Former Reserve Bank governor Tito Mboweni lost R5 000 in an ATM scam at a petrol station in Midrand on Thursday afternoon.
He recounted the incident on his Twitter account.
“Just been duped and lost my card and ten minutes later, R5k withdrawn,” he tweeted. “Be alert at the ATMs at Shell and Caltex Petrol stations, N1, Midrand.”
Mboweni later referred to an alleged criminal operating in the area.
“There is an ATM thug operating there. He looks like a perfect gentleman, bold [sic] head, smartly dressed and seemingly very helpful. Be warned,” he tweeted.
However, Gauteng police spokesman Kay Makhubele said that police had not received a report of an incident in the Midrand area.
“I phoned three police stations in the area (and) didn’t get any case in the area Mboweni alleged the incident took place,” Makhubele said on Friday morning.
In March, it was reported that well-spoken fraudsters were lurking around Cape Town ATMs and allegedly scamming international tourists out of thousands of rands. The fraudsters operated in a group and would steal the Pins and cards of unsuspecting tourists.
In October 2014, ANC MP Jackson Mthembu was shot and wounded while drawing money at an ATM in Emalahleni.
