Court hands suspended sentence, R10k fine to duo linked to US e-mail scam by Nigerian syndicate

The purchase of three Velar Range Rovers with cash has led to the conviction of two men linked to a Nigerian syndicate working with American business e-mail compromise fraudsters.

Col Katlego Mogale from the Hawks said Lerato Letsholo, 27, and Vintam Magamba, 32, pleaded guilty and were sentenced for money laundering in the Palm Ridge specialised crimes court on Monday.

They were served with a fine of R10,000 each plus five years imprisonment wholly suspended for five years.

Mogale said the Hawks were brought in during June 2020 when they were alerted to the Range Rover purchases.

“During the investigation it was discovered the funds were from the incident of BEC [business e-mail compromise, a cybercrime that targets organisations to get false payment transfers] in Texas in the US. The case was investigated thoroughly with the assistance of the US Secret Service.”

Eleven suspects including Letsholo and Magamba were arrested in March this year during a multidisciplinary takedown when two high-end Mercedes-Benz vehicles to the value of R5.3m were also seized.

TimesLIVE reported last year that the suspects allegedly worked together to defraud a US-based mental health institute out of R8m.

Sources with insight into the investigation said the Johannesburg-based syndicate diverted money it allegedly stole to romance scam victims who acted as unwitting money mules. 

The romance scam victims believed the source of the millions funnelled into their accounts was legitimate and they were asked to forward the money to accounts held by alleged syndicate members who used fake online identities to lure lonely women.

The syndicate allegedly bought luxury vehicles with the proceeds of their crimes.

TimesLIVE