A group of con artists, posing as Malawians or Mozambicans, has been targeting the uninterruptible power supply industry. In four known scam incidents - two in Johannesburg and two in Cape Town - the total loss could have been more than R200 000 had all of the scams succeeded.
Neill Schreiber, managing director of national UPS specialist company Square One Power Solutions, has warned the industry to be on its guard after his company was targeted for a significant amount by a man posing as a Mozambican requiring UPS units for his business.
Schreiber added that another Johannesburg company luckily escaped a similar scam purely because it had knowledge of the attempted fraud at the offices of Square One Power. The company was able to prevent a "deal", worth R110 000, from proceeding. Unfortunately the con artist did not return to collect the goods as arranged, as he would have walked into a police trap.
Two other UPS companies were targeted in Cape Town on the same modus operandi. Fortunately, these scams were uncovered when one of the companies telephoned Square One Power to place an order for 20 units as they had no stock at the time.
"There may have been many more of these scams. The individuals are knowledgeable about the UPS industry and plausible. It seems as though they are now targeting dealers. Companies should be on the lookout for them."
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Square One Power Solutions is a national UPS company, an APC High Power Partner and a member of the JSE-listed Square One Solutions Group. It provides power solutions for the SOHO, PCA and SME network environment, telecommunications, medical, security, lighting and general industry as well as major corporations and government. Parent company Square One Solutions Group Limited is listed on the JSE and provides integrated IT-based solutions to corporate, retail and government clients through a reseller channel that, in turn, integrates such solutions for end-users. The core business of the company encompasses document handling and information sharing solutions; networking; hardware, software and consumable products distribution; Internet, IT security (biometrics) and e-commerce technologies; data storage; variable data product marking and coding solutions; uninterruptible power supplies; and value-added business services.
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