Man nabbed over fake vehicle insurance scam

A FORMER employee of Regal Insurance company is in hot soup after he allegedly fleeced 16 motorists of nearly $1 000 by selling them fake passenger vehicle insurance policies.

Munyaradzi Mhlanga (24) of Chesvingo suburb here allegedly forged Regal Insurance passenger vehicle insurance documents and used them to defraud unsuspecting motorists in the country’s oldest town.

He has since appeared before Masvingo magistrate Mr Langton Ndokera facing eight counts of forgery (altering and effecting changes to the original policy template) and the same number of counts of fraud (misrepresentation and issuance of the fake policy documents to motorists).

Mhlanga was not asked to plead by Mr Ndokera who remanded him to June 26 for trial on free bail.

He was also ordered not to interfere with State witnesses.

Allegations against Mhlanga are that between November and December last year, he masqueraded as a genuine agent for Regal Insurance at his premises in the Masvingo Central Business District where he operated.

He allegedly issued fake passenger vehicle insurance policies to 16 unsuspecting motorists after misleading them that he was still employed by Regal Insurance.

The State led by prosecutor Mr Edmund Mapope alleged that Mhlanga defrauded his victims a total of $905 in the process.

His luck ran out after his victims allegedly discovered that their policy numbers were not tallying with the normal sequence of policies issued at Regal insurance.

Upon inquiring at the company, the complainants were told that Mhlanga was no longer employed by Regal Insurance. A report was made to the police, leading to Mhlanga’s arrest.

Police recovered a laptop belonging to Victor Mutamangira, which contained a forged template for Regal Insurance policies, which Mhlanga allegedly used to defraud his victims.