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Two suspects, aged 26 and 22, are appearing before the Bellville Magistrate’s Court on Thursday following their arrest in Mfuleni and Strand respectively by the Hawks’ specialised 419 Scam Task Team.
The two were arrested on Tuesday in Western Cape. Three other men were previously arrested and they have been appearing before the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court.
For more than a year, IOL has been running the scammed series, where several South African women and men have lost their hard-earned money, including pensions and bank loans, in dating scams. The victims have regrouped and are knocking on different doors, demanding answers.
The duo’s arrest emanates from an incident reported in August 2024 at Lyttelton police station in Gauteng, where a woman claimed that a man she had met online had scammed her of more than R3 million.
“The one suspect is reported to have met with the complainant online via Facebook, where their conversations migrated to WhatsApp. During this WhatsApp conversation, the suspect spun a tale to the complainant that his son was sick,” said Hawks spokesperson, Colonel Katlego Mogale.
The woman was persuaded to “borrow” the online lover different amounts of money, with the total ballooning to more than R3 million.
The unwitting woman transferred over R3.4 million to the man who posed as a white man named Mark Hermanus. The scammed woman’s identity is withheld to protect her from secondary victimisation.
“The suspect then redistributed the money to his accomplices, and said to the complainant that they would reimburse her, once his son’s bills were paid. This never happened,” said Mogale.
The Hawks 419 Scam Task Team has previously arrested three other suspects in the same case. Nigerian national Gabriel Okoi, aged 40, was traced and arrested in October 2024, at Gordon’s Bay in Western Cape. He was later released on bail.
The unrelenting Hawks 419 Scam Task Team made another breakthrough in March when they arrested Justice Motsamai Khanyapa at Orange Farm, in Johannesburg. He was also released on bail of R1,000 by the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court.
The third suspect, Thabo Derrick Mnguni, was arrested on 23 June.
“The two (additional) suspects will appear in the Bellville Magistrate Court today answering to charges of fraud and money laundering. More arrests are expected,” said Mogale.
A month ago, the Specialised Commercial Crime Court in Polokwane sentenced two foreign nationals, Serage Martin Lubenga, 28, and Rhoda Mirembe, 33, to 20 years imprisonment each after they were convicted for fraud.
IOL has extensively covered the duo’s arrest in 2023, after they allegedly scammed a 39-year-old Limpopo woman. The scammed woman’s identity is withheld to protect her from secondary victimisation.
The South African woman lost R650,000 after meeting Lubenga, and getting into a romantic relationship with him.
jonisayi.maromo@iol.co.za
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