The National Home Builders Registration Council (NHBRC) would like to advise all contractors to ignore electronic communications advising them of changes to the council’s banking details, says NHBRC CEO Mongezi Mnyani. Anyone receiving information to the contrary is urged to contact NHBRC’s fraud hotline on 0800 203 698.

“The communication advising contractors of changes to our banking facility is a scam and did not originate from the NHBRC” he says.

“As the housing watchdog in South Africa it is our responsibility to protect our clients against all manner of fraudulent activities. We view these scam emails as very serious and have put together a team to investigate the matter. Unfortunately we are seeing this type of fraud becoming increasingly prevalent, and are doing everything in our power to ensure it is stopped.”

Mnyani says that if NHBRC were to change its banking facilities, the notification to clients would come from the council’s head office and not through third parties.

The NHBRC has issued fraud alerts to its stakeholders via SMS, email and its website to notify them about the scam. The council will also be distributing letters via its provincial and satellite offices, and placing adverts in newspapers. The fraud hotline number 0800 203 698 will be published in all communications.

For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact Molebogeng Taunyane on 011 317 0070 or email molebot@nhbrc.org.za.

About the NHBRC
The National Home Builders Registration Council (NHBRC) is a statutory body with the responsibility to provide protection in terms of the Housing Consumers Protection Measures Act (Act No.95 of 1998). It is mandated to provide protection for housing consumers and to regulate the home building industry. For more information: nhbrc.org.za.