Bogus healers con man out of his pension
A former department of education employee has lost more than R770,000 after two bogus traditional healers allegedly conned the 56-year-old man.
Police spokesperson Captain Anelisa Feni said the man had first handed over an estimated R730,000 of his pension money to a foreign national who is only known as Karen.
It is alleged that Karen convinced the man to resign from his job and hand over his pension money to her so she could perform a cleansing ritual “which would cause the ancestors to multiply the money”.
However, Karen had fled with the cash and was still being sought following the alleged theft, Feni said.
The incident is believed to have taken place in September.
It is further alleged that towards the middle of the same month, the man introduced himself to the complainant and disclosed that he would be taking over from Karen as his traditional healer.
In November, the man apparently instructed the complainant to pay him R27,000 to continue with the cleansing ritual.
Police said in addition to the R27,000, the suspect also allegedly seized the complainant’s furniture, which is worth an estimated R20,000.
The suspect had since been arrested and would be spending New Year’s Day in jail.
He is expected to appear in the Port Elizabeth Magistrate’s Court on January 3.
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