Property fraudster appears in court after arrest
The Mpumalanga estate agent accused of property fraud appeared in the Middelburg Magistrate's Court yesterday.
Annica van Staden (46) was found and arrested by the Hawks in Boksburg on Monday after she had been reported as a wanted person last week.
Van Staden was arrested in Soweto in August 2019 after several cases of fraud had been filed against her. She was granted bail, yet never appeared for her next court date set in November that year. A warrant of arrest was issued, but Van Staden had disappeared.
She had allegedly fraudulently sold houses and RDP houses in Mpumalanga that were not for sale, without the homeowners having any knowledge of these transactions, through her registered business, Housing First Properties.
She will remain in police custody until her court date in May.ALSO READ: Hawks in search of property fraudster
She would make the buyers pay deposits on these houses into the business’s trust account, and afterwards the buyers would not receive any further information. She would allegedly then transfer the money into her own bank account or those of her employees.
During the Hawks’ investigation it was found that Van Staden’s fraudulent dealings stretched beyond property fraud. She is accused of selling stolen vehicles and shipping containers.
A further investigation linked her to cases of fraud totalling over R3 million. More than 36 people have opened cases against Van Staden.
Though she lived in Middelburg, she operated in various areas, including Mbombela, Piet Retief and Lydenburg. One complainant even opened a case against her in Cape Town.
The Hawks were able to track her down through information given by the public. When they arrived at the location where Van Staden had been residing, they found her with all her belongings in suitcases, presumably getting ready to flee.
Van Staden was barred from operating as an estate agent by the Estate Agency Affairs Board in 2017.
It was discovered that neither she nor any of her employees had been registered with the board, yet they continued to operate even after she had been barred, which is a criminal offence.
