Johannesburg - Online advertising site OLX has once again popped up in a case of alleged fraudsters who masqueraded as car salesmen on the website to defraud their victims.
Vuyolwethu Nzulwana and Lindani Manqele appeared in the Johannesburg Commercial Crimes Court on Tuesday on fraud and money-laundering charges for allegedly selling vehicles that did not exist, to unsuspecting victims who fell for their scam.
Allegations are that they took pictures of cars parked on the streets, uploaded them and then advertised them on OLX saying they were for sale.
They allegedly also used the name of a legitimate car dealership claiming to be working for that company and selling on their behalf.
One of the alleged victims who responded to the OLX adverts was Nomfundo Nyamakazi of Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape, who had a keen interest in a BMW 2010 model advertised on OLX for R60 000 and being sold by Venter Motors, a dealership in Westonaria.
Nyamakazi contacted the seller who identified himself as Welcome, and they chatted about the car she wanted to buy. She flew to Johannesburg, where she made an EFT to a Capitec bank account upon her arrival at OR Tambo International Airport.
She then went to Venter Motors but was informed she had been defrauded. It also turned out that Venter Motors was getting dozens of calls from irate victims who wanted their cars or money back, because Nzulwana and Manqele had been using the company’s name to defraud people on OLX.
‘You are a fool’
When Nyamakazi called Welcome, he called her a fool for buying a car she had never seen. Welcome also told Nyamakazi that now that he had “eaten” her money, he wanted to sleep with her as well. He then burst out laughing.
Nyamakazo opened a case and both Nzulwana and Manqele were later traced and arrested. They were charged with fraud and money laundering. On Tuesday a shackled Manqele applied for bail in the Johannesburg Commercial Crimes Court.
Prosecutor Richard Tshabalala told the court that Manqele was in fact Welcome and was the one behind the scam.
“Your source of income was OLX, you defrauded people. That”s how you got your income,” Tshabalala told him.
The matter will be back in court next Thursday.
In April, The Star reported on how a couple determined to find people who defrauded them of thousands of rand on OLX managed to uncover the operations of a syndicate defrauding people selling items online.”
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