The Child and Family Welfare Society of Greater Germiston is in a dire predicament.
The society has fallen victim to an elaborate fraud campaign and is losing its money on a daily basis.
In May the society was hit by the fraud campaign where their phones, cellphones and bank accounts were all tampered with.
Despite a case being lodged with the SAPS, little information is known as to how these fraudsters gained access to all the different elements involved in this case.
Since then cheques continue to be cashed on a regular basis from the charity’s account, despite the fact that the cheque book has been reported stolen and both Nedbank and the police are aware of the problem.
Janene de Beer, fundraising manager for the charity said, “I can’t believe how someone can be so heartless as to steal from a charity organisation, especially one that works for the protection of children.
“What is this world coming to?”
Here are details of what has happened so far:
- In May:
- All landlines in the office were out of order which is not strange as this often happens due to electricity supply challenges.
It was, however, established that the Telkom landlines were in fact diverted to an unknown number.
This diversion was made possible by the main Telkom box in the area being unlocked and accessible to anyone.
- The director, Barbara Bouwer noticed that her cellphone network coverage was also not available, something that is also not unfamiliar at times due to general network problems.
According to the service provider no problems could be found and it was suggested that a sim swop be done as the sim card may have been faulty.
Two days later it was, however, discovered that her cellphone had been reported stolen and was blocked – oddly for incoming calls and messages but not for outgoing calls and messaging.
- During a period of four hours, someone went to the bank and collected the cheque book of the organisation without the necessary authorisation and approval or confirmation documentation.
It is not clear how this person knew the cheque book was available as the authorised people from the organisation had not yet been informed of its availability.
- It is alleged that the bank had established telephonic contact to confirm and authorise the collection but because of the diverted and blocked numbers it is clear that they were not receiving the information from the correct persons.
- The (currently unknown) suspects then travelled to two different branches of the bank and withdrew large amounts of cash with two fraudulently signed cheques – once again telephonic confirmation according to the bank was obtained but at the time all the telephones were not working.
These issues were reported to the police and Nedbank and the cheque book was reported as stolen and stopped.
- Since then the following things have happened:
- On August 19 four cheques to the value of more than R141 000 were debited against the charity’s account.
The amounts were R85 500, R37 999, R3 500 and R14 900.
Immediately upon noticing this on August 30, Germiston Nedbank was asked how cheques that were reported stolen could possibly be used.
On September 3 when checking the bank account the director of Germiston Child Welfare, Barbara Bouwer, once again saw that money had been debited from the account – this time R15 000.
Management immediately went to Germiston Nedbank and had a two hour deliberation with the branch manager regarding the problem.
According to de Beer, Nedbank was unable to provide them with information relating to where and when the above transactions took place.
“It was indicated that on their system the cheque book is logged as ‘lost’ and not necessarily as stolen, therefore, all cheques being issued were being returned to the banks where the deposits took place and they were unable to present us with the images of the cheques to obtain information,” de Beer said.
“Funny when there is a case open about this theft, why has the ‘system’ logged it as lost and not as stolen?”
- On September 4, even after they had been to the bank the day before and reminded them that the cheque book was stolen another cheque was debited against the account.
And this continues daily.
“It looks like Nedbank does not care at all and this will continue until there is no money left in the charity’s account,” said de Beer.
The society is worried as there are still 194 cheques available for circulation which considering the nature of Child Welfare’s business is likely to create the impression that Germiston Child Welfare is “not good for its money”.
“This is an image we cannot afford in the corporate sector which we target to raise funds for our survival.
“The bank cannot confirm that they are returning cheques and indicating that the cheques are stolen they are only indicating ‘stop payment’ thus affected third parties will believe that we are issuing cheques which are returned,” de Beer said.
Generally authorisation is required for cheques used to purchase goods – the cheque of R85 500 was used at Checkers (Shoprite) – unknown branch at this stage.
“How on earth did this happen without authorisation, and if authorised by someone in Nedbank, how and when?
“We have good reason to suspect that something very strange is happening and this within Nedbank’s system especially since all this started off by the handing over of a cheque book without the required authorisation in the first place,” de Beer said.
To date de Beer said there has been no feedback from the fraud unit at Nedbank or Nedbank itself in respect of their investigation and no explanation of how, by whom and why the cheque book was handed over in the first place and the outcome of their investigation.
“Merely reversing cheques and reimbursing losses is not sufficient explanation.
“There seems to be a lack of interest in getting to the ‘behind the scenes’ matters of this case by Nedbank,” de Beer said.
Barbara Bouwer, director of Germiston Child Welfare said she has been struggling to get feedback and progress on the matter from the bank.
Anyone with any information, or who has had a similar experience can call Bouwer on 011 825-3655/6/7/8.
“It is hoped that by placing this information organisations with similar circumstances will be vigilant and aware of fraudsters who are stealing from the most vulnerable people in our society,” said de Beer.
The GCN contact Nedbank for comment on the matter and Lucas Venter, senior manager: analytic and forensic technology at Nedbank responded as follows:
“Nedbank acknowledges an enquiry from the GCN relating to a matter where a cheque book was fraudulently collected at the Nedbank Germiston branch, in the name of the Greater Germiston Society of Child and Family Welfare.
“Subsequent to this, two cheques for the amount of R20 000 and R48 000 were cashed at the Nedbank Birch Acres Mall and Nedbank The Glen, respectively.
“Upon investigation of the facts, Nedbank fully compensated the Greater Germiston Society of Child and Family Welfare for the fraud losses sustained.
“As the criminals are still in possession of stolen cheques, occasional attempts to commit fraud may still occur.
“Although such transactions may initially reflect on the client’s statement, the stolen cheques will not be honoured and the Greater Germiston Society of Child and Family Welfare will not suffer any losses in this regard.
“Nedbank has a policy of zero tolerance towards crime and considers fraud attempts against charitable organisations to be especially heartless.
“We will never hold clients responsible for fraud losses not sustained as a result of their own actions, which was also the case in this matter.
“Nedbank can confirm that this matter was resolved on September 6 and no further losses have been suffered.
“The Greater Germiston Society of Child and Family Welfare has been duly notified of the outcome.”
WO Lucky Thabethe, from the SAPS Fraud Unit, located at the Germiston Police Station, said they are currently investigating the matter and in the process of collecting evidence.
He told the GCN that Germiston Child Welfare is not the only organisation to have been defrauded recently and the police are hoping that arrests will be made soon.
