BMW seller lured to his death

The recent hijacking and murder of a Cape Town man has again turned the spotlight on the classified advertisements website Gumtree, which has been abused by criminals in the past to lure their victims.

Olwyn Cowley's body was found dumped on Monwabisi Beach, in Khayelitsha, on Friday with two bullet wounds in the head.

Cowley, 21, was last seen on Thursday when he went to meet a potential buyer of his car in Century City.

He had placed an advert on Gumtree for the sale of his BMW.

His aunt, Anita Hanekom, said his mother and girlfriend panicked when he did not return home and alerted police.

"My sister's only son wanted to sell his silver BMW and advertised it on Gumtree and he got this guy's number. This guy contacted him to set up a meeting and pay some money on the car. So he went to meet the guy but never returned," said Hanekom.

"His girlfriend had an ID number of the guy that wanted to buy it, police traced it to somebody they knew. They went to the guy's house in Mitchells Plain. They found Olwyn's ID there and then the guy confessed to shooting Olwyn."

Police spokesman Captain Frederick van Wyk said three men had been arrested. They will appear in the Mitchells Plain Magistrate's Court today on murder, hijacking and kidnapping charges.

A Johannesburg man who asked not be identified lost his gym bike to a conman who had responded to his Gumtree advert in July.

The conman sent the victim an SMS confirming that R10 250 had been paid into his account.

"It was quite an upmarket bike. A brand new one costs R30 000, and I wanted to sell it quickly. I put it on for R10 000. I got a response almost immediately.

"It was a guy with a Yahoo e-mail address. He said he wanted to buy it quickly and asked for my banking details so he could make payments. Then I received an SMS, a notification that the money had gone in."

The seller said he delivered the bicycle to a block of flats in Yeoville. When he realised later that the money had not been deposited into his account, he phoned the man, who promised to "sort the matter out" with his bank.

But he never again answered the seller's phone calls.

A Cape Town woman, Roz van der Vyver, 38, died after a gang that had posted a fake job advert on Gumtree allegedly gang raped her in September last year.

She was rushed to hospital after a seizure.

The advert offered a job as a stock-taker at the Pick n Pay supermarket in Observatory. Pick n Pay said it had no knowledge of the advert.

"People should be aware whom they are dealing with. They have to meet them in public spaces such as police stations, where they can verify them," said Van Wyk.

Gumtree could not be reached for comment yesterday.