Winterton South African Police Service (SAPS) members 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 they were on vacation leave.

It all began on May 6 when a 41-year-old man opened a case of fraud at the Winterton Police Station. The complainant alleged that he saw an advert on OLX where a Ford Bantam light delivery vehicle (LDV) was being offered for sale. He responded to the advert and spoke to a person by the name of ‘Collin’.

Collin informed him that there was lots of interest in the vehicle and requested a deposit for the vehicle. Collin gave the complainant an account number in the name of ‘Elite Cars Sales’ and an account number. The interested buyer deposited R 15 000 into this account by means of electronic funds transfer (EFT).

After the deposit, he made enquiries about the vehicle, but Collin 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’.

R 10 000 cash was deposited into this account. However, when the buyer proceeded to Delmas in Mpumalanga 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 Sale’ anywhere in Delmas. When he then tried to track down Collin, the man was nowhere to be found.

He soon realised that he had been scammed. On May 12, with the help of the bank, the first suspect was apprehended by members of the Orlando SAPS after he tried to access money deposited in the account. Orlando SAPS contacted the Investigating Officer at Winterton and the suspect was brought back to Winterton where he was charged with fraud.

The members proceeded to Gauteng where two further arrests were made. 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 where they are remanded in custody.

On May 17 the same members once again proceeded to Gauteng and this time they arrested the alleged ‘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 appeared in the Colenso Magistrate’s Court last Thursday morning.