A suspected syndicate member who allegedly stole R315,000 by hacking into the account of Port Elizabeth’s former chief prosecutor, on Friday asked a magistrate for the return of the debit cards claimed to be the tools used to commit the crime.
Nothando Nthutha, 47, was arrested for fraud and was granted R1,000 bail on Friday following the alleged scam.
The state claims syndicate members used a spyware device to facilitate the illegal transaction and that account holders who were being hacked were, as a result, not able to receive notification on their phones when such transactions were concluded.
According to the charge sheet, a syndicate using an illegal device broke into the bank accounts of Reon and Anette Lombaard just months after he went on retirement and large sums of money were withdrawn .
Although the couple suffered an initial loss, the bank managed to reimburse them after they proved there was no negligence on their part.
The state alleges Nkutha acted with a common purpose with members of a syndicate, who are still at large.One of the members is believed to be a technician who was employed by a cellphone company.
It is alleged Nkutha recruited various people whom she paid R1,000 each after they successfully opened bank accounts and obtained debit cards to make withdrawals via ATMs.
After the various bank accounts were opened, the beneficiaries handed the debit cards as well as their secret pin numbers to Nkutha.
After bail was fixed by Port Elizabeth magistrate Thuli Batela, Nkutha said she had been promised by the investigating officer that she would have access to her debit cards.
“This case centred around debit cards. So how do you expect the court to give them back to you? Go and speak to the investigating officer,” Batela said.
Nkutha’s court appearance stemmed from an alleged incident between May 31 and June 1 2016.
The alleged crime coincided with the period during which Lombaard was a chief prosecutor at the North End law courts before he retired in 2016.
Using spyware, the syndicate hacked into the Lombaards’ bank accounts.
The group transferred R315,000 from an Absa Bank account into a Capitec Bank account held in the name of Phangisani Magaseca.
From there, the money was transferred to various beneficiary account holders where withdrawals were made.
The case has been transferred to the Commercial Crimes Court and postponed to August 24 for further investigation.