A 32-year-old suspect is presently in custody and stands accused of fraud after a local detective, Constable P Khanyile, traced and arrested her at the Durban High Court recently. At the time, the woman was appearing on similar charges (to the tune of almost R1.5 million). The accused is also wanted in other fraud cases around the country.
In some of the cases, she would approach people from the business community and offer them shares in a company that supposedly cleaned the Durban Harbour. She accepted a deposit and promised an interest payment that would be paid to the clients on a monthly basis. Needless to say, they never heard from her again.
In another case, she posed as a vehicle sales person. She secured a deposit of R35,000 from a prospective client, after which she directed the person to a car dealership and instructed them to choose the vehicle they wanted. However, the vehicle never materialised and the ‘client’ soon found herself out of pocket for the R35,000.
Locally, the harbour cleaning company story was used to scam two individuals out of about R200,000.
The accused will be appearing in the Ladysmith Magistrate’s Court on January 9 to face fraud charges.
