The SUV That Vanished: Man Buys Toyota Fortuner with Fake Payslips, Disappears for Five Years

A slick fraud, a silent getaway, and a five-year mystery finally solved.

A Toyota Fortuner driven off a dealership lot in Delmas back in 2020 became the centrepiece of a vehicle finance scam that left investigators chasing shadows across provinces for half a decade. The man behind the wheel? Mthobisi Shezi, a 29-year-old from KwaZulu-Natal, who vanished without paying a cent for the luxury SUV.

A Deal Too Good to Be True

It started like any other vehicle sale, bank statements, payslips, credit checks. But what the dealership in Delmas didn’t know was that the paperwork Shezi submitted was a complete fabrication. Fraudulent documents were all it took for him to secure financing for a Toyota Fortuner worth R455,900.

That October in 2020, Shezi took delivery of the vehicle and disappeared without making a single payment. No tracking device, no forwarding address. Just a shiny new Fortuner and a cold trail.

A Cross-Provincial Manhunt

It took the combined efforts of the Hawks’ serious corruption and commercial crime investigation teams, based in Secunda, to finally crack the case. Their persistence led them to Greytown, KwaZulu-Natal, where Shezi was arrested on Saturday, almost five years after the fraudulent purchase.

He appeared in the Delmas District Court on Monday, facing serious charges that could carry steep penalties.

Mpumalanga Hawks spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Magonseni Nkosi, confirmed that the case involved outright deceit: “The suspect allegedly submitted fraudulent bank statements and payslips to the finance institution.”

Not an Isolated Incident

Shezi’s case mirrors a growing trend in South Africa’s auto finance sector. Just last year, the Middelburg Magistrate’s Court sentenced Jacob Aphane for pulling a similar scam, this time with a Suzuki Ertiga and fake employment credentials from a company that didn’t exist. The fraud was valued at nearly R500,000, with not a single monthly payment made.

As economic pressures mount, financial fraud in vehicle sales appears to be gaining traction, especially in provinces like Mpumalanga and Gauteng, where banks and dealerships are struggling to verify increasingly sophisticated document forgeries.

Public Reaction and Social Context

On social media, the case has sparked a mix of disbelief and anger. Comments ranged from “This guy played GTA in real life” to “Proof that finance approval systems are broken.” Many called for stricter verification processes and harsher sentences for offenders exploiting the cracks in the system.

Meanwhile, car dealers are growing more cautious, with some calling for a nationwide finance fraud blacklist and better real-time verification tools.

A Wake-Up Call for the Auto Finance Industry

Major General Nico Gerber, provincial head of the Hawks in Mpumalanga, praised the investigation teams for their perseverance. But the bigger question remains: How many more cars have vanished under similar circumstances?

With multiple cases now surfacing, there’s growing concern that this is just the tip of the iceberg in South Africa’s vehicle finance fraud landscape.

If you’re considering vehicle financing, always double-check your paperwork and know that the Hawks are watching. For those working in finance or car sales, the message is clear, tighten your processes, or risk becoming the next victim.

{Source: IOL}

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