The Electronic Crime Unit of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI), the Hawks, in conjunction with the banking industry, arrested three suspects for motor vehicle application fraud amounting to R50 million.
The suspects, 33-year-old Adele Coetzee, her husband, 37-year-old Marius Coetzee, and his mother, 60-year-old Kitty Coetzee, were arrested in Brits in the North West during an operation held over the weekend of 5 to 7 September 2014. The operation originated in the Western Cape.
The suspects were involved in a vehicle-purchase scheme by applying for hire-purchase finance from banking institutions using fraudulent documents. Seventy fraudulent financing transactions were made to the banks between 2012 and 2014, which resulted in a loss of more than R50 million for the banking industry.
During the operation, the investigating team recovered 10 vehicles at a farm in the Brits vicinity where the Coetzees fled to from the Western Cape. The Coetzees appeared in the Brits Regional Court on Monday, 8 September 2014, on more than 70 counts of fraud and the matter was postponed to Monday, 15 September 2014, when the suspects will appear in the Malmesbury Regional Court in the jurisdiction area where the crimes were committed. The suspects are still in custody.
Another 50 vehicles, which were purchased fraudulently, are still being sought. Any person with information that may lead to the recovery of these vehicles or who wants to surrender the vehicle voluntarily may contact Colonel Mark Purchase of the Commercial Crime Unit of the DPCI in Cape Town at 082 850 9730. Lieutenant General Anwar Dramat, the National Head of the Hawks, said that this was an innovative method of stealing vehicles.
The Chief Executive of the South African Banking Risk Information Centre (SABRIC), Kalyani Pillay, said: “These arrests will assist in fighting application fraud and will certainly send out a strong message to criminals that such fraudulent activity will not be tolerated.”
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