Two women are due to appear in the Strand Magistrates Court in Cape Town on Monday. They are accused of defrauding 80 holidaymakers in a fake trip to Thailand.
.png)
PICTURE: PixabayAccording to police spokesperson Lieutenant
Colonel Malcolm Pojie, the womem were arrested on Friday and face fraud
charges totaling about R1.9 million. Investigators found that between June 2022
and July 2024, 80 people saw a social media ad for a trip to Thailand.
The ad asked each person to pay R26,000, which
was supposed to cover all travel and lodging. Pojie stated that nearly all the
victims paid the money into the women’s bank accounts.
“It is believed that almost all the victims
paid the required amount as per agreement into the bank accounts of the two
suspects,” Pojie said.
When the victims realised that the trip was not
going to materialise, they reported the matter to different police stations
across the country including in Gauteng, Northern Cape, Eastern Cape and
Western Cape.
“The cases were centralised in the Western Cape
and upon completion the suspects were interviewed and were unable to provide a
satisfactory explanation of what happened to the money,” Pojie said.
They were arrested at their homes in Strand.
The women are now in police custody and will
face charges of fraud, theft, and money laundering under South African law.
Done by Stephanie Van Rayen
No comments:
Post a Comment