Publications
Partners
Police in Pretoria are hunting for a scammer alleged to have raped a 26-year-old woman who had met him in public after enquiring about an online ad for an external hard drive.
According to provincial spokesperson Captain Daniel Mavimbela the woman had planned to buy the hard drive from the suspect after he advertised it on the internet.
The woman then agreed to meet at a restaurant in Sunnyside on Sunday evening.
"Reports further suggest that following the meeting the victim accompanied the suspect to a local flat where she woke up naked on a bed about two hours after she had passed out shortly after their arrival at that flat," said Mavimbela.
A vast majority of persons who have been victims to similar crimes were either spiked or suffocated with carbon tetrachloride or chloroform, he said.
"The woman believes that while she was unconscious, the suspect sexually violated and possibly raped before abandoning her inside the apartment," he said.
Mavimbela said a few weeks ago, a 19-year-old Sunnyside woman was allegedly raped by a man who had promised to link her with "blessers" after the man befriended the victim through a well-known social media website.
"The local police suspect that the recent heightening of operations could be denying criminals space to operate freely in the streets and the latter are resorting to 'friendlier' methods by isolating potential victims from the public eye through the usage of the internet," said Mavimbela.
The police have warned internet users to exercise extreme caution before agreeing to meet with strangers and rather agree to meet at a police station.
