Former SABC radio presenter and Skeem Saam actor Sebasa Mogale (52) and his wife Dorah Mogale (44) were each granted bail of R10 000 following allegations of fraud emanating from a Bitcoin scam advertised on the radio. The couple appeared briefly before the Polokwane Magistrate's court yesterday and their matter was postponed to mid-May for further investigation.

ADVERTISED SCAM ON RADIO

SAPS spokesperson colonel Malesela Ledwaba said investigations revealed that in 2020 while Mogale, was still working at one of the SABC radio stations, advertised a scam called Mining City on Radio. "He explained how people become rich by investing money into the Mining City packages, which the investors will get rewarded for based on how much they invested. On that radio advert, he told listeners to visit his office in Polokwane to attend the session where he and two other people would be presenting in the seminar." Ledwaba said the turnout of people attending the presentation was good and they were given brochures with different packages. "The attendees believed in the advertised scam, the reason being he is Mr. Sebasa Mogale, the radio presenter. They gave them reference numbers to individually deposit the money into a Standard bank account belonging to the Altcoin trader. The alleged mining packages varied from R6500 to R253 000.00 with estimated payouts," Ledwaba added.

BE PATIENT 

Victims deposited the money and were given instructions that after they've made their deposits, they should return to the office to create email addresses and login details to have access to their investments. "They told them to wait for a period of six months before they could withdraw their benefits so that they could get better benefits. The problem started when the victims tried to withdraw their money and that's when they realised that the details given to them were blocked," Ledwaba said. "When victims questioned Sebasa Mogale telephonically about their investment, he told them that the Mining City scam had collapsed due to inflation rate. It meant that investors lost their money into the scam. Victims went back to the office unfortunately they found that the office was closed, and his phone was on voicemail," Ledwaba added. Over opened over 10 cases with the police around 2022 at Polokwane and Mokopane SAPS and more are expected to be opened. Police investigations are still ongoing.