With unprecedented demand and road running race entries selling out across the country scammers are having a field day fleecing runners desperate for entries.
It is difficult to know whether all the scamming is done by one person using different numbers or whether there are multiple scammers. Some numbers definitely belong to the same person and there is at least one number, 0738823545, that has been in use for over six years. It is also difficult to estimate how many people have been scammed over the years but the number of victims is likely in the thousands.
A full, up to date list of known scammers can be viewed here: A List of Known Race Entry Scammers
Facebook seems to be the social media platform of choice although scamming is possible on any platform.
The scam itself is pretty simple. The scammer creates a number of fake Facebook profiles, joins running Facebook groups and then lurks in the shadows waiting for “desperately looking for an entry to [racename]” posts. In some cases, they create the running groups themselves.
Some typical examples are included above. The messages often state more than one entry available (and when contacted the scammer will say “One has already gone but I’ve still got one left.” I assume that this is done to create further urgency in the sale. The message content is always very similar and states “WhatsApp [mobile number]”. WhatsApp only communication is one of the big red flags.
The scammer will not answer voice calls (often because the scammer will not match the gender or the demographics of the fake Facebook account).
Apart from replying to “Desperately seeking…” messages, the scammers will also post directly to the group with a very similar message and then parasitically feast off the replies.
Although the scam is simple, once a potential victim makes contact, the scammer can be very convincing. They will produce doctored documentation to make it look like they have an official entry, fake emails, manufactured conversations with the organisers and even photographs holding a smart card ID with a name matching that of the Facebook profile.
These days all the major races except Cape Town Marathon will only allow substitutions through their entry system following a specific process. The scammer will come up with creative and elaborate reasons why the standard process does not apply to them. As an example, scammers are currently using “charity entries” as the reason to work outside the Two Oceans substitution process.
Note: At races like Two Oceans and Comrades, the substitution process for charity entries follows the same process as other entries and still goes through the official entry portal.
The scammer will always insist on a cash-type electronic payment like an e-wallet. They will never use a bank account. The insistence on a non-traceable transaction is another red flag. Once you’ve paid the scammer, he will sometimes try to fleece more money from the victim by coming up with a complication that needs more money to resolve and release the entry.
The moment they are challenged and get called out, they get very beligerant.
Some examples of successful and attempted scams are below:
Two Oceans Scamming
I received the following message from Lynette Lötter:
“Hi there! I am not sure if TTOM created the sub FB page. If so I want to report something please.
This “lady” said she has entries available.
Apparently purchased entries from Help2Read
When my son asked that she does a private voucher so he could sub, she had long stories why it is different with charity entries.
She even then sent him proof of the entry.
On it it shows she is running for Oxford Strikers. I checked, this is in EC the entry shows WC
She wanted money transferred to an e-wallet! This was another red light.
We did not fall for it, but I do think it must be reported.”
The page in question is “Two Oceans Marathon Substitutions 2026” and, while it does provide a good service for many runners, everything points to it being set up by the scammer(s) themselves. For example posts warning of scamming do not get approved by the admin. There are lots of legitimate posts from runners frantically pleading for subs and the scammer uses this as the cover to pop in scam “entry available” offers.
Two Oceans has a clearly published process and has consistently communicated that all transfers must go through the entry system and no money should change hands between parties. However, the scammer works the angle that charity entries do not follow this process (as previously mentioned charity entries follow the standard process).
Two Oceans charity scamming
The scammer has also been creating fake emails from official race charities like Pink Drive to “authorise” the sale and transfer of charity entries. You have to be a scumbag to be a scammer but this guy has taken thievery to a new low by impersonating charities, and potentially damaging their future fundraising efforts with his larceny.
A victim sent this message to Pink Drive,
“Whom it may concern
Me and my friend Paid Hector Visser for two Two Oceans 21km Substitutions. He sent me your correspondence with Hector. I indicated that Pink Drive will send me the two substitution vouchers by 12:00 yesterday.
I haven’t received any voucher codes.
Could you please be so kind to help me resolve this issue.
Kind regards”
The scammer presents what look like authentic emails (albeit with some spelling mistakes which may be because AI is involved in generating them).
Pink Drive’s domain is pinkdrive.org not pinkdrive.org.za, there is no Karen working at Pink Drive and emailing info@pinkdrive.org.za will produce an undeliverable email. There are also some red flags as the email names do not match the name on the fake Facebook profile.
I would never wish cancer on anyone but if there is karma in this world…
Cape Town Marathon Scamming
Lisa Kavanagh contacted me with, “Hey, I had the following interaction after asking for an entry to CTM on their official Facebook page. As soon as I called them out, they deleted their Facebook response and responded to someone else who’d asked.”
As you can see above there are a lot of tall stories like being pregnant as well as not being able to use their bank account because they are in Australia and left their eSim with their mother. The whole interaction smells like Kalk Bay Harbour on a hot day during the snoek run.
It’s also important to note that Cape Town Marathon has not announced any intention to offer substitutions this year so anyone offering you an entry is almost certainly a scammer.
