Kisoro Police is detaining four suspected fraudsters who allegedly defrauded mobile money operators of an unspecified sums of money.
The four suspects hailing from districts of Namutumba, Jinja, Kamuli and Kayunga admit to belonging to a wide network of fraudsters.
The detained are Mwandali Maasi (29) from Namutumba District, Byansi Eddie (24) from Kamuli, Muhereza Umaru (29) from Kayunga, and Ngobi Hakim (29) from Jinja.
Kisoro District Police Commander, SP Ben Nuwamanya, confirmed the arrests, saying the suspects would be arraigned before courts of law upon completion of investigations.
“They started conning people from Busoga and they came all over. According to information we got from them, they conned people in Jinja, Kampala, Masaka, Mbarara, Kabale, up to here (Kisoro). When we checked their phones, we found messages which they usually send to mobile money agents as if they have received money and they confuse the agents to give them money,” explained Nuwamanya.
SP Nuwamanya appealed to the public to cooperate with police to provide further information in regard to prosecuting the accused.
During interrogation, the suspects provided insights into their operations, detailing how they used sham transaction messages to trick unsuspecting operators into their traps.
Mwandali Maasi, 29, hailing from Namutumba district was arrested on Wednesday, 16th October, and was able to assist police in tracing his accomplices, who were eventually arrested on Thursday.
He admits having visited Edita Nyirandagijimana, a mobile money operator at Mutanda road and requested a withdrawal of Shs180,000.
Following the fraudulent transaction, he walked a few steps from the agent before Nyirandagijimana made an alarm after noticing that the mini-statement was not tallying with the recent transaction.
A mob gathered around Mwandali and assaulted him, before police rescued him.
“They sent us here in Kisoro that we keep going to mobile money operators and read his number as he enters the pin so that he withdraws and we receive the money. So, when I read out the number to the agent, the woman looked at me and shouted that I am a thief. A mob immediately grouped and attacked me. I would have been killed if it was not for police,” narrated Mwandali.
Byansi Eddie, 23, is another suspect, who claims to be a professional excavator. He narrates that he joined the unscrupulous business after failing to land a job.
“I joined this gang three days ago and I really don’t know much about this. I ran a chapatti stall and roasting ground nuts. I also wanted to join boda boda, until we were arrested,” said Byansi.
Ngobi Hakim, a resident of Jinja district revealed to police that they were sent by a one Byamugisha, who stays in Kampala. He adds that he has been doing this for a month, and has influenced several people to join the gang.
“They person that sent us is called Byamugisha. He recruits people who in turn recruit others to join the network. Here in Kisoro, we had not yet defrauded anyone. We had started with this woman, but this colleague of ours (Ali) was unfortunately nabbed,” said Ngobi.
Victims speak out
One of the victims, Judith Irankunda, a mobile money agent in Kisoro Municipality, told www.vomuhabura.com that the fraudsters sent a forged mobile money transaction message, taking away Shs3 million on Wednesday, October 9, 2024. She however realised her fate when she went to recharge her float at the main service centre.
Jonah Nambajimana, another agent says she lost Shs2 million to the fraudsters.
“It was around 6pm when one man came and said he wanted a deposit of Shs500,000. Another one immediately arrived and said he wanted to withdraw Shs180,000, and there were three others who wanted airtel airtime. But I noticed that the message for withdraw was fake. I also realised that these airtime buyers wanted to confuse me so that I lose attention to their fraudulent attempts,” said Nambajimana.
Another victim, Katushabe Annet, says she was also conned on Wednesday, with about Shs1.4million lost. She immediately reported to Kisoro police and was informed that a suspect was in custody.
Meanwhile, Kisoro Police Community Liaison Officer, IP Boaz Arinaitwe advises mobile money agents to remain vigilant and verify transactions before releasing money.
Discussion about this post