BY REGINALD KANYANE
TAUNG police recently experienced spate of crimes at Taung Mall where unsuspecting victims were robbed their bank cards and their money fraudulently stolen. Taung police arrested one of the suspects who masqueraded as good Samaritan.

Realeboga Diseko (28) was recently arrested and is expected to appear at Taung Magistrates Court this week.

Pudimoe cluster police station spokesperson, sgt Tebogo Thebe said the suspects have been preying on bank users and targeted those who withdraw social grant money.

“We have arrested a 28-year-old man at Taung Mall, where he and his accomplice were allegedly defrauding unsuspecting bank users. They will allegedly masquerade as good Samaritans and steal the users’ cards in the process.

“They will give the user different card and without realizing, leave the area. And suspects will use the card to withdraw the money. We still working on arresting other suspects because we suspect they working as a syndicate,” Thebe said.

According to Thebe, they found three bank cards from the suspect and R1500 in cash.

However the South African Banking Risk Information Centre (SABRIC) on behalf of banking industry has reported a decrease in associated robberies for 2015.

Commenting on the significant decrease, Kalyani Pillay, SABRIC CEO said, “The decrease is attributed to the collective collaborative efforts of not only the banking industry and law enforcement, but of the bank clients who have decided to heed the call to not carry large sums of cash and use alternate methods of banking.”

Last year the banking industry not only recorded a 30% increase in associated robberies, but sadly saw some bank clients lose their live as they were killed on their way from the bank after withdrawing large amounts of cash. Pillay said the 23% decrease currently see, is the largest recorded since 2006.

“This demonstrates that working together with strategic partners such as the South African Police Services, Crime Line, the Directorate of Priority Crime Investigations; as well as the public is having the desired effect,” he said.

The biggest decrease has been recorded in the Eastern and Western Cape Provinces where associated robberies showed a 40% and 46%decrease respectively.  However, the Mpumalanga Province showed an unfortunate 29% increase in associated robberies, which is a concern to the banking industry. Mitigation efforts between law enforcement and the industry are being implemented to address this scourge.

Pillay said they embarked on an intervention and stabilization programme in the Witbank area in Mpumalanga in partnership with the South African Police Service since April this year.

According to him, this is due to the increase in bank related crimes that they witnessed in that area and said SABRIC can confidently say that the interventions are beginning to show a decline in these crimes as arrests are being effected.
The SAPS in partnership with SABRIC, will be launching similar programmes of stabilization in other identified areas around the country, which will be announced in due course.
Modus operandi like the ones mentioned above reiterate the importance of awareness campaigns such as the Carrying Cash Safely campaign to warn bank customers of the dangers associated with carrying large amounts of cash. “To avoid these robberies and the risk of loss of life, we urge bank clients to rather consider using alternative banking methods, such as internet and cellphone banking” said Pillay.
-TDN

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