White collar crime has been on the rise in Limpopo during the third quarter of the year. And the level of apprehension by law enforcement inspires little confidence.
The statistics were released by SAPS Limpopo on Wednesday in Polokwane.
White-collar crime is generally non-violent in nature and includes public corruption, health care fraud, mortgage fraud, securities fraud, and money laundering, scamming, to name a few.
The recent crime statistics are testament to the struggle the police face in making arrests, while first quarter crime statistics for this period released late last month, back the view that there has been nothing stopping perpetrators from committing such commercial crimes that could be associated with private and government businesses through fraud and racketeering.
However, it is the ordinary citizen, according to Polokwane community policing forum (CPF) Chairperson Rudolph Phaswana, who has been scammed through social media money-making schemes and their cellphone numbers being hacked where perpetrators request for money from their contact lists without the owner’s control.
At position nine nationally and first position in the province, respectively, out of thirty police stations that have been affected by this crime, the recent statistics indicate that there were 286 more cases between April and June this year, an addition of 72 cases compared to the previous year.
In 2020, just 104 cases were recorded within the same three-month period.
Phaswana revealed that 44 financial crimes were recorded at the local police station until August 30, and only one arrest was effected. In July, 58 cases were recorded and only 14 arrests were effected.
Con artists come up with new scams
“New convincing scams come up all the time so people must just be vigilant,” he said.
While shoplifting in the city has also been on a similar rise since 2023, having ranked sixth nationally and first provincially out of thirty police stations that recorded highest such cases.
Phaswana said the arrest rate is often at 100%, as shopkeepers would have already apprehended the perpetrators.
But he noted that the incarceration rate is much lower and such criminals are often let go with just a warning due to the Criminal Procedure Act not being extensive on how to handle such cases.
“That’s why police officers do not take such cases seriously, although quite hurtful to businesses. Eventually some businesspeople do not report to police. They take the law into their own hands, making trouble for themselves with the law,” he explained.
