"The Conman Concept?" first appeared on iafrica.com on 18 March 2010. It is the 13th most read "Financial fitness" article of the past year. Liked it? Get your finances in shape in 2011 - bookmark http://personalfinance.iafrica.com/.

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On 26 May 2008 an iafrica.com reader asked if I had ever heard of "The Wiseman Concept" (click here to read the original article). I had not so I logged onto the website to glean some information. Besides the fact that it was clear that it was an amateur operation, the content raised some very loud alarm bells.

In my previous article I stated that they claimed to help you pay off your bond in six years without increasing your monthly instalments. The rest of the information on the website is an attempt to hoodwink anyone with perseverance enough to read it.

I contacted the owner of the Wiseman Concept, Mr Willem Botha, and asked him to please explain how he achieves his "magic". He told me, in all earnest, that I probably did not have the intelligence to understand the concept because very few people have the superior minds or analytical skills necessary to comprehend the plan; not even actuaries. He refused to explain it to me over the phone, but suggested that we should meet face to face. After a few emails had been exchanged it became clear to me that he was not a person to be reasoned with. I then left a message on his phone declining a face to face interview.

Six months has passed and Mr Botha has one again come into focus. This time because he and his cronies are threatening and intimidating a woman who nearly fell prey to his scam.

She realised after signing the documentation that she would be in a far worse financial position if she subscribed to his scheme. She invoked the cooling off period that the NCR has mandated for loans and instructed the attorneys to cancel. Since then Mr Botha and his sidekick, Jannie, have shown up at her place of work making threats and demanding that she hand over R60 000 commission he was going to charge her.

It is clear from the documentation that I have in my possession that something is terribly wrong with this so-called concept. He encourages individuals to take out huge second mortgages on their homes to consolidate short-term debt. He then tells them to deposit the surplus funds into their current accounts. This cash he advises must be used for day to day living expenses and their salaries must be diverted into their bonds. I still need confirmation by the Financial Services Board, but I think this could be construed as financial advice meaning that he is acting against the FAIS bill as he is not a registered financial advisor.

He boasts that the bonds can be paid off in no time by following his methods. However, he neglects to address the matter of the second mortgage that is being funded by the surplus cash from the advance. This cash will eventually dry up well before the bond is paid off.

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