A man arrested for allegedly defrauding a woman out of R85 800 via a fraudulent Facebook account, is expected to reappear in the Bloemfontein Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, 27 May.
The suspect, Radowaan Ricardo (29), has been confirmed as originating from Strand in the Western Cape, not Bloemfontein as initially reported.
WO Fikiswa Matoti, provincial spokesperson for the Hawks, said the victim is from Bloemfontein, Free State.
Matoti said the suspect then contacted the victim via e-mail, introducing himself as a representative of the American government. “The complainant was promised a Covid-19 pandemic-related grant on the condition that she deposit money into a certain bank account,” she said.
To trick the complainant, Matoti said the suspect sent a list of other individuals who qualify for the same grant. She said the complainant recognised a friend’s name on the list, and then contacted her on a hacked Facebook account. The “friend” confirming a receipt of the payout.
“It was later discovered that, all along, she had been communicating with a scammer who had hacked her friend’s Facebook account,” Matoti explain.
WO Fikiswa Matoti, Free State Hawks spokesperson
Ricardo is facing charges of fraud and money laundering. The Bloemfontein Hawks’ Serious Corruption Investigation team pounced on him last Wednesday, 21 May, following an intensive investigation into the purported fraudulence which occurred during December 2022.
