City Power employee's alleged scam backfires after he is locked up by smart customer

11 April 2021 - 14:44 By shonisani tshikalange
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A City Power employee allegedly tried to scam a business customer by demanding cash to reconnect his electricity
A City Power employee allegedly tried to scam a business customer by demanding cash to reconnect his electricity
Image: Alon Skuy

A City Power employee was arrested on Friday for allegedly trying to scam a Troyville customer out of R780.

The 37-year-old is expected to appear in court on Monday facing charges of fraud and malicious damage to property.

City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said the staff member is alleged to have visited a business customer at their workplace in Wilhelmina street, under the pretence that he was there to audit the meter.

“After fiddling with the meter box, the staff member is said to have demanded an amount of about R780 to reconnect the customer. The quick-thinking customer locked the City Power staffer up and called law enforcement agencies,” Mangena said.

The man was arrested when the City of Joburg's Group Forensics and JMPD responded to the call.

The employee allegedly confessed that he was not authorised to do an audit on the customer's meter as he didn't have a job card.

“He was arrested and booked at Jeppe police station for the weekend,” Mangena said.

City Power CEO Mongezi Ntsokolo has welcomed the arrest.

“This should serve as a warning to other staff members that their job is to provide a service to the residents and not steal from them. We will not tolerate any mischief from our staff members or contractors. We believe that there are more of our members who engage in these illegal activities. We call on other customers to desist from bribing our employees and rather report them when they ask for money, to the police or our security,” said Ntsokolo.

Ntsokolo said internal action will be taken against any staff member found to be engaged in criminal activities.

TimesLIVE


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