******* operating inside the store

Beware of ******** operating inside the MAKRO Woodmead shop pretending to be staff members, the wearing of covid19 masks is not helping us to identify the sheep from the wolves, I was a victim on the 9th of July 2020 at around 14H00. A guy who said by the name of Oupa a tall skinny guy with a bald head dark in complexion who said he was a staff member, dresses like staff, came up to me and offered to give me a 50% discount on all my items because he has vouchers that people do not redeem and he will use those to pay.

He gave me his contact details *** (Google stored his number as they also took my phone) and said I must call him once I am done. He had an accomplice a short guy about 173cm light in skin complexion, dressed similar to what the staff wear as well who also pretend to be buying from the shop, he said he was buying electronics a macbook pro. The guy Oupa states that he will checkout with everything we should wait for him at McDonalds Woodmead.

He calls me and says my items will be R2000 I should give him R950, he tells his acting friend that the for the Macbook he should give him R9000. The Oupa guy says everything is good because we will get receipts so if we need to return goods we won't have an issue with that. The guy arrives at McDonalds and says his acting friend should give him the money and he will bring his items, he says should also give him his phone so he can load airtime. After a while he comes with a packet with boxes which I suspect were part of their props. The guy had given his friend bank cards to pay with since he said he exceeded his daily limit and his phone. They pretend to have an argument over the the accomplice going to the cashier to verify if Oupa works at the shop (at the end I only realise this was a tactic)

The guy offers me more goods, I tell him I just want my groceries I never came to purchase electronics, he is persistent on his offer and says the vouchers would be wasted if I don't take more. There is a third person in this a lady that pretends to be the cashier calls and says they have phones that they want to buy with the voucher, I should lend them R3000 they will return the R2000. Buoyed by the fact that the other guy received his goods, I was like okay, it should not hurt because I will get the money back. The guy then says he want to thank me by offering me a phone for my assistance. Now I was the one that was supposed to give them my cash plus card and phone to have airtime loaded.

They both depart his friend says he is going to a store he will leave his goods at the parcel counter. After a few minutes when they have left, it dawns on me that these guys were working together and were not part of Makro staff and I was ****med and ******.

I definitely know nothing will be done about this, since this is South Africa! But this is for fellow customers to not learn the way I did, DO NOT TRUST ANYONE, EVEN INSIDE THE STORE!