Well-known Thohoyandou bus operator Ms Anna Magwaba of Magwaba Bus Service believes they have uncovered a massive fraud racket in their ticket system.

This was after a man was caught red-handed with a fraudulent ticket in a bus from Makuya to Thohoyandou on Monday morning.

It is alleged the man boarded the bus after producing what looked like a genuine ticket to the bus driver. Inspectors on a routine inspection discovered the suspected forged ticket in his possession. The man confessed that he did not buy the ticket at any of the bus company’s offices, but purchased it from an unknown man who was selling them to other unsuspecting passengers.

The tickets look so genuine that the naked eye might find it very difficult to detect that they are forged. The only difference that one can notice is the quality of the paper and the size of the ticket.

A fuming Ms Magwaba said they were losing a lot of money every month due to fraud. “Not long ago, we caught another man with a bunch of tickets dating back to 2006 and when we questioned him, he said he was working for a syndicate that was operating from a house somewhere at Sibasa,” she said. Magwaba said the discovery of the fraud might be just a tip of the iceberg, with a major racket still going on.

“Who knows, we might be having unregistered shareholders who are even harvesting more than ourselves in terms of dividends,” she said. Magwaba said they were busy strategizing on ways to curb fraud and would not disclose what those measures are, for fear that suspects will be alerted. “We will surprise them and we will round them all up in one day,” she said.

She said the suspect has been cooperative and has helped in giving leads “and we are just on the verge of catching the big fish who are behind the scheme. It is just a matter of time before we catch them.” Magwaba is appealing to all who have purchased such tickets to visit their offices before it is too late. “This is the time of grace and whoever will be found using the forged tickets will end up in jail,” she said.