Veteran television actress Tina Jaxa has become the victim of what appears to be a Bolt scam.
Jaxa, who acted in Generations and Madam & Eve, lost an undisclosed sum of money when cyber fraudsters used her bank card number to pay for Bolt trips she did not authorise.
News of the alleged fraud came to the fore when she opened a case of fraud at the Parkview police station last month. According the police statement, Jaxa suspected that a make-up artist whom she was introduced to by a former colleague could have colluded with cyber criminals to defraud her.
The statement, which Sunday World has seen, reads in part: “Complainant alleged that on 2019-09-28 she was at home when she received a message on her cellphone concerning Bolt rider, which was made without her knowledge or authorisation. She contacted Bolt and they said they will investigate the matter. While waiting for them, another transaction [came through her Standard Bank account]. She had her card in her possession,” reads the statement.
Jaxa said the first two payments, which were in less than a week exceeded R567 in total and did not include other payments that were done days later.
Jaxa confirmed to Sunday World that she had opened a case of fraud after she lost money but declined to comment further about the case. “I want the police to do their work and bring to book those who have violated me,” she said.
A police officer, who didn’t want to be named as he is not allowed to speak to the media, said the former Ashes to Ashes thespian said she had visited the actor colleague and the make-up artist in Ferndale, Joburg, last year.
She said that she ordered takeaways and handed her bank card to the make-up artist to pay for it when the delivery man arrived as she was busy smoking. “After paying for the food, the make-up artist handed the card back to Tina,” said the officer.
A few days later, Jaxa received notifications of two trips paid for with her bank card. “She didn’t know whether the card was cloned or somebody wrote the number down and was just using it for these trips. She also wondered how they had bypassed her pin,” the officer said.
Bolt’s management, the officer said, investigated and gave Jaxa the name of the make-up artist and last two digits of her contact details. “She then phoned the actor and asked him if the number belonged to the make-up artist. When he confirmed, Jaxa freaked out and reported the matter to the cops,” according to the officer.
The officer also said they went to the suspect’s house but when they arrived, the security guards told them the make-up artist and actor had moved out.
He said the police found the make-up artist and when they questioned her, she told them she was not the only one who had had access to Jaxa’s bank card on the day of the visit.
“She said the actor and a well-known journalist also had access to the card. We are now waiting for information from Bolt before we could question both the actor and the journalist. We take this thing seriously as many people who use this mode of transport might also fall prey to these scammers.”
