I would like to take this opportunity as a business owner who has just gone through a very serious criminal attack to warn the industrial community of a potential new criminal attack on business salespeople.
In short:
We received a phone call that a potential client wanted to buy our equipment which they use in installations for Vodacom. Apparently they have been doing it for more than 10 years and purchase lots of equipment. 30 minutes prior to our salesperson Gerrit Tromp leaving our offices, they phoned and said that their offices are in disarray due to moving to new premises: Would it be possible to meet at a restaurant close by?
At the restaurant they ordered a coffee for him prior to arriving and kept on advising him to drink it. Within the first 20 minutes he noticed they had no technical experience and cut the meeting short and promptly left for the next meeting.
On the R21 he phoned me and said he thought that he had been drugged. I advised him to pull over and sent two people immediately to assist him as I was scared he would end up in an accident.
Within a few minutes I received a phone call from him again that a VW golf pulled in behind him and two people jumped out running towards his car. Realising the danger he sped off towards the airport police. At the airport he collapsed and an ambulance was requested after he went into cardiac arrest.
Blood tests revealed that Gerrit was drugged with several chemicals at the coffee shop.
Let this serve as warning to technical sales people, who seem to be the ones targeted by this type of attack.
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