Two card-cloning fraudsters who operated at various malls in Cape Town have been sentenced in the Bellville Specialised Commercial Crimes Court.
Hawks spokesperson, Siyabulela Vukubi, said the “dedication and perseverance paid off” for members of the Serious Commercial Crime Investigation, when Silindilizwe Ntini, 45, and Lwazi Madondo, 35, were sentenced for fraud, money laundering and contravention of Electronic Communication and Transactions Act 25 of 2002.
The duo were sentenced on June 30 after their conviction during December 2022.
“The pair was involved in bank card cloning scams with their co-accused Arthur Qedinda Dube who is currently serving an eight year sentence for the same charges from 2019.
“All the accused were linked to various fraudulent transactions around Cape Town malls between 2017 and 2018.
“The Hawks' Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team worked around the clock in proving that all the three accused were actually working together in these scams until December 2022 when the two were also found guilty,” said Vukubi.
Ntini was found guilty on five counts of fraud, three counts of money laundering and 15 contraventions of Electronic Communication and Transaction Act.
He was was sentenced to five years imprisonment on all charges.
Madondo was found guilty on seven counts of fraud, three counts of money laundering and twenty seven contraventions of Electronic Communication and Transaction Act.
Madondo was sentenced to eight years imprisonment on all charges.
Hawks head in the Western Cape, Mathipa Makgato, lauded the members for the achievement “as people suffer a lot from these kinds of scams.”
Cape Times