48-YEAR-OLD LOTTERY SCAMMER FOUND GUILTY

The Provincial Head in Gauteng, Major General Ebrahim Kadwa has welcomed the sentence handed down to a 48-year old man accused of scamming the public of approximately R1.6 million through fictitious lottery winnings messages, by the Palm Ridge Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on the 27th of February 2022.

Captain Ndivhuwo Mulamu says between May and July 2016 the complainant received a short message through cellphone indicating that she had won R750 000 from “lottery”. However a follow-up message was an instruction for her to deposit money into the accused’s bank account for clearance certificate to release the money.

The court found Osunde guilty on a count of money laundering on Section 6 of Prevention of Organised Crime Act and sentenced him to three years direct imprisonment and an additional two years imprisonment wholly suspended for five years on condition that he pays an amount of R200 000 into the complainant’s bank account.

Furthermore investigation revealed that Osunde did not possess legal documents for citizenship in South Africa and court further declared Osunde unfit to possess firearm.