Detective Commander, Lt Col Sizakele Hantibi congratulated Detective Warrant Officer Andry Lottering for the outstanding investigation and arrest of a fraudster.
On Thursday, 8 June 2023 at 14:36 a 38 year old women from Gugulethu was arrested for defrauding several Post Offices such as Grabouw, Gansbaai, Somerset West, Strand and Atlantis from an amount of R108 000 over a period of 2 months.
The suspect claim that she was offered a “job” and to only provide an id photo of herself. She states that a few days later an identity book was delivered at her home address. She was requested to use the identity book for withdrawals at the above Post Offices.
Several transactions was done. An employee discovered the fraudulent transactions and reported it immediately to the Post Office Investigator. An alert was placed on the account and employees were advised to monitor any transactions from the account. The account holder was in Limpopo and suspicion was raised that withdrawals were done in Somerset West.
On Thursday, 8 June 2023, the suspect visited the Post Office again to make a withdrawal. This time she was caught. The suspect, Noitha Qongqa was arrested and detained at Somerset West Police Station. The docket was assigned to Detective Warrant Officer, Andry Lottering for further investigation.
Through investigation it was determined that the suspect have defrauded all the above Post Offices. Fraud cases was registered and the suspect was positively linked to all the cases.
On Monday, 12 June 2023 the suspect made her first court appearance briefly in the Somerset West Court. The suspect remain behind bars till her next court appearance on Tuesday, 15 August 2023. Police will oppose bail.