Hawks arrest two con artists in Sonheuwel for financial crimes
The suspects’ target of choice was female government employees
A crack team of law enforcement officers, led by the Hawks, arrested two foreign nationals for a range of financial crimes in Mbombela on Friday, November 8.
The suspects, a Ugandan and a Zimbabwean, aged 38 and 45, allegedly preferred to target female government employees, convincing them to cash out their pensions and hand them over so that the suspects can multiply them.
A Mpumalanga Hawks spokesperson, Warrant Officer Thandi Tshabalala, explained the con. She said the targeted victims would hand over the cash, anticipating a miraculous multiplication of their fortunes. However, when the promised bags of money are delivered, only the top layer would be cash; the rest would be fake paper money notes, black in colour.
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Tshabalala said the search and seizure operation that led to the arrests was initiated after the Hawks Serious Organised Crime Investigation Unit received a tip-off from local security company, Divergent Ops, in the early hours of Friday morning. The suspects, who were staying at a rented property in Sonheuwel, had allegedly convinced their landlord to hand over his inheritance money as soon as he received it so that they can multiply it for him.
The landlord was also allegedly persuaded to assist in purchasing chemicals to remove dye stains from cash notes, with the promise of a share.
The landlord reported the matter to Divergent Ops, which then escalated it to the Mbombela-based Hawks Serious Organised Crime Investigation Unit.
During the search and seizure operation, police found a substantial bundle of black paper money, three bottles of chemicals and a steel safe.
The suspects face charges of fraud, tax fraud and tampering with bank notes, and will appear in the Nelspruit Magistrate’s Court on Monday, November 11.
The success of the operation came because of seamless co-operation between various police units, including the Hawks Mbombela-based Serious Commercial Crime Investigation and Serious Organised Crime Investigation units, the SAPS Nelspruit Crime Investigation Services and the private security company involved.
The Hawks provincial head, Major General Gerber, warned members of the public not to fall for ridiculous scams.
“These people are unscrupulous and will stop at nothing to get their hands on your cash. There is no chemical or process in the world that can double your money,” he said.
He urged the public to report such requests to the police.
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