Arthur Moyo used counterfeit bank statements, salary payslips and ID documents bearing his photo to scam banks out of R1.6m in vehicle finance.

The 32-year-old carried out a fraud spree over a year in three provinces.

Using counterfeit documents, he went to Klerksdorp Motor Smart on November 17 2016 to apply for vehicle finance. After the application was approved, he collected the vehicle, said Hawks spokesperson Capt Dineo Sekgotodi.

Moyo then repeated the process in Rustenburg at Leons Rustenburg Ford on January 13 2017 and at Polokwane Galactic Auto on the same day.

In November 2017 he struck again at Nel Auto Mazda Witbank in eMalahleni. In total he had defrauded the banks out of R1.6m.

He was found guilty and sentenced on Friday by the eMalahleni regional court to 23 years' imprisonment, but the court ruled he serve an effective 15 years behind bars.

Sekgotodi said Moyo was convicted on four counts of fraud and one count of contravening sections of the Identification Act 68 of 1997.

“The provincial head for the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, Maj-Gen Zodwa Mokoena, welcomes the sentence.

“She further applauded the investigating team for securing a successful conviction on multiple cases in all three provinces which are Mpumalanga, Limpopo and Gauteng,” Sekgotodi said

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