The Hawks have apprehended a 32-year-old woman Western Cape loan shark who was illegally operating as an unregistered credit provider.
According to a Hawks statement, she was arrested by the Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team together with officers of the Regulator for breaking the National Credit Act requirements to register as a credit provider.
“During the search, ID documents, Sassa and bank cards as well as six record books of the clients were recovered. The suspect has been lending out money and charging fees as well as interest without being registered with the National Credit Regulator,” read the statement
She was also found with bank and Sassa (SA Social Security Agency) cards as “security” from clients as well as keeping their ID books.
“This is also illegal according to the National Credit Act and if consumers are ever asked for these items they should report it to the police immediately (and refuse),” read the statement
The suspect is expected to appear in the Paarl Magistrate’s Court on June 1.
Meanwhile, three accused, Nkululeko Africa Ngwenya, 39, Aubrey Phutuka Matsobane, 42, and Clement Khutso Ngwatwane will be behind bars until May 25.
The trio were apprehended on allegations of fraud. They were caught before they could steal the money from the bank’s client, as a result the bank suffered a potential loss of R2.6 million.
The Hawks said the Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team received intelligence about a sophisticated fraud syndicate that was planning to unlawfully take over the bank account belonging to foreign national Nedbank client not residing in South Africa.
“Through the preliminary investigation, it was discovered that the accused would identify a Nedbank account with a lot of money but dormant, and forge the documents of the lawful owner in order to get access to the account.
“Further investigations revealed that the suspects would search for a person who looks exactly like the one in the picture of the original passport, so that they can go to the bank and activate the account and transfer the money to their own bank account(s),” read the statement
The accused have been on the Hawks’ radar until they were arrested in Polokwane on Wednesday, after they were issued with a new bank card by the bank.