New child car seat laws

As of Friday 1 May 2015, all children younger than 3 years of age have to be buckled up in a child car seat.
Failure to strap a child younger than 3 in a car seat could result in a fine of up to R500.00.
Children older than 3 must be strapped into either a booster seat or the cars normal seat belt.
According to Arrive Alive, safety seats that are correctly installed and used for children up to four years old could lessen the need for hospitalisation in the case of an accident by 69 percent. Even at lower speeds seatbelts are important - studies show that 80 percent of deaths and serious injuries occur in vehicles traveling slower than 80 km/h.

Attorneys Fidelity Fund Risk Alert

Fraud syndicates continue to make attempts at defrauding practitioners.The modus operandi is as follows:
  • the fraudster deposits a stolen cheque into a practitioner’s trust account;
  • the fraudster contacts the practitioner and purports to be an employee of the Attorneys Fidelity Fund (to allay suspicion) and explains that the deposit was made in error;
  • the fraudster requests that the practitioner pay the money back by electronic transfer, into a bank account which is purportedly a Fidelity Fund account (the account will in fact belong to the fraudster; opened using a stolen ID document);
  • the amount credited to the practitioners trust account (via the stolen cheque) will be reversed by the bank once it becomes clear that the deposit is fraudulent.If the practitioner did pay out against this deposit s/he will have fallen victim to the scam.

The success of this scam relies upon the fact that the onus is on the practitioner to ensure that the recipient account actually belongs to the payee.When an electronic transfer is made, the bank does not match the payee account number with an account name.

The Fund is not legally empowered to assist practitioners who fall victim to fraud. The Fund is, however, concerned that its name is being associated with fraud attempts and is making every effort to apprehend the perpetrators.

 

The reality is that scams of this nature are very common (often using the names of respected institutions; SARS is one example).Fraud associated with banking technology is the fastest-growing area of fraud in the developed world.It follows that, even if the Fund should be fortunate enough to apprehend the current perpetrators, the fraud attempts are likely to continue.The scale of these attempts is of such magnitude that there is a high probability that every practitioner will, at some stage, be approached by the fraudsters. Please be alert to this risk, and review your payment processes to ensure that your practice does not fall victim to fraud.

Estate Agents wanted:

 VHS Properties and Rentals requires qualified Estate Agents to join our vibrant new division.
If you are interested and are registered with EAAB, please send your CV to corina.deeds@mweb.co.za.

Estate Agents wanted:

 EAAB registered Estate Agents needed to join the VHS properties division.
Kindly email your CV to corina.deeds@mweb.co.za if you are interested.