A case of illegal auditing and the subsequent issuing of fraudulent certification has once been exposed in South Africa’s road freight sector, JC Auditors has said.
According to the certification services provider, they were made aware of a case where “fake auditors are ‘conducting’ audits and issuing certificates which are worthless”.Apparently, the operator in question was even convinced that the process had been approved by Sanas, the South African National Accreditation System.
“This was entirely untrue. In one case the auditor even claimed that they had International Accreditation Forum (IAF) authorisation,” JC Auditors has said in a statement.
The unsuspecting transporter only found out that its certification was worthless – after the auditor had disappeared – and it was left R35 000 poorer.
JC Auditors has advised operators that auditors claiming to be recognised by the IAF should be asked to provide proof of being vetted by the Forum.
Fraudulent certifier representation appears to have become quite common in the transport sector.
Not too long ago, it was reported that individuals posing as representatives of the Road Traffic Management System were even offering free certificates.
The perpetrators of this swindle apparently operated under the guise of the RTMS for two years.
It has also come to light that, in the matter where an operator paid R35 000 to a scammer, “the individual convinced the company that it was illegal to use one audit company for longer than three years, stating that ‘Sanas had approved’ their company – a blatant lie”.
According to JS Auditors: “All such claims by these individuals are completely untrue. As the old saying goes, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”
