3 Suspects and ex-policeman to appear in court for fraud

POLOKWANE – The Limpopo police’s special unit, known as the Tekkie Squad, arrested a 49-year-old former police crime intelligence lieutenant colonel and three others for allegedly defrauding unsuspecting and desperate entrepreneurs around the province of thousands of rand.

The four were arrested last Wednesday after the police were alerted by a bank official who had set a trap earlier in the year to arrest a client whose bank account was seemingly being used for fraudulent purposes.

“It is alleged the four had registered and opened a bank account in the name of one of the fraudsters. The account was then used to receive money from the victims whenever they made a deposit and from there the money was distributed among them,” Phala said.

He added that according to information received, the four would go into an internet café and log onto the website of a particular department in search of all the companies that have registered on the database of that department including all those that have tendered with that department.

After accessing the targeted company’s profile and related relevant information, the four would then start calling different company bidders under the pretext that they are officials from that particular department to tell them they are being considered for the bid and further that they must deposit an unnamed amount of money as an initiation fee for them to be confirmed as successful bidders.

Phala confirmed that a case of fraud has been opened and the bank was notified of the fraudster’s bank account which was put under surveillance and ultimately frozen in order to protect the victim’s money.

“The arrests were made when the account holder wanted to withdraw some money at the ATM and when he could not do that he decided to enter the bank to withdraw money at the teller.

“At this point the bank alerted the police about the fraudster and his arrest led to that of the other three, including the former colonel who is suspected to be the kingpin.

“The four will appear in the Polokwane Magistrate’s Court. Anyone who fell victim to this scam should come forward with the account number into which they deposited money,” Phala said.