THE reign of an alleged Durban scam artist ended last Thursday when he was arrested at his home on the Bluff.
The man, who police allege is a con artist, has been known to operate under several aliases, including Steven, Alex, Wayne or Dennis Daniels, as well as Mark Whittaker. The man has already been linked to more than 20 cases of fraud, some of which were reported by Durban North and La Lucia residents. He has reportedly evaded authorities for years.
According to private investigator, Brad Nathanson, he and his team sprung on the alleged fraudster at approximately 7pm while he was in the process of relocating to another ‘hideout’.
Luck ran out for the man after he had allegedly conned a La Lucia resident out of his jet ski.
“He had collected the item from the resident after negotiating payment for several weeks. However, the disgruntled resident, realising that he was losing the battle, contacted me with the issue. We put our ears to the ground, managed to get an address and acted on the information as soon as possible,” said Nathanson.
Lt Raymond Deokaran of the Durban North SAPS confirmed that the man had been arrested and has been charged with two cases of theft and three cases of fraud at the station.
“There are many cases pending against him. The accused’s reign seems to trace back to 2001, when he was still a teen. The detectives handling the case will be linking other cases to the accused to add weight in court. So far he seems to have been linked to cases in Durban North, Amanzimtoti, Scottburgh and Mayville to name a few,” he said.
