Yoco helps cops catch alleged conmen who took Eastern Cape hotel boss for R1.2m

‘The main thing I want to get across is that our machines are not compromised,” said Yoco co-founder Katlego Maphai. “We have state-of-the-art technology and checks and balances.

“Our fraud rate is 0.03%.”

When two alleged conmen recently crossed the tech company, it quickly investigated and put the police on the suspects’ tracks within 48 hours.

Dylan “Buzz” Strydom (27) from Komani was arrested in September on fraud charges for allegedly selling a Yoco machine preloaded with the bank details of his co-accused, Mkhululi Vena (41), to the owner of a hotel in Tsomo in Eastern Cape.

Their victim paid R3,500 for three machines, according to the police, but one of them was loaded with Vena’s bank details.

Strydom and Vena have been released on bail and are due back in court in January.

Yoco co-founder Katlego Maphai has recounted how his company helped to catch the conmen who sold "pre-loaded" machines to a customer. (Photo: Supplied)

Hawks spokesperson Ndiphiwe Mhlakuvana said it is alleged that the Tsomo hotel owner was approached by someone who introduced himself as an employee of Yoco, a mobile speedpoint machine company.

“The suspects are reported to have sold three speedpoint machines for R3,500 to the complainant. It is further alleged that after a few months of using these speedpoint machines, the complainant realised that the sales money was not going into their business account and decided to open a case of fraud with the Hawks,” said Mhlakuvana.

The transactions, worth R1.2-million, took place between July and September 2023.

Read more: Hawks arrest two for rigging a Yoco card payment machine, which the company says is ‘near impossible’

Maphai said they were approached in August to help the police.

“I don’t think what [Strydom] did was easy but I am proud of what we had to do to catch him. He never worked for us. He just signed up for a machine, loaded it with his bank details and then sold it to the hotel owner. It was quite an elaborate scam,” said Maphai.

“He impersonated a Yoco employee. This could have happened to any company. It is unfortunate that it was us.”

Maphai said after they were alerted to the fraud, they started helping the police to track the money.

“What really helped I think is that we were able to respond within 48 hours of the police asking us for assistance.”

He said they were able to track every transaction that went through their system and eventually led the police to the two suspects.

Maphai said he was confident that his machines were safe.

“The hotel owner bought the machine from Dylan loaded with their bank details. It is safer to buy a Yoco machine from the website or in a retail outlet or store.

“Then you must go through the sign-up process and also register on the app. You can see the bank details registered for the machine on the app and if you are unsure about anything, just call us,” he said.

He said if someone buys a Yoco machine as part of an existing business, then a transfer of ownership application must be done.

He said the sign-up for a Yoco machine was rigorous.

“We ask who the individual is, where they live, their ID and we do verification,” he said.

This is what helped them to catch the two suspects.

“We verify that the owner signing up is the owner of the bank account. In addition, we do risk management. We monitor every transaction in real time. We rate each transaction in real time,” he said.

“We built these systems ourselves. I am 100% confident that it is safe.” DM