That the scammer was apparently able to post on the official Cape Town Marathon page and keep posting scam messages after being outed as a scammer is also problematic.
Hillcrest Villagers Scamming
Unfortunately two Durban runners fell for a scam trying to get entries for the sold out Hillcrest Villagers half marathon. Although they are friends, they both fell for the scam independently and only realised this afterwards.
This time the scammer, under the guise of Hector Visser, included a fake email from info@racepass.com as well as a copy of Hector Visser’s id. The actual scammer is undoubtedly not Hector Visser – and if anyone knows him, they may want to alert him that someone is using his smartcard ID.
In this case, the scammer was also confident enough to leave voice notes for both victims. I am no dialectologist but that accent does not sound like a Hector Visser. If anyone does recognise the voice, my DMs are open.
This specific number, 0738823545, has been scamming for years and the WhatsApp account number pretends to be from Zimbali Bookings – who clearly get a lot of hate mail and complaints because the landing page of their site has the following disclaimers.
What Can You Do?
- Use your common sense and don’t be blinded by your desperation. If a race has sold out and there are hundreds of people looking for entries and some rando pops up offering you an entry it is likely a scam.
- WhatsApp only communication is a red flag. If unsure, Google the number and check True Caller for reports of fraud.
- Insistence of payment by e-wallet equals almost certain scamming.
- Check the entries site – for many races you can see the list of entrants and check whether the person offering the entries has actually entered.
- What does their Facebook profile look like? Whilst a locked account does not mean that they are a scammer it should raise suspicions. If their cover and banner photo (visible on locked accounts) look like a stock or pilfered photo then it’s scam central.
- On Facebook groups you can see when they joined and their other interactions. Scammers rarely have any legitimate comments or interactions.
- A top tip from Facebook admin, Demitri Baroutsos, is “Use Facebook’s search feature and search for the mobile number and then filter results by Recent Posts only, and you can also add a year/month using the Posts From filter. More often than not one or more posts will come up with the same scammer profile offering the same event/race entry substitution.”
READ MORE: Ask the Admin: How to prevent getting scammed on Facebook
- Demitri also suggests checking whether the WhatsApp name matches the Facebook profile name (in most cases they won’t). A business account offering entries is a red flag.
- Check race results sites to see if there is a history of race results (raceresults.co.za allows a runner history search, you can also just Google the person’s name and add “Runner”. If nothing comes up you’ve got a scammer).
- When interacting with them ask a few simple questions like “What club do you run for?”, “Do you know what the route is like?” etc. If it’s a scammer, they are likely to provide evasive answers.
- If you see a scam message, report the account. These days Facebook is all policed by AI so the more complaints the more likely the account is to be blocked. Yes, the scammers will create others but having to keep doing so is a major inconvenience for them. Likewise, report scam numbers to WhatsApp, Mobile providers (RICA was supposed to prevent exactly this kind of thing) and to sites like True Caller.
What Can Race Events Do?
- Races should publish a clear substitution process and the validity period on their web page and social media. This means that it will be picked up when Googling or chatting to your favourite bot.
Note: Everything you need to know about the Two Oceans substitution process can be found here: https://www.twooceansmarathon.org.za/ultra-marathon/#substitutions
- Ideally, races should have a “no money changes hands between participants” substitution process like Two Oceans and Comrades. This might be more difficult for some of the smaller races but this should be a consideration when picking an entries partner.
- Events should provide an online, easily referenceable list of participants and the event that they’ve entered for. This makes it easy to check if the Facebook / WhatsApp profile name has actually entered. As an example, for those looking for a Comrades substitution in future, you can see the list of current entrants here: https://results.finishtime.co.za/results.aspx?CId=35&RId=30206
Note: You can see Two Oceans entrants here: https://admin.twooceansmarathon.org.za/entrysearch.aspx. It’s a little hard to find for the regular user so the entries team has been asked to look into making this information easily available online (like Comrades) together with the race distance entered and entry type.
- Races with an official page should be actively monitoring comments for scams and blocking individuals posting scam comments.
- The large races should also be checking that fake impersonation Groups are not being created online. Below is a list of “Two Oceans” groups, many of which are outright fraud. One of the listed benefits of being a paid business subscriber is the guarantee that impersonation accounts and sites will be removed.
- There are some genuine and very valuable groups but these should clearly state that they are a runners (and not official) group and be actively administered to ensure that no scamming or fraud is occurring. You can quickly look at the content of a group to see if it’s being administered properly or not.
Note: The Two Oceans office has started engaging with Facebook to get the fake and fraudulent groups removed.
Afterword
If anyone has the contacts or skills to do phone tracing and other methods to try and track the scammers down and prosecute them, please let know.
If you have been scammed, I would suggest asking your bank to let you know where the e-wallet was cashed as that will also help to narrow the search. If the cash was withdrawn at an ATM there should be a photograph of the scammer (getting this from your bank will be a different challenge though).
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Great article Stuart. I hope this raises the awareness of scammers amongst the running community.