Man in custody for R3.7m fraud
ALEXANDRA - A Pretoria man appeared at the Alex Magistrate's court recently for two cases of fraud involving millions of rands. He has been remanded in prison pending further investigations prior sentencing next month.
A Joburg man has been remanded in custody for two fraud cases and appeared before Magistrate Rennier Boshoff for allegedly defrauding a Midrand-based company of 400 cellphone handsets worth R3.7 million. Judgement will be passed next month after further investigations.
The crime involved orders using fake government letterheads, supposedly on behalf of a Polokwane-based government department. The man allegedly requested a faxed quote for the items from the sales department to which he submitted a purchase order indicating that payment would be processed from the department’s head office in Pretoria. It is alleged he seemingly stalled the order, but then proceeded to engage with someone in the dispatch department of the company who processed the order and the goods were collected. The dispatch department person has been summarily dismissed.
The man was arrested by police after a tip-off while allegedly attempting a similar scheme at another Bryanston-based company. He was caught allegedly trying to collect laptops worth R3 million which he had paid for by cheque, which later bounced.
In mitigation, the man said he had been recruited by foreign nationals to commit the crimes.
A legal expert said it seemed a trend was developing of fraudsters cashing in on companies wanting to get into business with government. He said the companies seem to relax their systems with the expectation that they are landing big orders from the State.
