Case against ‘Sandton Tinder swindler’ postponed to next week

The case against South Africa’s very own ‘Sandton Tinder Swindler’ has been postponed by the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court to next Wednesday for a formal bail application.

Ugandan national Amon Namara was arrested on Wednesday in Sandton after a woman opened a case against him alleging that he had scammed her.

He made a brief appearance in court on Friday.

Namara is reportedly facing charges of money laundering, fraud and theft after allegedly defrauding at least three women of their money on the dating app, Tinder.

Speaking to Newzroom Afrika on Friday, Gauteng police spokesperson Lt-Col Robert Netshiunda said the police found out about Namara after women came forward with allegations that they had been scammed.

According to Netshiunda, more victims have come forward with the same allegations and the amount that was allegedly swindled is around R3 million.

“The amount could go up as more women come forward,” said Netshiunda.

“We are aware he has been pretending to be someone else and luring women into believing that he is the person. He was targetting women in Sandton and that’s where he was arrested, maybe when we investigate further we will find that he even went beyond Gauteng.

“Victims are very devastated because if you give someone money believing that you’re putting it to good use and find that you’ve scammed, you become very devastated because if you take a loan for a good cause and find that its a scam, you become devastated.”

Speaking to the news channel, his lawyer said he would only be able to consult with Namara on Monday as he spends the weekend in jail.

Though there are reports claiming Namara faces at least three charges, his lawyer said he was only aware of one.

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This comes as the world is still recovering from the shock of Simon Leviev, born Shimon Yehuda Hayut, from Israel, who swindled women out of their money on the same dating app.

As seen on Netflix’s The Tinder Swindler, Simon scammed women on Tinder, claiming to be the son of a diamond tycoon, but was often in need of money.

He made an estimated R150 million and spent it on trips, hotel stays and cars, among other items.

Compiled by Vhahangwele Nemakonde