A convicted fraudster who cloned 23 bank cards issued by First National Bank was sentenced to six years direct imprisonment in the Port Elizabeth Specialised Commercial Crimes Court this week.
The 44-year-old Phalo Sixishe and his accomplice Edgar Duma, who was sentenced in 2018, spent five months in 2017 using these cards at petrol stations and shops across the country.
A spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority in the Eastern Cape, Anelisa Ngcakani, says Sixishe obtained forged cards with electronic account information and data which was encoded on the magnetic strips of the cards.
She says Sixishe and Duma went on several shopping sprees in Makhanda, George, Gqeberha, Cape Town, Graaff-Reinet, Stutterheim, Maletsai and Komani.
Sixishe was found guilty on 170 counts of fraud which amounted to just over R675 000.
His accomplice, Duma, participated in R361 452 of this amount.
The two were arrested in Humansdorp in 2017.
