Durban: South African police have uncovered a scam where Pakistani illegal immigrants in connivance with locals are targeting young, unemployed Indian-origin women here to undergo a "marriage of convenience" to obtain South African citizenship.

The scam came to light this week when four young Indian women placed a complaint with the police that they were nearly taken "for a ride" by the scamsters.

Investigating officer, Inspector Sagie Govender, said they believed a local woman named Ayesha from the township of Phoenix in Durban was working with the Pakistanis.

He said Ayesha had taken the four unemployed Indian women aged 20-21 from the township of Chatsworth to Pietermaritzburg recently to "marry" them to Pakistani illegal immigrants.

"The plan backfired because the four unemployed women, who had been under the impression that they were going to the head office of a packaging company to process their job applications as packers, refused to have anything to do with the scam after they found out the real reason for the trip," said Govender.

PTI