Rustenburg - Four convicted prisoners arrested for allegedly running an extortion scam from their prison cell appeared in the Pretoria Magistrate's Court on Monday.
They are facing charges related to soliciting money from multiple men who had sought the service of sex-workers seen from an online agency.
The case against them was postponed to September 22 for further investigations.
According to the Hawks, Lenn Roy Jovner, Siphiso Joel Matome, Joshwin Alex Cox and James Andrew Scheepers were arrested during an operation at the Odi and Baviaaspoort Correctional Centres in Mabopane and Pretoria on Thursday.
According to Hawks spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Philani Nkwalase, the operation was aimed at conducting a cybercrime search and seizure as well as executing warrants of arrest to four convicted inmates on an array of charges, which included extortion, impersonating a police officer, money laundering, forgery and uttering.
“This follows an in-depth investigation into corrupt police officers allegedly extorting money from several male victims who had sought the service of a clandestine online escort agency,” he said.
“The victims would later be informed by someone purporting to be a police officer that a case of rape and fraud was opened against them as they used fake money to pay the sex workers.
“They would also present a fake warrant of arrest through WhatsApp and demand payment to ensure that the police, along with the prosecutor, make the cases disappear.”
The Hawks investigation revealed that a syndicate of inmates with cell phones 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,” he said.
During the search, the team found multiple smartphones on each of the four suspects. This was immediately seized for further investigation.
A total of 36 cell phones and 19 chargers, along with other accessories, were also found from other inmates in the same cells were seized by department of correctional services.
IOL