Insurance scammers were not left out of the drama of the year that was 2024.
The Association for Savings and Investment South Africa (Asisa) life insurers and investment companies reported a 46% surge in fraud and dishonesty.
Asisa says the industry lost at least R175.9-million to fraud and dishonesty in 2023, a 128% increase from the R77.2-million lost in 2022.
Early detection of fraud and dishonesty prevented losses worth R1.5-billion in 2023 compared to R1.1-billion in 2022.
Segomotsi Agnes Setshwantsho, 49, was among those arrested for murdering and cashing in on the deaths of family, friends and relatives so she could benefit from insurance payouts.
The woman from Disaneng in the North West made headlines for nearly a year, with her court appearances at the Mmabatho Magistrate’s Court in the North West drawing massive crowds.
Setshwantsho, whose name means image, faces the same crimes committed by notorious Tembisa policewoman Rosemary Ndlovu, who was convicted of killing relatives and
family members to profit from their life insurance policies, which she had previously
fraudulently insured.
Ndlovu is currently serving six life sentences for multiple murders. She was also found guilty of fraud and defeating the ends of justice.
The North West High Court is set to continue to hear Setshwantsho’s case, which
includes three counts of murder, two counts of fraud, and defeating the ends of justice on January 25 next year.
She is accused of murdering her husband, Justice Setshwantsho, in 2016, her son Kutlo in July 2023, and her niece Bonolo Modiseemang in August 2023.
Two further murder charges, that of her two daughters who died in 2005 and 2015, might be added to the existing charges.
The court heard that Setswantsho insured over 40 relatives for life insurance in order to kill them to profit from the insurance payouts.
Her arrest resulted from a family tip-off to the police following the inexplicable death of Modiseemang, 30, who was insured for more than R3-million in life cover.
This prompted the police to exhume Modiseemang’s body a month after her burial. To everyone’s shock and horror, tests uncovered that she had been poisoned, providing evidence that led to Setshwantsho’s arrest.
Modiseemang allegedly ate a sandwich said to be laced with poison handed to her by Setshwantsho minutes before she fell ill and died, contrary to the post-mortem report that ruled that she had died a natural death.
While she was in police custody, the police began looking into several inexplicable deaths in the family, including the death of her toddler son, followed by the murders of her husband and their two children.
In March, her husband’s body was exhumed in Kuruman, providing additional evidence that tied Setshwantsho to his death.
The court is yet to have evidence that will determine if Setshwantsho also had a hand in the deaths of her two daughters.
Limpopo police sergeant Rachel Shokane-Kutumela, 43, was also arrested following an investigation into allegations that she fraudulently secured burial and life insurance policies.
It is alleged that she collected R10-million in insurance claims following six murders.
She was arrested with her sister, Anna Shokane, 47, and daughter, Flora Shokane.
Jean van Niekerk, convenor of Asisa forensic standing committee, attributes the increase in fraud detected in 2023 to a combination of increasingly desperate consumers willing to commit a crime for extra money and criminal syndicates that see life insurers and
investment companies as lucrative soft targets.
“Seen in isolation, the fraud statistics paint a bleak picture. However, they should be considered as part of the bigger industry picture, which shows that the majority of policyholders and beneficiaries are honest.
“This is evidenced by the 95.9% payout rate in 2023 to the beneficiaries of 892 817 life and funeral cover policies” to a value of R39.9-billion,” Van Niekerk said.
