A Fish Hoek detective’s quick thinking saved a pensioner from losing a R2 million investment to fraudsters.
Detective Sergeant Roselina Dlamini knew there was no time to waste after a 77-year-old Fish Hoek pensioner opened a case of fraud at the Fish Hoek police station on Wednesday July 8.
The man was under the impression that he had invested
R2 million with a friend he had previously invested with, only to discover that the email he had received with the banking details was not from his friend.
Sergeant Dlamini said that two days after the pensioner had transferred the money, the friend had called him to say he would send the banking details soon.
The pensioner admitted that he had not verified the emailed banking details.
Sergeant Dlamini said the money had been transferred from an FNB account to an ABSA account. But when she checked with ABSA, the bank told her the money, due to the large sum, was “still in transit”.
The money was reversed by the bank and the pensioner refunded.
Sergeant Dlamini said the pensioner was relieved that his
investment was not lost and had asked her to withdraw the case after he had been refunded.
Fish Hoek police station commander,LieutenantColonel Jackie Johnson, said Sergeant Dlamini’s swift response and good
relationships with the banks had ensured the victim got his money back.
She urged people doing online transactions to verify the banking details by telephone before making any deposits.
In another case in February, good detective work by Sergeant Dlamini, with the help of CCTV footage from a local security company, helped locate a Nyanga police constable who was involved in a hit-and-run outside the Fish Hoek police station on Thursday February 13.
On the day, Irmgard Garthoff was travelling down Main Road from Kalk Bay in the direction of Simon’s Town in a blue Nissan bakkie and wanted to turn right into Banks Road when the accident happened.
She was at the intersection marked with the yellow cross on the road, waiting for a gap in the heavy afternoon traffic towards Clovelly, coming from Simon’s Town.
Sergeant Dlamini said a
police van with a partial broken number plate of “BV”, leaving the police station then overtook all the cars in Banks Road, driving into oncoming traffic to try to get to the Main Road and scraped the left side of Ms Garthoff’s bakkie.
Sergeant Dlamini said Ms Garthoff had thought the driver would make a U-turn and come back, but when he hadn’t she had
taken photos of the damage and reported the matter to the police.
As the police van did not belong to the Fish Hoek police station’s fleet, it was like finding a needle in a haystack.
In a letter published in the Echo in March, Ms Garthoff called on eyewitnesses to step forward, (“Calling for eyewitnesses,” Echo March 12), but no one came forward.
In the meantime, footage from Mach1 showed the van driving into oncoming traffic. Sergeant Dlamini could then trace the van to the Nyanga police station and
during a visit to the station, a vehicle fitting the description was found with half a number
plate and blue paint still on the vehicle.
The driver of the vehicle was charged with reckless and negligent driving and is due to appear in court in November.
Ms Garthoff said she was happy with the way Fish Hoek police had handled the matter, despite the lack of eye witnesses.
Fish Hoek Community Police Forum (CPF) chairman, Andre Blom, said he was pleased by the excellent detective work done by the Fish Hoek detective branch under the leadership of Captain Charl Basson.
“I am pleased to see that even when a SAPS member transgresses, our detectives will not leave a stone unturned to apprehend the perpetrators,” he said.
