THE NET is closing in on a syndicate who stole a Port Shepstone woman’s identity document and declared her dead to cash in on insurance policies.
Police are questioning two women who have claimed at least R500 000 from various insurance companies.
The pair, aged 59 and 34, from Durban, were allegedly working with a third suspect who has two addresses, one in KwaMashu and another in Flagstaff in the Eastern Cape. Police have been unable to trace him.
Also involved in the crime were two mortuary owners and a doctor from Phoenix.
An unidentified body that the suspects claimed was Phindile Lukhozi, 36, from Port Shepstone, was buried in an unmarked grave at an unregistered cemetery in Inanda. The problem is that Lukhozi is alive.
About July 2019, Lukhozi forgot her ID book at a retail store and when she went back to look for it, it was gone. She went to the police station to report it and applied for a new ID document which she received in April 2020.
Last September, when her Sassa grant for her two children was not paid, she went to enquire about the payment and was told that she had been declared dead by the Home Affairs office in Umgeni Road.
The third suspect had gone to the Home Affairs office with her ID and a notifi-cation of death signed by the doctor.
Lukhozi said: “The death certificate says I died on 18 September 2022. I went to Home Affairs and they confirmed this but they gave me a letter stating that they would rectify the mistake. I am still having difficulty using my ID because at some places I still appear as deceased and I cannot use my bank cards.”
The two suspects have denied being part of a syndicate and claimed to have no knowledge of Lukhozi. However, their bank accounts tell a different story, with evidence of insurance monies paid being present, according to a well-placed source.
The Sunday Tribune has established that money was paid out by Abacus Life Insurance company, Sanlam, Hollard, Avbob and Capitec Bank.
The Phoenix doctor apparently signed the notification of death document without seeing the body. He has not denied helping the suspects, saying he assisted them because they were desperate for a death certificate, said the source.
The first mortuary owner claimed that he was contacted by unknown people with the body of a woman. He said he took the body to a friend’s mortuary as he did not have a certificate of competence. The mortuary owner claimed that in September, he drove the body to the grave site where he met the woman’s “relatives”. However, he did not have the relatives’ details.
The source said police were in the process of identifying the body of the woman who was buried in Inanda.
“They are waiting for a few documents from Home Affairs, which will enable them to identify her with her fingerprints,” said the source.
The Department of Home Affairs did not respond to questions. However, they requested Lukhozi’s contact details.
KZN police spokesperson Colonel Robert Netshiunda confirmed that Port Shepstone police were investigating a case of fraud.
SUNDAY TRIBUNE