ALBERTON – Last week Saturday, at a flea market in Brackenhurst, stall holders became suspicious when two men hung around at the flea market, buying small things with R100 notes. “One of the victims was an elderly lady selling things to raise funds for old people in frail care. One of the suspects came to her stall to buy a cake of soap for R10 with a R100 note. The lady selling the cupcakes became suspicious of the two men walking in and out of the area, buying small things and then alerted the other stall holders. We then took a closer look at the R100 notes and realised it were all false notes. When we came to this realisation and things started stirring, the suspects made their way out of the flea market area,” Charlotte said.
“The men got into their cars to look for the suspects and could not find them. A while later I decided to walk down to a filling station nearby to buy a cold drink, and saw one of the men walking in the street. I approached him, confronted him, grabbed him by the arm and dragged him back to the flea market.”
Bracken SAPS and Fox Security was alerted and the arrest was made at the flea market. It is believed that the suspect who escaped is the mastermind behind this scheme.
“I felt like a real heroine when everybody gave me the high-five. The fake notes found between the stall holders and that still in possession of the suspect, totalled far more than R1 000. This is a clever way of them to make money. They buy for R10 with a fake R100 note and get R90 for mahala so to speak.”
Stall holders at flea markets, as well as businesses in Alberton, be warned and make sure that they verify the authenticity of R100 notes.
