Gauteng victims tell of alleged investment scam amounting to R10 million

The Hawks and the SAPS this week called for the public to help them locate Swereen Govender, who allegedly scammed unsuspecting investors of an accumulative amount of R10 million.

A warrant of arrest has been issued for Swereen Govender. Picture: Supplied

Published Dec 17, 2021

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DURBAN - THE Hawks and the SAPS this week called for the public to help them locate a woman who allegedly scammed unsuspecting investors of an accumulative amount of R10 million.

National police spokesperson Brigadier Vish Naidoo said that the Hawks and the police were searching for Swereen Govender.

“It is alleged that from June 2019 to date, Swereen Govender lured family and friends to invest in her personal protective equipment (PPE) business by promising lucrative dividends in return.

“Further investigation revealed that Govender initially paid minimum dividends to investors and then completely stopped at a later stage and she has allegedly been lying to her investors that she cannot be contacted as she has been placed in a witness protection programme.”

A resident from Centurion, who did not want to be named, said that her 74-year-old husband had been scammed out of R200 000 and they had been left with nothing.

“We met her at a temple in 2016 she seemed like an innocent person. She told us that she worked at the Ekurhuleni Municipality and we trusted her.

“She told us we should invest in an Ekurhuleni T-shirt project and a plastic recycling project. She promised us a return of 15% every 6 weeks and she also told us that if we introduced more people to her we would get an 8% return on whatever the new clients got.”

The woman said that she suspected something was wrong when they couldn’t get hold of her.

“She gave us different accounts with different names to deposit money for the investment. After we couldn’t get hold of her, we reported the matter to the police. From further investigations, we discovered that all the accounts she gave us were closed.”

She said that her husband’s health took a turn for the worse after the loss of their money and he had to have emergency surgery.

“It’s not right what we she did to us. We want her to answer for what she did.”

Another woman from Midrand, who also did not want to be named, said Govender befriended her and told her to invest in a PPE business and promised good returns.

“We invested an amount of R5 000 and we got a return of R10 000. We trusted her and saw her as a friend. We invested a further R50 000 but soon after we stopped receiving payments.

“We couldn’t get hold of her and if she did contact us she said that she couldn’t pay with some excuse about her funds being frozen.”

She said she had not been able to reach Govender since.

“I tried contacting her mother but she stopped taking my calls and said she didn’t know where her daughter was.”

“She seemed like such a nice person. Although I probably won’t see my money, I want her to be caught.”

Naidoo said that multiple cases have been registered at various police stations in Gauteng which are now referred to the Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation in Germiston for further investigation.

He said Govender had been positively linked and was wanted in connection with these fraud cases in Gauteng.

In some cases she was alleged to have taken people’s life savings, retirement and disability pensions, etc, leaving these people absolutely destitute.

Naidoo said that people should be extremely cautious when investing money with individuals.

“If an offer appears too good to be true, know that it probably is and one should rather consider investing one’s capital with long-standing reputable investment companies.”

A warrant has been issued for Govender’s arrest and the investigation team has circulated her information on the local and international movement control system.

Anyone who knows the whereabouts of Govender or who was a victim can contact the investigating officer, Captain John Marepa on 082 822 6351.

THE MERCURY

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