A teenage con artist who has been scamming northern suburbs residents has been nabbed in a citizen's arrest.
A day after making newspaper headlines, the boy was apprehended in Hyde Park early on Monday, wearing a school uniform and a blazer decorated with nine honour scrolls and a prefect's badge.
He is believed to have prowled the wealthy suburbs, begging lifts from motorists, claiming he was late for school and unable to afford bus fare. While many people would give him a lift and offer him money, in at least one case, he allegedly stole a woman's purse.
The youth made headlines at the weekend after he was given money, an airplane ticket and a cellphone and had hotel accommodation organised for him by businesswoman Karen van der Merwe and her friend Belinda Watts, wife of Carte Blanche presenter Derek Watts.
The women were in the process of helping the boy as they believed he needed to get to an athletics championships in Durban. They were under the impression he had no support and lived alone in Eikenhof, after his grandmother had been admitted to hospital.
Then they realised they were being conned.
"I was driving him to the airport when I noticed two holes in his ear lobe," said Van der Merwe. "He had told me a lot of things that didn't ring true, and I suddenly realised this was not the decent child of a devout Christian granny."
Minutes later, she received a call from Watts, who said she had found out through e-Blockwatch - an Internet-based anti-crime organisation - that they were helping "a known conman". Watts organised for Van der Merwe to be met by the police at the airport, and the boy was arrested.
He was released after Van der Merwe declined to lay fraud charges against him: "He is a beautiful young boy, and his story was totally believable."
"He looks like a young Breyton Paulse."
André Snyman of e-Blockwatch got involved with the case after Watts contacted him with her story. Snyman pieced together the truth after having received several email complaints of a similar nature - all from people who had given the boy a lift and ended up handing him money.
"He says he has conned more than 300 people and has been operating for the past two years," Snyman said.
Early on Monday, the boy was again arrested after he took a lift from a woman who gave him R200 and dropped him off near Hyde Park High School.
"The boy is definitely not one of our pupils. No one at this school has ever worn that number of scrolls," Hyde Park High principal Tony Thurman said after the boy's arrest.
"We only got involved when we decided to send a teacher out to try to pick him up after the woman called us to say she felt she had been conned."
Van der Merwe had received an earlier call from a friend who told her that the youth had again been spotted wearing the blazer and trying to hitch a lift.
"I rushed out in my tracksuit and slippers," she said, describing how she found the boy. She arrived where he was at the same time as a Hyde Park High sports master.
"He tried to run, but we got him," Van der Merwe said.
The boy was taken to the school, where his troubles deepened after a woman whose purse he allegedly stole positively identified him.
Bramley police cuffed the boy and marched him off to an area where he apparently pointed out where he had dumped a purse he had stolen on Thursday.
Van der Merwe has now decided to lay fraud charges against the youngster.
Snyman said people who believed they may have been conned by the boy can log on to www.eblockwatch.co.zaand he would forward all information to the police.