EASTERN CAPE – The vigilance and prompt action by an off-duty K9 police officer from Grahamstown led to the arrest of three notorious fraudsters on Wednesday afternoon, 18 March 2020.

Two of the suspects were at an ATM in Kenton on Sea where they pretended to assist an elderly woman and swopped her bank card. When she couldn’t undertake her transaction successfully, she went into the bank to make enquiries and was informed that two transactions were made on her card for over R3200. She then went into the store where the purchases were made and the incident was confirmed. The SAPS were alerted and footage of the suspects was internally circulated.

An off duty police officer who was monitoring the incident on the internal communication channel, spotted the suspects at a shopping centre in Grahamstown approximately 70Kms away. He contacted his unit who responded with haste and the unsuspecting fraudsters were taken into custody.

Preliminary investigations indicate that the trio aged between 24 and 37 are being sought in at least five (5) Eastern Cape towns.

Eastern Cape Provincial Commissioner, Lt Gen Liziwe Nishinga commended the teams involved and added, “The arrest of these three suspects will assist in solving several cases of fraud reported in the Eastern Cape. Our specialist investigating teams are working jointly in getting all the cases together to establish their involvement in ATM fraud. Cases of fraud is a great concern in the Eastern Cape and if these suspects are positively linked to other areas, many cases will be solved.”

Source: South African Police Service