Winterton police have shown themselves to be determined and dedicated in solving cases, some even going so far as to assist their colleagues solve a fraud case while on vacation leave.
It all began on May 6 when a 41-year-old man opened a case of fraud at Winterton police station. The complainant alleged that he saw an advert where a Ford Bantam LDV was being offered for sale.
He responded to the advert and spoke to a person by the name of Collin.
This person informed him that there was lots of interest in the vehicle and requested the complainant to pay him a deposit for the vehicle.
“Collin” gave the complainant an account number in the name of “Elite Cars Sales”. The scam victim then deposited an amount of R15,000 into this account by means of EFT.
After the deposit, the complainant then made enquiries about the vehicle, but the con artist informed him that the funds were not showing in the account as yet and that the complainant should make a cash deposit into another account, namely A. Plaatjie t/a Plaatjie Trading.
The complainant deposited a further R10,000 cash into this account. However, when he then went to Delmas to fetch the vehicle, everything was not as he expected.
On his arrival, he could not find any trace of a business called Elite Cars Sales anywhere in Delmas. When he tried to track down “Collin”, the man was nowhere to be found. The complainant soon realised he had been scammed.
On May 12, with the help of the bank, the first suspect was apprehended by Orlando police after he tried to access the money deposited in the account. Orlando SAPS contacted the investigating officer at Winterton, and the suspect was collected and brought back to Winterton where he was charged with fraud.
Police went back to Gauteng, where two further arrests were made in the case. The suspects were arrested by Winterton SAPS, assisted by Orlando SAPS.
All three suspects appeared briefly in the Weenen Magistrate’s Court on May 16 and were remanded into custody.
On May 17, the same members once again proceeded to Gauteng and this time they managed to arrest the ring leader of this fraud syndicate.
During the arrest, police also recovered numerous SIM cards and cellular phones used by the syndicate, as well as property purchased by the suspects with the stolen money.
The four suspects, aged between 25 and 35, have appeared in the Colenso Magistrate’s Court.
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