KZN 'Casanova Fraudster' on the prowl again scamming 30 new victims!
There's a shortage of love for this kind of Casanova...
When times are hard, you can be certain that criminals are rife, eager and open to scamming and stealing wherever they can.
The worse part, if we can call it that, is when you have to deal with blue collar criminals.
Somehow it hurts more when someone scams you into believing their very well-orchestrated, sneaky plan that swindles you out of your hard earned money.
Unfortunately, this time it is former KZN magistrate Johan Carel Fouche, also known as the 'Casanova Fraudster'.
He got the name because of his "smooth criminal" demeanour and has been jailed previously with his 70 counts of fraud.
Fouche has swindled around 30 victims this time and out of hundreds of thousands of rands.
His current act has him posing as "chief operating officer of Asiphakame Financial Services, which he runs with chief operating officer Leonie Dempers.
The firm describes itself as “a complete financial wellness partner to our clients” and promises to help over-indebted consumers with services that include “loan sourcing”, “credit record rehabilitation”, “bond originating”, and “bond rescue”. (Mail and Guardian)
It is a sore point considering the many debt counselling services on the rise, and the fact that many people are having a tough time making ends meet.
Since many people have fallen victim to these false claims of "helping people whose bonds are already in distress; often to the point of stopping the execution sale on the day of the auction and saving our client’s house” (as seen on their website).
Considering they willingly parted with their cash, they have been unable to open up fraud cases, but have been advised to approach the civil courts - which can be considered a costly affair in itself.
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"Fouche and Dempers have allegedly preyed on numerous desperate people. A favoured scheme is to withdraw the equity out of their properties." (Mail and Guardian)
The two alleged fraudsters have been approached to comment and have said that these are civil cases, where the people willingly entered into agreements and later changed their minds.
"Homeowners Chevon and Hubert Heydenrych are also alleged victims of the pair. The Heydenrychs maintain that they lost more than R600 000 in one of Fouche’s schemes, while in another apparent scam, UK citizen Dawn Taylor paid Fouche R12 500, believing he was an attorney who could assist with a visa application." (Mail and Guardian)
Western Cape Hawks are currently investigating five fraud cases, but there are far more cases against them.
Image Courtesy of: Mail & Guardian