Cookie baker Mama Bongi was scammed out of 700 bags of cookies recently, so her community crowdfunded to replace the funds lost.
Wynberg Chelsea, South Africa (21 February 2022) – Mama Bongi was inspired to launch a business during lockdown to earn an additional income to support her children in Zimbabwe. She is an incredible baker with a talent for chocolate chip cookies, so she started selling them.
We featured Mama Bongi’s inspiring story in 2020 after several people reached out to share how she inspired them. Her business grew from strength to strength, but sadly, she was taken advantage of by a scam order.
According to the Mama Bongi Instagram account, someone claiming to work for the Department of Water and Sanitation ordered 700 bags of cookies. The order totalled R35,000. As soon as the team received the proof of payment, they started their work. The order and work were done in January, and the team were left so out of pocket that they could not cover their bills.
“We received an order for 700 bags of cookies from Trevor Moses from the Dept of Water and Sanitation and he sent through the proof of payment so we excitedly worked all hours to bake and deliver the order. We soon realised the POP was fake and now we cannot get hold of Trevor. We realise that we have been scammed. We are so distressed about this.”
A crowdfund was started to help Mama Bongi cover the cost. Within one week, they fully funded the financial loss. The goal of crowdfunding was to refund the loss of income from the scammer. Together, the community raised more than the stolen R35,000, putting Mama Bongi in a much better space financially.
If you want to get your hands on a cookie bag from Mama Bongi, check out her Instagram account here.
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