Thuli Zungu

Thuli Zungu

Hendricks Raolane will sleep more easily now that Absa Bank has refunded the R60000 that was fraudulently withdrawn from his account in November last year.

The withdrawal took place in Lichtenberg. Raolane has never been to Lichtenburg in his life.

After discovering that the cash was missing he notified the bank and was advised to open a criminal case, which he duly did.

"I was subsequently shown video footage of the incident taking place and it was established that it was not me who had effected the withdrawal," Raolane said.

He said the fraudster had used a fake identity document and had not even tried to forge his signature. He said the man just used his initials.

"When I withdraw money the bank always verifies my signature, but they didn't do it with that fraudster," he said.

Deon Oosthuizen of Absa apparently promised the money would be repaid within two weeks, but this was not done until Consumer Line stepped in.

Raolane said he was grateful for Sowetan's intervention, but added that Absa had not refunded the interest that he would have earned.