Elsewhere in the world, a man in Spain was recently accused of the same crime after collecting more than €90,000 (about R1.4m) from his dead mother’s pension.
According to Euro Weekly News, the 48-year-old man collected the money from November 2014 to April 2021. He was alleged to have faked her certificate of life, regularly required by Belgian authorities which paid the pension, to make sure he received her monthly payments.
Earlier this year, Irish publication RTE reported that a retired pilot was unable to collect his pension because he was wrongly assumed dead, not once but twice.
“I was upset, then I thought it was funny. I was thinking of changing my name to Lazarus,” said pensioner Mike Mahon.
“After many phone calls and letters to prove my existence they restored my pension and back money. I had to persuade them I was alive.”