OF&A :: OF&A Uncovers Fraud Scam

OF&A Uncovers Fraud Scam

OF&A SUCCESSFULLY UNCOVERS FRAUD SCAM

OF&A has investigated several intriguing and complex Fraud scams.

One case involved an overseas businessman who wanted to import batteries from South Africa. The client received the necessary "documents" and transferred the payment to the specified bank account. However, the documents were falsified and the batteries never existed.

One of the Fraud suspects flew to an Atlantic Island to withdraw the money in Swiss francs and US dollar notes. Her intention was to deposit the money into a Swiss bank account, but she changed her mind and instead flew back to South Africa, where she double crossed her partners. Together, she and her mother spent the money.

A thorough briefing of OF&A's highly qualified team, is a standard procedure before every assignment.

OF&A was called in to investigate the case. Ockie Fourie explains, "We did a financial background check on the woman and found that she never held any bank accounts in her own name. We also discovered that her mother had received various foreign currency deposits into her account. From the accounts, we established that she bought an expensive car with a cash cheque in Durban. This information was used as our starting point to trace the woman and her mother."

OF&A's investigations revealed that the woman had numerous aliases, more than one falsified passport and that Interpol was also looking for her.

The investigators kept the mother under surveillance, hoping she would lead them to her daughter. Using various contacts, OF&A soon established the woman's whereabouts on the Kwazulu-Natal South coast.

OF&A's Durban branch spotted the woman's new vehicle in Margate and discreetly followed her to her hiding place further down the coast. As the SAP in the area could not assist OF&A, it was decided to fly and investigating officer of the Johannesburg Commercial Fraud unit to Durban to conduct the arrest. The team agreed to continue following the woman, hoping further assets could be located. She was arrested in Plettenberg Bay and escorted back to Johannesburg. More than R1 million in cash was found in her vehicle.

The woman's attorney and the State Prosecutor reached an agreement - she would sign over all the cash and the vehicle to OF&A to reimburse the Fraud victim, upon which all charges would be dropped against her. The following week an OF&A agent flew to Zurich to hand the cash back to their client.

Ockie comments: "We worked 24 hours a day for nearly 3 weeks on this case. There was no way that the investigators were going to give up - we had to find the woman and return the money to our client."