After swindling 27 unsuspecting clients out of almost R300 000 with the promise of taking them on a cruise to Portuguese Islands in Mozambique, Tshepo Khumako’s fate was finally sealed when he was sentenced to five years in jail.
Khumako appeared at the Bethlehem regional court in Free State on Monday and was found guilty of fraud and theft.
However, his five-year jail sentence was wholly suspended for five years on condition that he repays the victims over R170 000 on a monthly instalment of R5 500.
His conviction originates from an incident in 2018 when the 31-year-old presented himself as a travel agent to his victims in Harrismith and persuaded them to deposit money into his personal business account so he could book a cruise for them.
The spokesperson for the Hawks in Free State, Christopher Singo, said: “A number of the 27 victims then deposited R260 000 into Khumako’s business account but Khumako did not arrange the trip as promised.
“The matter was then reported to the Hawks for further investigation and Khumako was arrested on 1 February 2019. He appeared in court on several occasion culminating in his recent conviction.”
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