Petrol attendant accused of siphoning nearly R500k from motorists

A 34-year-old petrol attendant is expected to appear before the Balfour magistrate’s court on Monday after allegedly siphoning close to half a million rand from unsuspecting motorists using cloned fuel cards in Mpumalanga.

The Hawks said the Middelburg-based Serious Commercial Crime Investigation unit moved in after receiving a complaint from two banks’ card investigators and a Truckstop Inn fuel station, where the suspect was employed.

According to the Hawks, the petrol attendant allegedly targeted motorists who paid using petrol cards, cloning the cards during transactions. Investigations by the financial institutions later revealed that card users had suffered an estimated loss of about R469,000.

The Hawks spokesperson Lt-col Magonseni Nkosi said the information was operationalised and members swooped on the fuel station on Friday. During a search, the suspect was allegedly found in possession of a card-cloning device.

He was immediately arrested and will face charges linked to fraud and card cloning.

Mpumalanga Hawks boss Major General Nico Gerber praised the cooperation between private companies and law enforcement, saying the case could widen.

“Our investigation is still in the infancy phase, and we believe as investigation continues, more information will be uncovered, and there are possibilities that more people might be linked to the illegal activities. This is a testament to our collaboration as public and private partnership in addressing crime,” Gerber said.