A man who tried to buy a laptop with a cloned bank card was given a five-year suspended jail sentence by the Bellville Specialised Commercial Crime Court in Cape Town on Friday.<\/p>\n
Sihle Dzingwa, 24, appeared before magistrate Sabrina Sonnenberg, who declared the bank card forfeit to the State and ordered that it be destroyed in terms of the Criminal Procedure Act.<\/p>\n
Dzingwa pleaded guilty to charges of fraud, forgery and a violation of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act.<\/p>\n
The case took the form of plea-bargain proceedings, in which prosecutor Zama Matayi said the public was outraged over rampant ATM fraud and the frequent use of cloned or stolen bank cards for consumer purchases.<\/p>\n
According to the plea-bargain document, the laptop transaction happened at the Brackenfell branch of the CNA.<\/p>\n
The document told how CNA cashier Sharone Thysse alerted the police when the bank declined the bank card purchase.<\/p>\n
Dzingwa, who holds a certificate in business administration from the College of Cape Town, was arrested while still on the CNA premises.<\/p>\n
According to the document, the card had been lawfully issued to Knysna resident Trent Read.<\/p>\n
Dzingwa told the court he had been involved in the illegal accessing of bank card information, either through the unlawful use of a skimming device, or by distracting people at ATMs.<\/p>\n
He said he had skimmed Read’s card with the intention of making duplicate credit or debit cards.<\/p>\n
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