How to Avoid Driver and Delivery Job Scams in South Africa

How to tell a real driver application from a scam, without getting so worried that you walk away from a real one.

Research note Researched and reviewed by the DriverZA editorial team.

The question that actually matters

Real driver applications ask for a lot. Your ID or passport. Your permit. Your driving licence. Your bank details. Photos of all of them.

So “they asked for my ID” is not a warning sign. Takealot's own form photographs your ID, your licence, your licence disc, your bank statement and your proof of address. That is the process working normally.

The question is not what you are asked for. It is where you are being asked, and whether money is moving towards someone.

What normal looks like, and what it does not

Normal.

  • You start on the company's own website or app, and the form is on the company's own domain.
  • The form asks you to photograph documents inside that form.
  • You are asked for bank details so the company can pay you.
  • You are asked to consent to a criminal record check.
  • You pay a licensing office for a PrDP, or an inspection company for a vehicle inspection. Those are real fees, paid to those organisations, not to a recruiter.
  • Nothing happens for weeks. Real onboarding is slow.

Not normal.

  • A WhatsApp number asks you to send photographs of your documents to it. A company's onboarding form is not a WhatsApp chat.
  • Your application is a Google Form, a Facebook message or a spreadsheet, rather than something on the company's own site.
  • Anyone at all asks you to pay a registration fee, an activation fee, a “slot” fee or a training fee to apply. No company on this site charges to apply.
  • You are told a job is being held for you if you pay today.
  • Someone offers to complete the application for you using your documents, or to “get you approved”.
  • Someone offers to sell you a PrDP, an operating licence or a work permit, or to get one faster for a fee.
  • Someone sells you an Uber Eats delivery bag before Uber has sent you the link. Uber says not to buy one until then.
  • You are asked to pay a bike or car rental deposit before you have seen the vehicle and read the agreement.

How to check, in two minutes

  1. Look at the web address. Type the company's name into a search yourself and start from its own site, rather than opening a link somebody sent you. Every application link on DriverZA goes to the company's own site and nowhere else.
  2. Ask who they are. A real branch, franchise or fleet has a name, a physical address and a landline. Ask for all three, then check them yourself.
  3. Ask what the money is for. If the answer is anything other than a government fee or a named inspection company, stop.
  4. Ask for it in writing. A real rental or work arrangement survives being written down. A scam usually does not.

Vehicle and fleet rentals

Rental scams cost the most, because the deposit is large and it feels reasonable to pay one.

Pingo, Uber and Bolt all offer some form of arrangement for drivers without a vehicle, and those are real. Someone claiming to rent you a bike “for Sixty60” on WhatsApp is not the same thing as Pingo's own arrangement.

Before any money moves: see the vehicle in person, read the agreement, check who owns it and who holds the operating licence, and confirm what happens if it is damaged, stolen or impounded.

If it has already happened

Report it to the South African Police Service and to your bank if money moved. Keep the messages, the numbers and the payment reference.

Tell the company too. Companies do act on people using their name, and a report helps the next person.

If a page on DriverZA led you to something that turned out to be fake, tell us and we will check the link the same day.