DURBAN police believe that they have broken the back of an insurance scam which is thought to have netted its operators millions of rand.
The scam was being operated by funeral parlour owners working in cahoots with mortuary workers.
Police described the arrests of two funeral parlour owners as the tip of the iceberg, saying that more arrests were expected to be made.
Millicent Mnguni and Musawenkosi Mkhize, owners of TM Thandanani Funeral Services, were appearing in the Durban Magistrate’s Court on an unrelated fraud matter last Thursday when the police pounced and charged them with fraud relating to the insurance scam.
They appeared in court on the new charges on Monday.
In the first matter, the two are charged with fraud involving the use of fake, lost or stolen identity documents to open up accounts at stores.
The pair allegedly ran up huge bills without paying them.
That matter has been set for trial.
Police allege that Mnguni and Musawenkosi later graduated to making “ghost” insurance claims using unclaimed bodies from government mortuaries.
Explaining the operation, police Captain Khephu Ndlovu said the pair would apply for insurance policies using stolen or lost identity documents.
“Once the first or second premium was paid to the insurance company, they would make a claim using the body of an unidentified person which fitted the age description.”
Alert
Ndlovu said Mnguni and Mkhize had approached people working at government mortuaries to alert them to unclaimed bodies.
They would then send a person, preferably an older person, to claim the body, paying them R5 000 for their services.
“The person would put up an act and cry or get hysterical to convince the mortuary workers that the body belonged to them,” he said.
Then followed the process of obtaining a death certificate which the pair used to claim the life policy.
Police were still trying to establish what had happened to the bodies taken from the mortuaries, said Ndlovu.
Investigators were looking for a man whose name they believe had been used in the scam.
The man, Sibusiso Xaba, 34, believed to be from Mzumbe, near Hibberdene, was thought to have been falsely declared dead.
“We strongly believe that the man is still alive. We are looking for him or his family,” said Ndlovu. “We need to verify with his family if he is dead or still alive.”
Police said most of the life policies in the scam had been applied for telephonically.
Ndlovu urged people who had lost or had their identity books stolen to contact the Home Affairs Department’s offices and check that they had not been declared dead.
Mnguni and Mkhize are due to appear in court on October 3 for their bail application.
People with information on the matter should contact the investigating officer, Captain Patricia Pillay, at 073 139 1335 or 031 325 4177. - The Mercury