24 Nov 2019

Botswana Police Service (BPS) has put it on record that police officers would not, under normal circumstances demand an ATM card and PIN from a suspect during an investigation.

In a press release, BPS urges members of the public to call 999 or the nearest police station if approached by anybody making such demands.

The release says the organisation continues to receive reports of people swindled out of a lot of money by fraudsters posing as police officers.

The perpetrators, explains the release, target people at shopping malls where they introduce themselves as police officers investigating cases of theft or robbery involving cash.

Investigations reveal that in a number of cases, a victim is approached by one person who is part of a syndicate who then claim to have found cash by the victim’s car and further request a lift to take the found cash to the nearest police station, the release states.

Other members of the syndicate would then approach the victim, claiming to be police officers (CID) investigating a case of theft or robbery involving cash further alleging that the passenger (their member) is a suspect therefore insinuating that the victim by default is also a suspect.

In the process, they would demand the ATM card and PIN from both the passenger (their member) and victim, who later receives cash withdrawals alerts from his/her bank account.

The release cites one incident in Molepolole where a 67-year-old woman was swindled of cash amounting to P10 000 on November 18 by two men posing as police officers.

In Kang, two unknown men who claimed to be police officers made away with cash amounting to P12 000 belonging to a 44-year-old man. ENDS