A local family, who have been accused of siphoning millions of hard-earned cash from unsuspecting individuals, have become the subject of police investigation in recent weeks.

The well-known family is known for allegedly tricking people into investing in what has been described as nothing short of a Ponzi scheme.

Kiran Balraj, also known as Ash, his wife, Meera Balraj, and son, Akhil Balraj, are accused of running a Ponzi scheme, which has targeted individuals who are looking to invest large sums of money, in the hopes of a large payout.

ALSO READ: Alleged Ponzi scheme couple, son busted

According to Captain Carmen Rhynes of the eThekwini District SAPS communications unit, the three accused, aged between 29 and 57, appeared in the Chatsworth Magistrates Court on charges of fraud and money laundering.

Each of the accused was granted bail of R10, 000.

“The alleged modus operandi involved three family members, who are accused of repeatedly establishing new businesses to attract investors under false pretences. According to the investigation, one accused would register a company, such as a trucking business, and recruit investors to fund the venture. To create the impression that the business was legitimate and profitable, investors would allegedly receive an initial payment, presented as the first successful return on their investment. Shortly thereafter, investors would allegedly be informed that the business had suffered a setback, such as a truck being involved in an accident or the company experiencing financial difficulties that resulted in its closure. It is further alleged that another family member would then establish a new business and repeat the same process with a new group of investors. It is alleged that this pattern continued among the three family members, with each opening successive businesses and using the same method to solicit investments, creating what is believed to have been a recurring fraudulent scheme,” explained Cpt Rhynes.

One of the victims was initially employed by Ash in a printing deal back in 2021.  

“After having concluded the sale of the printing of the delivery note books in the name of Stealth Trans (Pty) Ltd, Ash began to chat with me about investing in his company and assured me that I would make a generous profit if I did. He also assured me that he would forward me all of his printing,” the victim explained.

The victim alleges that Ash then stated that, as the owner of several trucks within his company, Stealth Trans Pty Ltd, he would allow the victim to invest any amount of money into one truck only; with whatever income was earned by that particular truck in the month, he would pay 33% of the net profit.

The victim alleged, “Ash stated that all of his trucks were contracted to a multi-national company. Meera further explained that Stealth Trans Pty Ltd was a family-owned business that operated in the road transportation sector and was contracted to the multi-national company and that as such they were offered excellent rates to transport shipping containers to and from the Port of Durban. She added that on a good month, any of the trucks made an average of R20, 000 to 25, 000 of profit per month. This meant that in my investment of R200, 000, I would be paid R6, 600 on the R20, 000 profit and R8, 250 on the R25, 000 profit. In March, 2021, the victim allegedly made two electronic fund transfers to the amount of R100, 000 to Stealth Trans Pty Ltd. About a week later, Ash emailed me a copy of a document that was marked basic terms and conditions. Upon perusing this document, it was noted that Ash had allocated a Volvo motor truck as the truck that I would generate my returns from the work that was performed. During the first week of April 2021, I received an electronic payment from Stealth Trans Pty Ltd for the amount of R4, 400. However, when the next payment was due to me, my messages for feedback were ignored. They eventually told me that the said truck was involved in an accident and that the insurance had not paid for the repairs, and this placed Stealth Trans Pty Ltd in a negative space to generate an income. At first, I accepted that the non-payment was attributed to the alleged accident and waited patiently for the following payments to be made to me, but no further payment was made,” the victim said.

The victim alleges that following this, he informed both Ash and Akhil that he would be terminating his investment with Stealth Trans Pty Ltd and requested that his initial payment of R200, 000 be deposited into his account.

“Ash, via his attorney, however, wrote to me and said that the matter was a civil matter due to the fact that he had already paid me one payment of R4, 400 which I accepted. This was then confirmed by his attorney that this was a civil matter and that I had no recourse to recover my monies, as I entered into a civil agreement with his client, Ash from Stealth Trans Pty Ltd. Interestingly, in August, 2022, I received a letter from his attorneys who offered me R100, 000 as full and final settlement. I did not accept this offer and requested the full amount to be repaid to me. Later, I was informed that Ash and his family did not own any trucks or trailers, and that he would take possession of the trucks that were owned by other individuals, which would generate an income from the multi-national company. Only the first monthly payment would be made, before they reneged on all further payments,” the victim added.

Another victim explained that he and his wife succumbed to the Balrajs’ in a similar manner.

“In 2019, I had resigned from my current employment, and since we knew Ash was in the transport Industry, we approached him to check if there was anyone that he knew in the industry that was looking for a logistics co-ordinator/ operator. Ash and his wife switched the conversation to investing in their transport company. Akhil joined in the conversation and showed us on his phone where all the trucks were currently ‘working’ on a tracking app. At that time, we were unaware that those were not his trucks but that of his sub-contractor, where they allegedly fitted tracking devices on the vehicles and sold them as their own vehicles without the sub-contractors’ knowledge,” the victim said.

The couple allege they eventually did invest R100, 000 with Southern African Road Freight Pty Ltd, with Ash signing as the director of the company on the contract provided for the investment dated for October 2019, with the first premium being paid in November, 2019.

The victim added, “Ash did make payments in November, December 2019, and January 2020, at R 3, 750 per month; thereafter all payments stopped. We received feedback that Ash was in hospital, with issues arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, flooding, where his trucks were underwater and more, all to create the image that the company was suffering financially. After a while, they just refused to take my calls or even reply to my messages. Only when we noticed a TikTok post exposing the Balraj family as scammers did we realise that we had also fallen victim to the same scam. To this day and after numerous efforts, we have still not received payments to settle our initial investment.”

ALSO READ: Durban family accused of running R7.8m Ponzi scheme

Dockets linked to the matter, registered at Durban Central, Phoenix, and Chatsworth SAPS, remain under investigation.

The case returns to court in August.