NATIONAL NEWS - What started as a warning about ‘suspicious’ activity on a bank account allegedly escalated into a lengthy phone call during which scammers drained more than R21.5m from Middelburg business accounts.
Following an extensive investigation by the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC), the money was traced to a network of accounts, leading to the Middelburg High Court granting an urgent preservation order to freeze the funds.
The application, brought by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), was granted on Friday (June 12).
WhatsApp scam
The financial manager of a Middelburg company was thrown into turmoil when she allegedly fell victim to the scam on May 21.
In a police affidavit, she claimed that scammers sent WhatsApp messages to her cellphone, pretending to be from Absa, and informed her of ‘suspicious’ transactions on her account.
The scammers then asked her to confirm whether she had authorised the transactions and she indicated that she had not.
She subsequently received a telephone call from what she believed was the bank’s fraud division.
Illegal transfers
The call lasted for almost four hours, from 12:45 to 16:30, during which the woman was allegedly instructed to approve several electronic links sent to her cellphone.
She was also told not to access any of her Absa accounts online while they were ‘working on the matter’ because if she did, it would delay the process.
According to the financial manager’s affidavit and a supporting affidavit from Willem Petrus Venter, a law enforcement specialist at the FIC, the money was transferred to the Absa account of her family’s guesthouse.
The woman then ended the call with the alleged scammer and accessed the guesthouse account, where she discovered that R16m had been transferred out of the account into other bank accounts.
She then contacted the fraud department at Absa and reported the alleged fraud, theft and money laundering. She also opened a case at Middelburg Police Station.
The woman was unable to receive incoming calls and discovered that her cellphone number had been hacked and redirected to another number.
Investigations
On 29 May, the case was reported to the NPA’s Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) in Mbombela, which immediately submitted a financial investigation and intervention request to the FIC.
The AFU requested that the FIC identify all possible suspects and recipients of the funds, as well as freeze or block any funds still available in the suspected bank accounts.
After an extensive financial investigation, the FIC provided a report on 5 June.
In his affidavit, Venter said that once he received the transactional banking information, he compiled a transactional flow chart illustrating the movement of the fraudulently transferred funds.
The report indicated that all the funds had been successfully traced to eight bank accounts belonging to different companies.
The preservation order marks a significant intervention in a case involving alleged fraud and money laundering, demonstrating how financial intelligence and asset forfeiture mechanisms can be used to track and freeze suspected criminal proceeds.
The order
The directors of these companies and individuals were identified as possible suspects who received the funds.
The FIC also issued a directive to freeze all remaining funds across the eight recipient bank accounts, as well as the guesthouse’s account. Thanks to existing balances in those accounts, authorities managed to secure a combined R21?654?539.97, effectively halting the further movement of the stolen proceeds.
The order was granted with immediate effect, and all funds in the accounts must remain frozen pending the finalisation of the subsequent forfeiture application by the NPA.
Anyone wishing to formally oppose the preservation order has 14 calendar days from the date they are served with the order to enter a notice of appearance.
Nyuswa added that the suspects are expected to be arrested and face charges relating to fraud, theft and money laundering.
“The NPA remains committed to combating cybercrime, safeguarding the interests of victims, and ensuring that the proceeds of unlawful activities are preserved and ultimately forfeited in accordance with the law,” she said.
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