[imagesource: Netflix]

Earlier in the week, we covered the story of Amon “Amoleno” Namara, the man dubbed “South Africa’s very own Tinder Swindler”.

A number of South African women recounted how the Ugandan had fleeced them for money, using the sort of tactics made familiar by Netflix baddie Simon Leviev.

As an aside, looks like the OG swindler is about to face a legal battle that could cripple him.

The latest report on Namara from City Press sees a change of label to ‘the Sandton Swindler’, with a medical doctor opening up about her two-year marriage and the financial trainwreck that followed.

The woman met Namara in 2007, when she was in a vulnerable place after losing both of her parents, and he asked her to marry him after a short relationship:

“Ten years later, I am still paying off the loans. I am fortunate because I never benefitted from any of his dirty money. Otherwise I would be where he is now.”

…She said she realised that their relationship was based on money shortly after their traditional wedding. Namara [below] told her that he was a businessperson who owned a car dealership but always asked for money because the business was struggling.

Image: City Press via Instagram

“I would find [bank credit] cards which were opened in my name in different areas such as Rustenburg. Even today my credit record is a mess. He opened credit card accounts, he got personal loans and the biggest debt was when he asked me to get him a motorbike,” she said.

Things could have been so much worse had a police officer investigating Namara not contacted the woman and told her of his double life.

An Indian businessperson in Hillbrow was after Namara for R200 000 and had opened a case with the police.

Despite the warning, she visited Namara’s family in Uganda (footing the bill, obviously) and only called it quits after falling pregnant with their second child.

The swindler was arrested by the Hawks last Wednesday on a busy road in Sandton – fitting – after another woman who claims she was conned took legal action.

A 38-year-old Jozi businesswoman who met Namara on Tinder in August 2020 alleges she has been taken for R128 000, calling him a “Romeo with alleged kleptomaniac tendencies”.

Namara will appear in the Johannesburg Magistrates’ Court on Friday and face charges of fraud, theft, and money laundering. It’s possible that further charges could be added after more women have come forward since his name hit the news.

[source:citypress]