Women warned after police bust online romance scammer posing as a pilot
|Published
Cape Town - Police have once again warned women, particularly those who are active on dating websites, to exercise caution after a 49-year-old man was arrested in an elaborate online dating scam.
Police spokesperson, Anelisiwe Manyana says the suspect, who is a foreign national, targeted women in their sixties on a social media platform where he presented himself as a pilot.
“Initial reporting of the incident indicates that the accused would present himself as a pilot and promise love and visits to the victims,” says Manyana.
“It’s alleged that the suspect would then request a fee for the release of the goods he purchased for them.
“He was apprehended by police detectives attached to the Provincial Commercial Crimes Unit after members received information of a romance scam whereby the accused is targeting women in their sixties on a social media platform.
“He was arrested on charges of fraud relating to a romance scam and theft. The possibility of more arrests is not excluded as the investigation is still ongoing.”
The suspect will make his appearance in the Strand Magistrate’s Court once he has been charged.
Manyana adds: “Western Cape police would like to warn the public of the trend where vulnerable victims are targeted on platforms where single people are seeking companionship and then fall prey to online scammers.”
This arrest comes less that two months after the Hawks’ Serious and Violent Crime Division arrested 23-year-old Karabo Alexandra Moses for her alleged involvement in a R4 million dating scam syndicate.
It’s alleged that Moses is directly linked to the scam where Puis Emokpe is the kingpin.
Emokpe was arrested in June last year, reports the Weekend Argus.
The State alleges that Emokpe and his co-accused defrauded a woman of R3m in the Northern Cape after she met him on a dating website.
Emokpe had allegedly lured his victims under the pretence that he was an Italian based in Cape Town and would borrow money from his victim, claiming that the marine company which he had worked for was experiencing financial difficulties.
At the time, Lieutenant-Colonel Siyabulela Vukubi of the Hawks said they believed that Moses had swindled her victim out of R750 000 and had been operating in the Wynberg district.
nomalanga.tshuma@inl.co.za