EXPOSED: INTERNET SWINDLE
...Man reveals fake minister’s facebook page through which he lost money
ANOTORIOUS and sophisticated fraudster who created a fake Facebook user account under Chief Government Spokesperson, Dora Siliya's name, has swindled a desperate job seeker out of K8,000 by promising him a job in the Zambia Army.
To make matters worse, police officers who initially handled the matter have abandoned the case after the victim, Iback Phiri, 27, failed to pay K4,000 to cover costs of the investigations.
Mr. Phiri never got the job offer and he lost all his money as the suspect disappeared after withdrawing the cash. The bank account he was asked to deposit the money was Kitwe based but he has drawn a blank in trying to recover his money.
According to Mr. Phiri, some police officers handling the matter at Lusaka Central Police are demanding to be paid K4, 000 to pursue the suspect believed to be in Kitwe, and failure to pay the amount has led to the case being abandoned.
Mr. Phiri had engaged in a conversation with unknown people behind a fake Dora Siliya Facebook in which he was told to pay K8, 000 to be employed in the Zambia Army, monies which were deposited in a ZANACO account number 5440596100186 under account holder name Taylor Phiri.
According to evidence gathered, the first deposit of K1, 000 was made on 17th July, 2017 as a requirement for the purchase of an application form, second deposit of K1, 500 made on 21st July, 2017 to obtain the signature of some head of an unknown department in the army and a third deposit of K1,500 made to cater for accommodation needs.
In addition to the previous payments in instalments, a fourth deposit of K2,000 was made on 28th July, 2017 for the purported purpose of obtaining President Edgar Lungu's signature on the form and the last deposit in the transaction of K2, 000 was made on 3rd August, 2017 for what is claimed to be RRC and economic matters, bringing the total to K8, 000 after which the victim was blocked from accessing communication with that user.
But when the matter was reported at Lusaka Central Police between August 10 and 15, 2017, and allocated to an officer only identified as Hellen and another familiar to it, a Mr. Phiri, it has not seen any progress even after it was revealed that the culprit lives in Kitwe on the Copper belt.
According to information gathered, the female officer who was handling the case was however, sent on a peacekeeping mission in Somalia and it remains unclear who is investigating and pursuing the case.
The victim however, alleges that the officers who were allocated to pursue the matter demanded that they should be paid K4, 000 to facilitate their travel to Kitwe in pursuit of the suspect.
However, Zambia Police Deputy Spokesperson Rae Hamoonga said no officer is allowed to demand payment from a complainant to facilitate travel for investigation, but that this should be at the discretion of that individual.
Last month, Ms Siliya, directed Zambia Information and Communications Authority ZICTA, to write to US based giant social media platform, Facebook, to shut down 434 fake pages created under ministers and senior government officials' names and another 155 accounts under the president's name to defraud unsuspecting members of the public.
And ZICTA Corporate Communications Officer Hanford Chaaba said following government's directive, the authority has managed to pull down 200 Facebook accounts but that it was difficult to identify those opening such accounts because they are not using their real names.
Zambia Police Deputy Spokesperson Rae Hamoonga said no officer is allowed to demand payment from a complainant to facilitate travel for investigation, but that this should be at the discretion of that individual.