NORTH WEST – A police crackdown on an organised criminal syndicate operating in Jouberton, outside Klerksdorp, has resulted in the conviction and sentencing of two men who used fraudulent Facebook vehicle advertisements to trap and extort prospective car buyers.
Cleopas Msipa (51) and Tshepiso De Beer (46) appeared before the Stilfontein Regional Court on Tuesday 29 September and both pleaded guilty to charges of theft.
Court proceedings revealed an elaborate extortion scheme designed to prey on citizens searching for affordable vehicles online.
Fabricated crime scenes
According to evidence presented in court, victims who responded to Facebook advertisements for cars and taxis were instructed to meet the sellers at designated addresses in Jouberton. Once inside the premises, a group of men would burst in, falsely identifying themselves as police officers from Potchefstroom.
The bogus officers then separated and interrogated the victims, claiming that illegal gold-bearing material or raw diamonds had been discovered on the premises.
Threatening the terrified buyers with immediate arrest, the syndicate forced them to handover all physical cash in their possession, perform electronic bank transfers directly to syndicate accounts, and surrender their bank cards and PINs, which the suspects subsequently used to purchase items and draw cash at local taverns and businesses.
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Entrapment operation
The syndicate’s operations came to a halt following a covert sting led by the Provincial Organised Crime Unit and Crime Intelligence in March 2023. The entrapment operation led to the arrest of eight original suspects, with subsequent identification parades linking the men to multiple similar cases across the region.
Following their guilty pleas this week, Msipa and De Beer were each sentenced to six years’ imprisonment, wholly suspended for five years.
The case against three remaining co-accused has been postponed to Wednesday 21 October for the allocation of a new trial date. All three remain remanded in custody.
Public warning
North West provincial police commissioner, Lieutenant-General Arthur Adams, commended lead investigator Detective-Constable Thabiso Pheela and the multidisciplinary team for their painstaking work in connecting the suspects to outstanding dockets.
Adams reiterated that the police will continue to aggressively target organised syndicates using online platforms to defraud citizens.
