Alleged stokvel scammers still at large
Fraud charge opened and case is being investigated, but no-one arrested yet
● A case of fraud is being investigated by the police in respect of United Africa Stokvel, the digital stokvel platform that has allegedly defrauded hundreds of people across South Africa and neighbouring countries.
“As per the case number you provided, that is a fraud case opened for further investigations, and no-one has been arrested,” police spokesperson Col Dimakatso Nevhuhulwi said.
The 43-year-old who laid the charge — one of an estimated 500 people — chose to be only identified by her first name, Bev. She spoke to the Sunday Times on Thursday.
“I invested more than R100,000 with the platform over more than a year and personally opened a case of fraud in July when their answers completely dried up,” she said.
Bev’s nightmare be- gan early last year.
“I work hard for my money in sales and advertising. In March [2022] I saw information about this stokvel. Because it is a very South African way of saving your money, I was keen to invest, but I did my due diligence.”
She carried out all the checks possible. UAS claimed to have certification from the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FCSA). “After seeing this stokvel on several mainstream media platforms, and noticing it being profiled and promoted by journalists, I decided to try it — but started small.
“The lowest category available at the time was to invest R1,000 a month, and then you would get back about R4,000 after 12 months. This did not seem to be the exorbitant interest fraudsters always promise their victims. It felt reasonable.
“Initially their plan — to take our money and invest it in telecommunications, and then pay us a return on our investments — seemed to work well. People were being paid out. But I think at some point the money just became too good and they became greedy.” New investment options kept emerging. “The person in charge, Darren Langbein, put new so-called VIP specials up on the UAS social media platforms. These ones needed a lot more, but the payouts were also bigger.”
She invested in more VIP options, and in March this year it was time for her to receive the payout on her original investment.
“When you invest, they send you a statement ... and the date when you will be paid out. In March this year, they contacted me and offered me the opportunity to reinvest.” Her spoils amounted to “about R7,000”. “I decided to reinvest because I had another R60,000 already invested that was supposed to pay me R90,000 in May.” However, red flags started appearing.
“In March and April, there was a lot of load-shedding in South Africa, and suddenly complaints by investors started appearing on social media. Darren posted messages saying they were experiencing a backlog with payments, and people just had to be patient.
“At the time, Darren made a few payments to others, but in retrospect I believe that was done just to manage the unhappy investors.”
In the winter, after not having received further payouts, she visited the UAS offices in Bryanston, Johannesburg.
“I found one receptionist who worked for several businesses. She told me: ‘These people owe a lot of people money. They ran away.’ I went to Sandton police station and opened a case of fraud.
“Nobody knows what became of Darren and his wife. The police investigators told us they had gone to the Langbein home on several occasions but could not find them.”
The Sunday Times visited the address of a gated community in Northcliff where the Langbeins were thought to have lived. This reporter could not gain access. However, a neighbour knew about
Langbein.
“I think they lived in the complex down the road. There have been a lot of angry people knocking on my door looking for this man in the last few months.”
A member of the communications team at the National Stokvel Association of South Africa confirmed in a WhatsApp message UAS was being investigated by the FSCA, but referred the Sunday Times to that entity.
After several e-mails to the FSCA Tembisa Marele, a spokesperson, said its offices would reopen only in January.
Neither Langbein nor his wife, Shirley, had responded to calls or messages at the time of going to print.