Be on the look out for the melville Fraudster

I knew Gregg Wiggill going back to the mid 1980s when he was still at school and was in the process of becoming a cricket umpire. He and I developed a friendship which lasted fro a number of years and he was a frequent visitor to my home and at the time I valued the friendship. Unfortunately the friendship soured in the months just before his departure for New Zealand. A mutual friend of ours, Sean, who had emigrated to New Zealand prior to Gregg Wiggill accommodated Gregg on his arrival in New Zealand. In this time Gregg made use of Sean's computer to download and transmit child pornography. Gregg was arrested for this and tried to lay the blame on Sean and his partner Juan. To the best of my knowledge an admission of guilt fine was paid by Gregg's father to keep him from a more serious sentance.

During September 2007 my ex-wife, Colleen who was more friendy with Gregg than I was received a call from him whilst he was in Auckland saying that he was returning to South Africa. He did not return to South Africa at that point and the reson for him wanting to return was not stated. It later transpired that he was evading vast gambling debts.

When he returned to South Africa last year spent a month or so living with Colleen’s parents. Apparently Gregg had been offered a transfer to New York but wanted to stop in South Africa on the way. Gregg and John were also trying (apparently) to get a Visa for John for America. After supposedly trying Gregg told them he did not want the job as they could not secure a Visa for John.

He then moved to his cousin Mervyn where he stayed for about two months. He and John could not get on with Mervyn’s wife Carina and she booted them out because they were making no contribution to the household and were simply taking and not giving. Sound familiar?

Sucker that I am I then offered them accomodation at my townhouse in Ferndale.

They got a job at Oh! Bar, a gay nightclub then open in Melville, initially running the entertainment section and then later managing the bar itself. When they were dismissed a charge of theft of R 200 000.00 was laid against them.

They signed a contract to purchase Monaco nightclub in Melville on the basis of R 400 000.00 for the goodwill and monthly rent of R 40 000.00. When they reneged on this a charge of breach of contract and fraud was laid against them.

They signed a lease agreement for a property in Melville for 6 months at R 9000.00 per month and a deposit of R 6000.00.

They apparently owe the owner of Monaco R 80 000.00 for a personal loan.

They apparently owe a gambling venue owner R 83 500.00.

To the best of my knowledge they owe Jonathan Dubb of Melville security a large sum of money.

They owe a friend of theirs, Wayne Bruyns, R 10 000.00.

They owe one of the owners of Oh! Bar R 50 000.00.

They stole R 2000.00 from my home before they disappeared.

They told stories that Gregg’s Mom was very ill and they needed money to assist with her medical bills and that they had delayed receipt of tranfers from Australia so that they could contribute towards her medical expenses.

They forged documents from Australian Commonwealth Bank saying that an amount of R 400 000.00 (not the Aus Dollar amount) was being transferred to South Africa. No city name, telephone number, address or Board of Directors was shown on the “letter”

They forged a letter from First National Bank confirming receipt of the money. However, no SWIFT code was quoted and strangely the First National Bank letterhead was on the wrong side of the page and the Board of Directors shown was 4 years old.

The South African tax man is apparently after Gregg for un-submitted tax returns whilst he was in Australia and New Zealand.

John Pettigrew told me whilst he was living with me that he was dishonourably discharged from the Australian Armed Forces because of drug abuse.

They left my home on the 23rd of December last year. They were supposedly meeting with the SARS to obtain clearance for a transfer of monies from Australia. Wayne Bruyns had taken them to the SARS offices in the centre of Johannesburg and that was the last that was seen of them.

They were to have met with Detective Cheedie on that day and did not do so.

When the stories began to emanate about the various items of fraud, theft and dishonesty I changed the locks at my home and gave all of their possessions to charity.

I caution people who may in future have dealings with this pair. They are very convincing in their stories and from what has been seen are well practiced in their deception. Do not take anything that they claim to be true. Do not do business with them, and if you do become aware of them and their where-abouts do us all a favour and report hem to Jonathan Dubb or to Detective Cheedie.