firewalls to prevent data leaks. He said it was difficult to press criminal charges because Toshiba South Africa had no evidence of actual fraudulent transactions. He said Toshiba South Africa had sent out warning letters to customers to be wary of the scam. “We can put in as much time and energy into an investigation but unless a transaction takes place I see no reason why we should waste our energy like that,” Siqueira said. Playing the race card A response to questions sent to an email address used in the scam was rather indignant: “The only proper crooks in Africa are all the white people who still own the majority of wealth. These are the proper crooks who couldn't leave Africa in peace in their own land, but instead came to their land, stole from them and then turned them against each other.” This respondent charged that white people in Africa, and especially in southern Africa, devised laws and doctrines to enslave black people and force them to “play by their rules”. After a long diatribe, the scammer concluded: “[I] guess it's OK if the white people cheat black people out of their land, wealth and rights. But it becomes a problem when the white man's business or company is being disrupted.” CATHERINE SASMAN

Toner scammers strike again

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Namibian Sun 2025-06-09

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Toner scammers strike again

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Namibian Sun 2025-06-09

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