Funeral society defrauded

One of the largest burial societies in Khayelitsha has fallen victim to a crime syndicate that was assisted by some of the staff members to divert legitimate funeral claims.

Luvuyo Burial Society founding director, Vuyo Bobo, said they picked up this trend at the start of the first lockdown imposed by President Cyril Ramaphosa in 2020.

Mr Bobo said he started receiving complaints from unhappy clients and decided to investigate the matter.

“Upon my investigation I found that the aforementioned claims were processed but they did not go to the right policy holders,” he said.

Mr Bobo said all the new fraudulent application forms were not captured their system as previously everything had been done manually.

“We have tightened the screws now and we want to ensure our members that nothing like this will happen again,” he said.

A case against some of staff members suspected of being in the matter has been opened with the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI).

Detective Captain Wilma Tracey confirmed that they were investigating the matter but would not comment further.