More license department problems

Scam unearthed at testing station
Graeme Hosken
August 22 2008 at 09:46AM

A daring fraud syndicate specialising in the sale of fake driver's licences has been unearthed by police at the Waltloo vehicle testing station in Tshwane.

The gang, which operated from a car "registered" in the name of a police officer, is believed to have been operating in Gauteng, North West, Mpumalanga and Limpopo for several years, targeting unsuspecting and desperate would-be motorists.

The scam was discovered when police from the Pretoria Flying Squad were tipped off about the sale of temporary driver's licences at Waltloo vehicle testing station.

Police swooped on three suspects sitting in a blue Mazda 6 which the suspects were using as their office, and recovered several fake driver's licences and dozens of identity photographs of would-be motorists.

On checking the vehicle's registration, the arresting officers discovered that the car was registered in the name of a man believed to be a senior superintendent at the SAPS National Evaluation office in Pretoria.

Police at the scene said they were investigating the possibility that the car may have been registered in the policeman's name to fool police into thinking that there was nothing suspicious about the car.

"The other possibilities are that the car has either been 'cloned' or else this policeman is actually involved in the syndicate," said a policeman.

Police spokesperson Captain Jan Sepato confirmed the arrests, saying the men, aged between 30 and 36, were caught with numerous false documents and identity photographs. "We believe that the photographs belong to people who have been duped into buying their driver's licences from the syndicate which we suspect is operating in Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and North West province," he said.

Sepato said the men will appear in court next week on charges of fraud.

He said police were investigating the fact that the car is registered in the name of a policeman.

"At this stage we are establishing whether the man is in fact a policeman or whether he has left the service," he said.

Sepato appealed to people applying for the driver's licences to be wary of unscrupulous people operating in the vicinity of vehicle testing stations.

Anyone with information about similar operations at any vehicle testing station can contact Crime Stop at 08600 10111.

This article was originally published on page 1 of Pretoria News on August 22, 2008

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Without any inside knowledge or intelligent info, something tells me these are the guys that took my wife for a ride. Gut feeling.

"We believe that the photographs belong to people who have been duped into buying their driver's licences from the syndicate which we suspect is operating in Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and North West province,"
Mobile, with inside info, apparently real documents, duping people. Sounds eerily familiar. People are duly warned to look out for unscrupulous people in the vicinity of testing stations .... but these guys know every testing centre in the country. They would certainly not appear unscrupulous on the surface, and does vicinity include operating from WITHIN the license offices?
I would imagine this info would be dragged out into court eventually, they were caught red handed. I'd love to have a look at one of those temp licenses, just a peek and i would know for sure.

But hey, these guys have been stopped, big up to the boys in blue.