PORT ELIZABETH – The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) in Mthatha in the Eastern Cape arrested five suspects this week on charges of fraud, including a 42-year-old woman who allegedly attempted to claim a male corpse from a state mortuary in order to claim insurance money.
Hawks spokesperson, Lietenant Anelisa Feni, said the woman was arrested on Friday at the Mthatha Forensic Pathology for allegedly colluding with three other women who were arrested in January in connection with the insurance scam.
“The 42-year-old purportedly colluded with the three other women to move the body of the deceased person from Mthatha to Bizana,” said Feni.
Meanwhile, three suspects, aged between 40 and 46 years of age, were arrested on Thursday for allegedly manufacturing fictitious identity documents.
“The suspects were arrested in Mthatha after Hawks and CIG received intelligence that these suspects were manufacturing fictitious Identity Documents (ID). Hawks recovered fraudulent items which include Matric certificates, IDs and counterfeit money.”
Feni added that on Wednesday the Mthatha Serious Commercial Crime unit made a possible breakthrough in cracking down a car sales scam where complainants have been conned into depositing money in exchange for vehicles which they ultimately don’t receive.
A 45-year-old woman was arrested earlier this week and subsequently appeared in court on a charge of fraud.
“The suspect was arrested on May 4, while allegedly attempting to withdraw money at an undisclosed bank which had been deposited by a man from Durban who had visited Mthatha that same Wednesday to buy a car which he had seen at a website on the Internet.”
“The 45-year-old’s boyfriend, who is still at large, purportedly was the middleman in the sale of this vehicle and instructed the buyer to deposit the money into his girlfriend’s bank account. Once the buyer deposited the money the seller then allegedly disappeared,” said Feni.
Feni said that six other cases were being investigated which occurred in Mthatha area with the same modus operandi.
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