Ekurhuleni woman in debt after R180,000 Facebook house ‘scam’

An Ekurhuleni woman has been left with debt and monthly loan repayments after allegedly being defrauded of R180,000 by a woman employed at a Benoni law firm. She paid for a house in Langaville, Brakpan, advertised on Facebook in May 2024, and even bought materials to start renovations. However, she later found out the home was not for sale.

The woman has been demanding her money back from Lerato Ramanyimi, who facilitated the sale of the property. “I had to take out a R150,000 loan and use R30,000 from my credit card. I am left with monthly repayments and no house to my name,” the woman said.

“I am not done. It has been hard and I recently got into debt counselling,” she added. She said she pays R4,435 for the R150,000 loan and R2,500 for the credit card debt.

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She has 63 months in repayments to settle the debt. READ|Human settlements officials involved in housing scams in Joburg — MMC She said she was feeling ill. “I am not fine at all and when I was opening a case I was told that we might not even get the money from this person.” Ramanyimi, who worked for Kgope (C) Attorneys, and her husband Nicolus have since been arrested and are expected to appear in court today for bail applications.

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