A prominent businessman and a philanthropist Given the Giver Muhlari was a target of identity theft by a fraudster who has been using his identity to buy goods at clothing stores with his retail account.The fraudster was arrested at Alberton mall after attempting to purchase items with Mr Muhlari’s identity for the 3rd time. According to Markham’s data base the suspect purchased goods such as clothes and cell phones at KZN and Pretoria before his luck ran out at Alberton mall.Mr Muhlari noticed late last year that someone is using his identity illegally but couldn’t trace the suspect due to lack of information. However, there are questions that need answers regarding how the suspect got his hands on Mr Muhlari’s Id because the businessman has never lost his Id before.Nonetheless, it is quite clear that this was an organised crime and chances are, there is a syndicate out there that is running identity fraud and anyone can be a victim. Surprisingly, the suspect and Mr Muhlari were both able to vote using a duplicated identity. This raises a lot of questions, like how come the IEC never picked that up and how many more people have voted more than once with one identity?Mr Muhlari had mixed emotions about the event because he was unable to sleep at night, wondering what the next move will be after he noticed that his identity was duplicated and it is used to commit fraud.
BY THABANG RAMMUTLA
