The festive season is unfortunately the period of the year when the public is known for letting their guard down especially at ATMs when making cash withdrawals. This is when the ATM fraudsters capitalize on the relaxed state of mind of bank clients and up their game to lay their hands on your hard earned cash. Unfortunately for criminals, this is also the time of the year when we step up our game to ensure that the public is protected from crime as indicated by the arrest of three card fraudsters aged between 20 and 46 yesterday morning. Our Commercial Crime Investigation Unit teamed up with Law Enforcement and a private security company contracted by banks, Vuzela and conducted an operation in the Cape Town CBD. The three suspects were apprehended in possession of an assortment of bank and SASSA cards and could not provide any explanation when asked to do so. It was also established that one of the suspects is wanted for a Bishop Lavis fraud case. Their vehicle, a VW Polo was also confiscated for further investigation. The suspects are expected to make their court appearance in Cape Town tomorrow to face charges of theft and possession of stolen property.

We would like to use this opportunity to warn the public to exercise caution when using an ATM and never accept help from a stranger. When entering your PIN number, make sure that the keypad is obscured.

In an unrelated matter, efforts by our detectives to bring perpetrates on the wrong side of the law to book landed several suspects behind bars on charges related to murder, attempted murder, assault GHB, common robbery, sexual offences, firearm and drug related charges. The suspects were on our wanted list and evaded their prosecution.

A total of 538 wanted suspects were arrested during these tracing operations.

The Provincial Commissioner of the Western Cape, Lt Gen Thembisile Patekile has nothing but praise for the members for their dedication in the fight against crime.

Source: South African Police Service