Police have busted a syndicate of four inmates who allegedly created social media profiles of police officers and started extorting money from several male victims seeking the service of a clandestine online escort agency.
Police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Philani Nkwalase said the victims would be informed by someone purporting to be a police officer that a case of rape and fraud has been opened against them for using fake money to pay sex workers.
“They would then present a fake warrant of arrest through WhatsApp and demand payment to ensure that the police, along with the prosecutor, make the cases disappear,” said Nkwalase.
The breakthrough came after an in-depth investigation into corrupt police officers allegedly extorting money. The investigation was conducted by the Hawks’ serious corruption investigation team in Gauteng, the emergency support team from Gauteng, and the Department of Correctional Services.
The inmates were served warrants of arrests on Thursday through a cybercrime search and seizure at Odi and Baviaaspoort Correctional Centres in Mabopane and Pretoria, respectively.
They were charged with extortion, impersonation of a police officer, money-laundering, forgery and uttering.
“A syndicate of inmates with cellphones allegedly created profiles of police officers using the combination of both their names and photos taken from social media profiles of unsuspecting police officers.
“They further sourced a call log from an online base escort agency continuously to contact the victims who paid them in fear of prosecution. Over the period between May and August 2022, the total amounts of R760 000 and R560 000 had been paid into two separate accounts provided to the victims to deposit the money.
“During the search, multiple smartphones were found on each of the four suspects and were seized by the Hawks for further investigation. A total of 36 cellphones, 19 chargers and other accessories were also found from other inmates in the same cells and were seized by the Department of Correctional Services’ emergency support team,” said Nkwalase.
The four inmates between the ages of 26 and 32 will appear at the Pretoria magistrate’s court on Monday and more arrests are imminent.
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