A woman, who allegedly ran an elaborate wedding venue scam, has been arrested and charged for fraud.
The 53-year-old woman is accused of swindling at least 17 couples out of thousands of rands, promising the wedding of the dreams only to deliver absolutely nothing, according to Reaction Unit SA (Rusa).
Rusa's Prem Balram said the Shallcross woman collected bridal couples' monies via electronic transfer for a wedding venue in Botha's Hill, on the KwaZulu-Natal upper highway.
He said the venue had been booked out to multiple couples, for the same day.
"Families arrived at the premises on the wedding day to find that it was double booked, had no electricity or water, and the building was in a dilapidated condition. The suspect would demand monies prior to the venue being viewed," Balram said.
The woman's jig was up when a Durban-based couple contacted Rusa's offices last month, claiming that they had paid R26,000 to the bogus wedding planner.
"When we shared details of the wedding venue scam, we received several calls for help. Complaints were received from other provinces too," Balram said.
A Boksburg-based detective reached out to Rusa stated that the woman was wanted on two cases of fraud where she allegedly defrauded a car dealership of R200,000 and another couple of R26,000.
"Rusa officers arrested the woman who claimed that she was a disbarred criminal attorney. She said she was disbarred after she stole money from clients. It was later found that the woman had been convicted of fraud," Balram said.
Detectives from Boksburg police station are expected to travel to KZN to take the woman back to Gauteng, Balram said.
IOL