A suspect was arrested on Tuesday, 5 March 2024, by the South African Police Service’s (SAPS) Commercial Crime Investigation Unit on charges that the suspect had scammed a Canadian citizen out of R24 million.
According to a SAPS statement released on Thursday, 7 March 2024, the complainant reported the ‘romance scam’ in 2022 when she met the scammer (42), who went by the name of Raymond Butler, on social media.
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The suspect began a relationship with the victim through a public website before they started conversing privately.
Their ‘digital relationship’ extended to the extent that the scammer convinced the victim ‘to invest R24 million in a project abroad’.
By pursuing the relevant information, the investigating officer was able to arrest the suspect at Charing Crescent, Parklands, in Table View.
The scammer is expected to appear in the Cape Town Magistrates’ Court once he has been charged with fraud.
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Picture: Pexels / Sora Shimazaki