A senior accountant at one of South Africa’s biggest retail companies lost over R22 million in a clever WhatsApp scam. The good news is that authorities have managed to get back R11 million of the stolen money.
The National Prosecuting Authority’s Asset Forfeiture Unit has won a major victory in court. They secured a forfeiture order worth R11 million after a senior employee at Foschini Retail Group was tricked into sending money to criminals.
The scam happened in February 2025. Johanna Rademan worked as a senior treasury accountant in the company’s finance department. One day, she received a WhatsApp message from someone pretending to be her boss, Ralph Buddle, who is the Chief Financial Officer of the company.
The message looked real because the WhatsApp profile had Buddle’s actual photograph. Rademan did not have her boss’s contact details saved in her phone. This made it easy for the criminals to fool her.
The fake message told Rademan that there had been an important board meeting. It said she needed to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement before getting more details. The scam was very well planned and executed.
Soon after, Rademan got a WhatsApp call from another person. This man said his name was Gerald du Plessis. He claimed to be a lawyer helping with a business acquisition. He sent her an NDA through email, and she signed it without suspecting anything wrong.
Du Plessis then explained that urgent payments needed to be made in instalments. He said the instructions would come directly from the CFO. Later that day, Rademan received WhatsApp and email messages that appeared to be from Buddle. These messages told her to make two urgent payments to a company called ICUBED Distribution.
The amounts were shocking. The first payment was R11.785 million, and the second was R11 million. Rademan followed the instructions and asked a colleague, Je-Anne Wagner, to process these transactions through the online banking system.
However, something did not feel right. That evening, Rademan decided to check the phone numbers on Truecaller. The names did not match the people who had contacted her. This simple check revealed the scam.
She immediately informed the group financial controller. He confirmed that Buddle would never send such instructions through WhatsApp. The company’s executives acted fast and contacted their bank relationship managers.
Both banks were able to place temporary holds on the accounts. One bank successfully reversed the R11.785 million payment and returned it to Foschini. The other R11 million was frozen after a court order in August 2025.
The Western Cape High Court granted the final forfeiture order on Tuesday. This means the remaining R11 million now belongs to the State. The criminals cannot access this money anymore.
The real Ralph Buddle had no knowledge of ICUBED Distribution. He never authorised any payments. His actual phone number was completely different from the one used by the fraudsters.
This case shows how simple it is for criminals to trick even experienced professionals. WhatsApp scams are becoming more common and more sophisticated. The scammers used fake profiles, fake lawyers, and fake documents to make everything look legitimate.
The Western Cape Director of Public Prosecutions praised the Asset Forfeiture Unit for their hard work. They spent months tracing and recovering the stolen funds. Their persistence paid off, saving half of the stolen money.
This story serves as an important warning. Always verify payment instructions through official channels. Never trust WhatsApp messages asking for large money transfers, even if they look real. A simple phone call to confirm could save millions.
