• One official allegedly faked call-ups and changed banking details to make payments go to friends and family.

• One victim found out about the scam after spotting an extra tax form during a filing at the South African Revenue Service.

Six members of the South African National Defence Force are accused of running a R1.1-million scam by faking service call-ups and moving the money into their own bank accounts.

The six, Thandile Ndevu, 33, Khanya Ndevu, 29, Avuyile Ndzuta, 30, Thembisile Dlamini, 36, Thozamile Loni, 45, and Yonelisa Gova, 33, appeared in the Pretoria Commercial Crimes Court.

They face 53 charges, including fraud, theft and money laundering.

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Thandile, a Reserve Force clerk in the HR unit, is accused of faking duty call-ups for reserve members between July 2018 and July 2019. She allegedly replaced their banking details with those of her relatives and friends, who then received the payments.

Thandile is facing 53 counts of fraud or theft and 53 counts of money laundering. Khanya and Dlamini each face 11 counts of each. Ndzuta faces 10 of each. Gova is facing 21 of each.

Thandile, Khanya and Avuyile are cousins. Dlamini and Loni are married. Gova is said to be Thandile's friend.

The scheme was discovered when a victim saw two IRP5 forms during a tax filing at the South African Revenue Service. When she asked the SANDF about it, they found four ghost employees under her name.

The matter was reported to Pretoria Central police and later handed to the military police, who issued summonses for the accused.

The case has been postponed to 15 August for plea and trial.