Parolee (41) denied bail after impersonataing former Hawks head Godfrey Lebeya

Thabo Theletsane was re-arrested earlier this year and charged with fraud and impersonating a police official.

A 41-year-old parolee has been denied bail by the Hatfield Magistrates Court in a case of impersonating former Hawks head Godfrey Lebeya.

Thabo Theletsane was re-arrested earlier this year and charged with fraud and impersonating a police official.

It’s alleged that in October 2024, while on parole for another fraud matter, Theletsane contacted a prominent businessman on WhatsApp, claiming his phone had been hacked.

Thabo Theletsane told the prominent businessman that an official from the Cybercrime Unit would help clean up his phone if he shared his frequently used contact numbers and paid a fee to fix the hacked phone.

While he obtained the contacts, the businessman didn’t pay for what the scammer said would be a hard drive to store his information.

Theletsane then made contact with another complainant using the phone numbers supplied by the businessman and allegedly scammed him of R50,000 using the same modus operandi.

NPA spokesperson for the North Gauteng Division, Lumka Mahanjana, said the matter has been postponed to September for transfer to the Pretoria Magistrates Court.

“In court, he asked to be released on bail, but the state opposed his release on bail and argued that the accused would likely repeat the offence because he allegedly committed this offence a few days later being released on parole.”