The Mthatha-based Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team of the Hawks ensured that Hlobisile Mdlalose (42) was sentenced by the Mthatha Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on February 14 for charges of cyber fraud and money laundering.
She was sentenced to undergo 10 years of direct imprisonment with no option of a fine. Both counts were treated as one for the purpose of sentencing.
Hawks’ spokesperson, Warrant Officer Ndiphiwe Mhlakuvana, said she was arrested by the Hawks on September 13, 2023, and appeared before the Johannesburg Magistrate’s court the day after her arrest.
He said she was a prisoner in transit to Mthatha Specialised Commercial Court and appeared on September 18, 2023, where she was released on R8000 bail.
“The complainant saw an advertisement on the internet of a picture house on sale in Newtown, Lusikisiki. Upon seeing the aforementioned house, the complainant contacted the estate agent on the number shown in the advert, expressing interest in purchasing the house. Mdlalose then instructed the complainant to make a payment and sent an offer to purchase via email. This incident happened on July 7, 2022. The victim received an offer to purchase, signed it, and sent it back to the suspect on the same day. Additionally, the victim was contacted by Fotoh Associates Inc. Attorneys requesting Financial Intelligence Centre Act (FICA) documents,” said Mhlakuvana.
He added that the documents were received, leading to the victim receiving another email with Nedbank details stating that payment must be made to the account.
Mhlakuvana stated that consequently, the complainant transferred an amount of R650,000 to the said bank account. Thereafter, the victim was notified by the attorneys that they had never received any payment into their banking account.
“Furthermore, the director of the law firm asserted that the said account does not belong to their company. This culminated in the complainant being defrauded out of R650,000. The matter was then referred to the Mthatha-based Serious Commercial Crime Investigation for probing. The investigations resulted in the accused being traced and found in Johannesburg, Gauteng by the Bizana SCCI team of investigators of the Hawks. She was arrested on September 13, 2023.”
The DPCI Provincial Head, Major General Obed Ngwenya, welcomed the sentencing and further congratulated the SCCI team of investigators for the job well done in ensuring that the accused received a deserving sentence.
