A number of diesel buyers have been fleeced of unknown amounts of money by agents claiming to be working for the National Oil Company (NOC), PetroSA said in a statement on Wednesday.

Spokesperson Thabo Mabaso said bogus agents approached their current and potential clients, offered them unreasonable discounts and non-existent diesel contracts.

"PetroSA urges all its current and potential clients to exercise caution when dealing with agents purporting to act on behalf of the NOC, more so when offers of unreasonable discounts are made for its products," Mabaso said.

He could, however, not indicate the amounts involved, saying some of the people who lodged complaints with them said they lost money through the bogus business transactions.

The scam has been going on over the past three weeks throughout the country.

To avoid being fleeced by the bogus agents, Mabaso said diesel buyers should avoid business deals with private individuals and companies as they were not mandated to sell diesel on behalf of PetroSA.

"As a norm, PetroSA sells to resellers who then on-sell these products to their own customers. In the event that current or potential customers are approached with offers of the NOC's products, they should verify the authenticity of the quote with PetroSA," he said.

In the event clients or potential clients were approached with offers of the NOC products, they should verify the authenticity of those quotes with PetroSA's sales manager, Herbert Zwane.

Zwane can be reached on 021-929-3451 / 3495.

Sapa