Two men passing off cartons of stones as cigarettes to spaza shop owners have been arrested in Tembisa, East Rand police said on Thursday.

"The men, aged 21 and 22, both from Mokopane in Limpopo, were found in their car with more than 10 cartons of counterfeit cigarettes stuffed with stones inside," said spokesman Lesiba Manamela.

Manamela said a number of people in Gauteng fell prey to these men who sold the "cigarettes" to tuck-shop owners, who only realised later that they had been tricked into buying boxes filled with stone particles.

They operated in various parts of Gauteng and seemed to live in their car, stolen from the mother of one of the tricksters.

Last week, a tuck-shop owner in Ivory Park went to the police with the boxes with filled with stones.

Police appealed to other victims of this scam to come forward.

The pair would appear in the Tembisa Magistrate's Court soon, said Manamela.