About Us	Search	Advertising

	Brought to you by:

A SURVEILLANCE operation aimed at outsmarting an orga?nised cheque fraud scam at a business in Heathfield yielded four arrests on Tuesday 10 June.

Sector One manager Constable Yul Davids from the Steenberg Police Station says that the arrests would not have been possible without the involvement of BH Security Solutions and the sharp eye of the owner of the business concerned.

Davids says that the police and the security company were notified earlier that day after the owner received what he deemed to be a suspicious phone call.

The owner, who declined to be named, says that a man called his business to place a bulk order. The man apparently said that he would transfer money via the internet and that he would fetch his purchase later that day.

The owner says that the mystery caller then claimed to have deposited a sum greater than the original figure into his account.

The man called again to say that he had deposited too much money and that he would send someone to fetch the purchase and the change in cash.

"Intuition told me to phone the bank," says the owner.

The banker apparently told him that the money had been deposited via cheque and not via an internet transfer. The owner says he then called the police and his security company for assistance.

According to Davids, a surveillance post was set up by the Steenberg Police Station along with BH Security outside the business.

Davids says the security company remained on surveillance when the police left in the evening.

Within minutes of their leaving, a white Nissan Sentra arrived on the scene and two men entered the business. According to a representative of the security company, the Nissan and its two remaining occupants then circled the site.

The owner of the business says that when the men entered the shop, he pretended to fetch the purchase from the back of the shop. Once out of sight, he alerted the authorities.

"One minute I was scared, and the next minute I was glad I phoned," he says.

"Within 15 seconds we were on the scene and we arrested the two in the shop," says the security ma?nager.

The two men in the Nissan were arrested in the street. The police then took custody of the suspects and confiscated the car.

Davids says that the men have been turned over to the Claremont Police Station.

The caller who organised the scam is apparently still at large.

	Back to top
©