A 50-year-old Ugandan foreign national, Christopher Masereka also known as Moses Mawaza, was remanded in custody after his first appearance before Nelspruit Magistrates’ Court today, Tuesday 10 October 2023 for allegedly scamming a 46-year-old former teacher and lover of her hard earned pension money she accumulated over the years of her service.
Masereka-Mawaza was remanded in custody for a formal bail application scheduled for Friday 20 October 2023.
According to information at police disposal, the duo allegedly committed into a mutual relationship in March this year (2023). Two months down the line, the suspect deceived his partner and told her that he was in logistics business.
He further advised her to resign from work so that after cashing out her pension money she could pump it into the business of which they will run as partners in return.
It sounded interesting and promising that the business will be booming as a result the former teacher fell into a trap and resigned in May 2023.
When her pension savings was paid into her account in August 2023, the lovebirds decided to withdraw the money (total figure withheld for investigation purposes) over three transactions in one day.
Information in our records revealed that the former teacher gave all her withdrawals to her partner.
From that time onwards, the alleged swindler played hard to get. He allegedly ignored the victim’s calls, relocated to another accommodation and finally changed his contact numbers.
It became clear to the former teacher that she has been scammed hence she registered a case of theft under false pretence with Nelspruit police.
Investigation was conducted which led to the arrest of the suspect on Sunday 08 October 2023.
The suspect was charged for theft under false pretence and contravention of the Immigration Act. The Department of Home Affairs will be roped into the investigation to ascertain the legality of the alleged swindler in South Africa.
Police cannot rule out possibilities of adding other charges as similar incidents have been reported in the past in the province.
Police therefore urge other community members who might have been victimised in a similar way to come forward and assist police in their investigation.
Content retrieved from: https://www.saps.gov.za/newsroom/msspeechdetail.php?nid=48873.
