Police have arrested a man, claiming to be a cellphone recharge voucher salesman. According to SAP spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Vincent Mdunge, the 34-year old suspect was allegedly selling R10 000 worth of airtime recharge vouchers to a shop owner in Eshowe.

"During November last year, the suspect approached a cellphone shop owner and presented himself as a cellphone recharge voucher sales representative. He offered a discount prize on airtime recharge vouchers of different service providers and the shop owner accepted the deal," Mdunge stated.

He added that the vouchers looked authentic and could not easily be identified as fraudulent.

"The shop owner only became suspicious when several customers returned the vouchers indicating that they were invalid. He then enquired from the service providers and  it was established that these vouchers were in fact fraudulent," Mdunge said.

The matter was reported to police and the suspect was arrested in Phoenix, where he was allegedly still defrauding cellphone shop owners using the same tactics. He will be charged for fraud and will appear in Eshowe Magistrates Court soon.
 
Information available to the police through investigation indicates that the suspect may have  defrauded several businesses within the KwaZulu-Natal province.

The police urge anyone who may have been a victim of the suspect's fraudulent activities to contact the investigating officer, Sergeant Nathan Portier on 076 609 1250 or 035 473 4211 or 035 474 4388.