GAUTENG – The Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime investigation has resulted in the arrest of Nomfusi Princess Fortune (33) on Thursday, 3 October 2024 on charges of fraud and money laundering related to a romance scam.
A case of fraud was registered at Norwood police station in June 2019. The victim had suffered a loss of over R2,000,000.00.
The complainant met a man, later identified as Allen Graig, on Facebook, and they began an online relationship, communicating via WhatsApp. Once the suspect gained the complainant’s trust, he started requesting money for various reasons. The complainant eventually realized that she had been scammed. She deposited the money into different accounts, one of which was a Capitec account belonging to Nomfusi Princess Fortune which received three transactions amounting to R70,000.00.
Fortune appeared before the Palm Ridge Court on Monday, 7 October 2024, for bail application alongside her co-accused Zizipho Mqikela (32) who was also arrested on charges of fraud and money laundering related to the same romance scam. Mqikela’s FNB account received R580,000.00 in seven transactions also from the same victim. Nomfusi Fortune was granted bail of R2000.00 while Zizipho Mqikela was granted bail of R3000.00 and their matter is postponed to 24 January 2025 for trial.
The Gauteng Acting Head Brigadier Phumeza Klaas has sounded a warning to the public.
“This incident serves as a stark warning to all South African citizens to remain vigilant against romance scams. We urge everyone to exercise caution when engaging in online relationships and to report any suspicious activities to the authorities,” She said.
What is Fraud? “Fraud” is any activity that relies on deception in order to achieve a gain. Fraud becomes a crime when it is a “knowing misrepresentation of the truth or concealment of a material fact to induce another to act to his or her detriment” (Black’s Law Dictionary). In other words, if you lie in order to deprive a person or organization of their money or property, you’re committing fraud.
