A man who allegedly sold “fake Persian carpets” worth thousands of rands was released after appearing in court.
The Portuguese national was arrested on the N2 near Caledon on Tuesday 28 May, after a resident of Hermanus registered a case of fraud with Hermanus police. He appeared in the Hermanus Magistrates’ Court last Thursday on a charge of fraud, but the case was withdrawn and he was freed.
The buyer, who registered the case, said he was extremely upset after being informed of this development as he believes the suspect who identified himself as a Portuguese national will either flee or continue to fleece other unsuspecting buyers out of their hard-earned money.
The resident of Onrus said he was approached at his home on 24 May by the carpet dealer, whom he describes as very forceful and convincing.
“He showed me beautiful carpets as well as his business card and the website stating that the carpets are genuine hand-made Persian carpets,” he said. “After he dropped the price and convinced me it was a once-off offer, I paid R30 000 via EFT for the mats.”
After doing some research on his “bargain”, the Onrus resident made the shocking discovery that the carpets were definitely not hand-made Persian carpets. He even visited a local Persian carpet dealer who issued him with a certificate indicating the carpets he bought were “fake”.
He sprang into action and immediately contacted his bank’s fraud department and registered a fraud case with the police.
Calls from company
“After the funds were frozen I started getting calls from the company. They eventually agreed to pay the money back into my account. I was lucky in this regard, but I just want to warn others not to fall victim to this unscrupulous carpet dealer. I believe that if more people had opened cases against him, the court wouldn’t have released him.”
Captain Fadila September, the spokesperson for the Hermanus police, confirmed that two charges of fraud relating to the sale of alleged fake oriental carpets have been registered.
She reported that the suspect was released last week after the case against him was withdrawn. September confirmed that another charge was registered by a man who had reportedly bought carpets to the value of R70 000 from the suspect. This incident, said September, occurred in February, but the fraud case was only registered last week after the suspect had already been released.
Eric Ntabazalila, the Western Cape spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority, said the state withdrew the charges “as there was no prima facie case against the person they arrested.
“There was no evidence linking the arrested person to the alleged crime. There was no evidence that the person driving the car was the same person who sold the carpets to the complainant. Even the name of the person the complainant provided was not the same as the person who was arrested.”
- September urged anyone who believes they may have also been duped by this carpet dealer to contact Hermanus police on 028 313 5300 to register a case.
