Africa-Press – Eswatini. A woman has been arrested for allegedly defrauding Green Pastures Cooperative, a police cooperative society, of E535 381.50.
Nomfundo Futhi Dlamini (32) of Matsapha reportedly induced the loss of the aforementioned amount on the police cooperative on October 5 at Green Pastures in Manzini. It is believed that a friend, whom she met through social media, asked to deposit the said amount into her Standard Bank account, and further gave her details of how she should transfer the sum to his account in South Africa (SA). The woman was said to have been given E50 000 as a token of appreciation for allowing the friend to use her account. It was gathered that Dlamini knew her male friend through Facebook, when they became friends on the social network, as far back as 2011 while she was still studying at a tertiary institution in SA but they later lost contact.
According to sources, Dlamini got to meet her SA friend around 2013, after he allegedly called and requested for a meet-up. The sources disclosed that the pair met only once and exchanged contacts, where after they would chat. However, as time went on, the pair reportedly stopped communicating, until September this year. It was divulged that the SA man contacted Dlamini and requested to deposit some money into her account, which he said would be used to procure borehole equipment. The sources further alleged that the man, upon depositing the over E530 000 into Dlamini’s account, gave her clear instructions to increase her daily withdrawal limit in order to transfer the money into his account.
Instructed
The sources alleged that Dlamini did as instructed and the money was eventually sent to the man’s First National Bank (FNB) account, with a reference of ‘borehole equipment’. The money allegedly sent to the man was reportedly E480 000. However, it was alleged that on the day of the money transfer, Dlamini received a call from someone who informed her that the person she had been assigned to send money to could not be reached on their mobile phone, and as a result, the caller feared that he no longer wanted to pay their money. Instead, Dlamini was allegedly instructed to go to the bank to reverse the payment. The sources highlighted that Dlamini agreed to do as assigned, but on the following morning. On this day, it was alleged that the caller called her again and told her that he was able to get hold of her SA friend and that she should not worry anymore. The sources relayed that the friends requested to use her account for other transactions. It was alleged that the men asked that she opened a new account which she would use for her personal transactions, while they used her original one for making big transactions. The sources alleged that the woman gave them her friend’s account, which they used to deposit E57 000.
Transfer
The friend is said to have been instructed to transfer E56 000 to Dlamini’s account. From this amount, Dlamini reportedly sent E40 000 to an ABSA (South African) account. Meanwhile, the rest was said to have been given to Dlamini to use on her business. Fast forward to October, sources revealed that Dlamini received a call from the police, who asked for her whereabouts. It was revealed that she reported to the police station in the company of her husband, where she was told that the various amounts deposited into her account were stolen from the police cooperative, Green Pastures. The officers of the law were said to have conducted their investigations and further arrested and charged the woman. Dlamini appeared at the Manzini Magistrates Court, facing the charge of fraud.
According to the charge sheet, the accused unlawfully and with intent misrepresented herself to Bonginkosi Stanford Dlamini, the manager of Green Pastures Cooperative, that invoice number 4593 for insurance premiums of Credit Life Scheme Payment to ESASCCO, was her belief that the payment of E535 381.50 was authentic and entitled for such payment. It states that this happened at or near Green Pastures offices in Manzini upon or about October 5. It further stipulates that the accused induced the cooperative to its actual loss and prejudice to transfer payment amounting to the said amount using Standard Bank account number 9110005406067, whereas the accused well knew that the payment was not good, genuine and was not entitled to the payment when she made the misrepresentation. For this alleged act, she was said to have committed the crime of fraud. She was remanded in custody pending setting of trial date.
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