A Gauteng woman who fleeced an unsuspecting buyer who wanted to buy property in Croatia out of R4.5m was sentenced to an effective five years' imprisonment in the Palm Ridge Specialised Commercial Crimes court on Wednesday.

According to TimesLIVE, Hawks spokesperson Thatohatsi Mavimbela said Amanda Edgar was convicted of fraud and money laundering after being found to be the brains behind a plot to defraud a victim seeking to buy property in Eastern Europe between October 2015 and September 2016.

The complainant met someone he believed to be the seller of the property and later received a contract via email stipulating the amount agreed on and with details of an FNB bank account to which payment of more than R4.5m was to be made.

The Financial Intelligence Centre flagged the transaction and alerted him that a fraudulent transaction was taking place via his account but he confirmed the payment was for a property he was buying.

Mavimbela said the matter was reported to the Hawks' Serious Commercial Crime Investigation Unit and investigations revealed the victim had been scammed and the bank account in the name of Peak Global belonged to Edgar. 

Investigations showed after receiving the money she transferred it to business and personal bank accounts.

She was convicted and sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment, five years of which were suspended.

Full TimesLIVE report