Former petrol attendants given suspended jail terms for fraud
The pair colluded in July 2018 to pour fuel for cash-paying customers using cloned bank cards and pocketed the money.
CAPE TOWN, April 8 (ANA) – Two former petrol attendants have been slapped with suspended jail sentences for card fraud at the Bluedowns magistrate’s court in Cape Town.
In a statement late on Wednesday, Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (the Hawks) spokeswoman Zinzi Hani said Thembalethu Jamani and Xolani Mbangi, who worked at the Bluedowns Sasol garage, colluded in July 2018 to pour fuel for cash-paying customers using cloned bank cards.
This resulted in the duo pocketing about R6,390 (US$439) in cash.
They were sentenced to 18 months imprisonment respectively, wholly suspended for five years on condition that they are not convicted of fraud during the suspension period. The court also declared the two men unfit to possess a firearm, Hani said.
In a separate incident, 39-year-old Emmanuel John Ayodeii appeared at the Cape Town magistrate’s court on Tuesday after he was arrested by the Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation Team, also on card fraud charges.
According to Hani, on April 4, Ayodeii allegedly checked into the lavish Southern Sun Hotel in Cape Town and paid for his room using a cloned bank card. The Hawks’ team was summoned to the scene by hotel management and still found Ayodeii at the establishment.
“This was after a Nedbank card division investigator alerted the staff to the suspicious transaction,” Hani said.
Ayodeii appeared in court briefly and will remain in custody until his next appearance on Monday.
– African News Agency (ANA), Editing by Stella Mapenzauswa
