An estate agent and his attorney husband arrested on fraud charges

Nomsa Masiza (53) and Phillip Masiza (57) briefly appeared in the Port Elizabeth Magistrates court shortly after their arrest on three counts of fraud charges yesterday, 09 February 2021.

It is alleged that a 45-year-old victim responded to an advertisement about a sale of a house in Motherwell from an estate agent owned by Nomsa Masiza. During the sales transaction, the victim was instructed to deposit a lump sum of R390 000 for both the house and transfer costs.

The banking details provided belonged to Phillip Masiza, an attorney and the Director OFM Incorporate, who is the husband to the estate agent. The money remained in the husband’s Trust

Account until the deal did not materialise and the victim wanted his money back to buy another property.

They allegedly refused to repay him his funds and the matter was reported to the authorities for investigation which led to the arrest of the couple.

The case against the duo was remanded to the 11 February 2021 for bail application.