Typing scam exposed, SARS prosecutes
2006-01-12
MORE than three years after Paarl Post reported that advertisements for document typing were fraudulent, the perpetrator has been nailed.
It began as a small advertisement for typists to earn an income working from home in newspapers countrywide, placed by “Reitz Tikdienste”.
Financially desperate readers responded, depositing between R185 and R200 each into various bank accounts, meaning an income of millions to the advertiser.
The typists mailed their typed work but were never paid, and after receiving complaints, Paarl Post refused further placement of advertisements.
Attempts by subscribers to get answers were frustrated by the fact that the advertiser used at least 15 different numbers.
The business practices of the advertiser, Pretoria-based Reitz Personeel CC and its owner, Vanessa Patrick (35), were investigated and condemned by the Department of Trade and Industries.
The numerous complaints led to action from the Special Investigations Unit of the SA Revenue Services, who started investigating 13 bank accounts in 2003.
Last month, Patrick signed a plea bargain with the Department of Public Prosecution in Pretoria. In terms of this, she will pay a R10 000 fine and pay undeclared VAT of R280 000 to SARS.
She also admitted to 13 counts of having deliberately falsifying VAT information and one count of failing to register as a VAT vendor.
False tax returns involving some R10 million were submitted over a period of about four years - which means Patrick will not find it difficult to pay up.
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