Fraud-accused couple to appear in court as duped homebuyers vow to testify

Some unsuspecting buyers never become proud home owners after allegedly parting with deposits and then being told the house wasn’t for sale any longer. Picture: iStock Several Ekurhuleni residents claiming to have been defrauded by a recently arrested dodgy lawyer have come forward and vowed to testify against her. Lerato Ramanyimi and her husband Nicolus Ramanyimi are accused of defrauding unsuspecting property buyers.

They were arrested after a number people opened fraud cases against her for allegedly posing as a lawyer assisting in the house-buying process, with some of the money allegedly deposited into her husband’s account. The couple, who face six counts of fraud, appeared briefly in court last week, and the case was postponed to tomorrow in the Benoni Magistrate’s Court for a formal bail application. The Citizenhas been reliably informed another self-proclaimed lawyer and two estate agents were also arrested at the weekend, and will also be appear in court tomorrow.

It is alleged Lerato Ramanyimi convinced potential buyers to deposit money, but would later tell clients the houses were no longer being sold and she would disappear without returning the money. After Ramanyimi’s arrest, about 20 people claiming to have been defrauded by her contactedThe Citizenand related their painful experiences. Mpho Khanye from Tsakani township in Springs toldThe Citizenyesterday: “We are ready to come forward and testify against that woman.

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“I was retrenched and then, in March last year, I started looking for a house to buy and a woman who claimed to be an estate agent introduced me to Lerato. “They took me to the house, and I told them I would like to buy it. Then they took me to the offices of PH Executors in Benoni, where we finalised the offer to purchase and related processes.

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