As it becomes more and more difficult to pull off successful bank robberies and cash-in-transit heists, criminals are becoming increasingly innovative in their methods. So-called “client robbers” are getting away with thousands from unsuspecting customers, who are followed and robbed after leaving banks.
This Tuesday, Special Assignment interviews victims of these seemingly low-profile crimes and speaks to security experts and even the robbers themselves.
The story opens in the Marico area of the North-West province, close to the Botswana border. Here over the past few months, elderly people have fallen victim to callous conmen who prey on bank clients. Albert Motswagae is crippled after being thrown off a bridge and left for dead. Shamiel Rakade was killed, his body dumped in a ditch. Abram Moseane is missing, presumed dead. They were abducted after leaving the same bank in Zeerust. Families are concerned, but fear authorities are not. “It seems to me that everyone with a lump sum in their accounts is being sold out,” says son Frans Moseane. “And it looks like the bank is not interested.”
The day after Abram Moseane disappeared, someone cleaned out his bank account at a branch in Pretoria. They apparently did this by changing the photograph in his ID book. Three months on, police have no clues as to the whereabouts of 77-year-old Moseane, or the identity of the suspect in the bank, despite having video footage of him.
Client robbers have been operating fairly freely in the Eastern Cape over the past two years. These robberies are said to be as common to Port Elizabeth, as car hijackings are to Johannesburg. Security investigators have profiled a gang of 50-strong, but are unable to catch them in the act, because they are so professional.
They use rental cars so their vehicles don’t become known, and follow their victims home or to work after observing them in banks. “They are well-spoken, well-dressed and likeable characters, but extremely dangerous and it’s very hard to pin them down,” says an investigator who has come to know the robbers by name.
Interviewed in the story is a robber called “Boss” who says it’s an easy way to make good money. “In a day I can make R800… and I do it every day… every day.”
Cash and Grab is filmed by Jan de Klerk and Ivan Oberholzer and was produced by Jessica Pitchford. |
