For the 2nd time this year we've been a victim of a thief. This time a professional conman who appears to go from business to business running a somewhat elaborate scam.
We've been suffering a backlog of installations and customer call-outs, so when we received a response to a recent ad for a network engineer, we didn't do a proper background check before starting our new employee. (Let's call him 'Ant' for now).
Ant was working as a contractor to a company in Somerset West, where he was on 24 hour notice. He could start with us immediately. He needed a laptop computer for work, and told us that he could purchase the laptop he's been using from his previous employer. We offered to pay R3800 upfront, and he would pay back R3000 to us over 3 months.
He provided us with the account details and we transferred the money to a certain CJ Blignaut's Nedbank account on Tuesday, 28 August.
Having received the laptop, Ant started working with us on 29 August. (He warned that he might be a bit late, as he would first need to go to his previous employer. He showed up saying that they took a bit longer than he thought, as they first did a security search on the laptop he was taking to make sure there was no confidential information on it)
He jumped into the job with vigour! He took initiative and solved customers problems. He showed a very clear understanding of computer networks and was extremely patient and polite with customers. He didn't waste time but would quickly identify network problems, suggest solutions and execute them.
Within a few days he had seen more then 3 dozen clients and implemented strategies to improve customer service systems.
Tino, my partner, and I were thanking our lucky stars that we had found someone this good in a market where skills are scarce!
When he arrived last Monday, he told us that his apartment was robbed on the weekend. Apparently he had taken his grandmother to the Two Oceans aquarium, before having a picnic in the Company Gardens and then going to the Cape Town Museum. When they got back to his apartment, the place had been cleaned out. Including the food in his cupboards, his rent & car money which was in his wardrobe, and of course, the laptop that we had paid for the week prior.
We purchased a new laptop the same morning, this time for R5300, in order for Ant to continue doing his work.
Then on Monday afternoon, Ant sent me an email, saying that he was in a bit of a fix as he had to pay his rent and car repayments urgently. His mom would give him money, but as it was in the trust (his father passed away in January), it would take 2 weeks. He would borrow R4200 and pay it back to us within 2 weeks. I told him I would have to discuss it with my partners and let him know on Tuesday.
I felt uncomfortable with his request and discussed it with Tino, who was also not comfortable with it, especially as we haven't completed a full reference check. We discussed the possibility that he could be a fraudster, and both felt that things were fishy. Not because there were holes in his story, but because it all seemed so perfect!
We both felt guilty about suspecting him of foul play, but decided that we should contact his previous employers.
Early Tuesday morning I phoned his previous employer, who told me that he had nothing good to say about Ant, that Ant had left there on the 9th of August and took a laptop computer with him, that the employer had to go and retrieve from him on Friday night! (The same laptop that we paid for and was "stolen")
He also told me that Ant started working there on the 25th of July, and then simply didn't pitch on the 9th of August, claiming that he had to go to hospital to have a polyp removed. He carried on claiming that he was in hospital due to complications. However, before he left his previous employer, he also managed to "borrow" money using some elaborate story for needing it urgently and that he would pay it back as soon as the "trust" paid it out.
When Ant showed up for work Tuesday morning, Tino and I sat him down and informed him that we knew what was going on. We asked him to read, respond to, and sign a settlement in which he agreed to pay back the R3800 by 5pm. He had no response and signed the agreement.
However, 2 hours later he sent us an email saying that he felt it was unfair that he should pay back the full amount, as he had worked for us for 4 days already and that, in either case, he would have paid back the R3800 from his salary and that I should call him to discuss payment terms. (He probably doesn't care much for the fact that it costs thousands to recruit staff nor the days it's taken us to ensure the integrity of our customer information) He also carried on about us "umiliating" (sic) him in front of the other staff.
Earlier this year we were victims of theft by a partner company, and I spent thousands of Rands on a mediation process, believing that the culprit had made a naive mistake and that he would see the error of his ways and perhaps become an upright businessman. The mediation process turned out to be a time-buying exercise and the gent completely ignored the mediation agreement he had signed, claiming it was not legally binding!
Needless to say, I've had it with crooks, scamsters and liars. This time we went straight to the police and filed charges of 'Theft under False Pretense'.
Although I feel sorry for Ant, in that he is a seriously smart guy who could make a very successful (honest) living, I feel good about the fact that by putting him behind bars I'll be protecting other small businesses from becoming victims.
"Evil prevails when good men do nothing" - Edmund Burke
