Six arrested for $15m fraud

THE Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) has arrested six people for allegedly defrauding nine pensioners of $15 million in a scam involving taking over victims’ bank accounts using fake identity cards.

Molyn Mugodi, Kirthmore Magqoka, Joseph Sigauke, John Tevera, Collin Mangome and Isaac Mafa are under investigation by the anti-graft agency, after the arrest of two of their alleged accomplices Collin Mangome and Isaac Mafa last week.

In a statement, ZACC spokesperson Mr John Makamure confirmed the arrest.

Allegations are that Magqoka, Sigauke and Tevera would move around town collecting lost plastic national ID cards before erasing the details on the documents.

“Collin Mangome and Isaac Mafa would then provide information of Government pensioners who had received their lump sum pay outs.

“The information included potential victim’s names, bank account numbers, national identity numbers, dates of birth and their respective banks,” said Commissioner Makamure.

He said Mugodi would get the defaced IDs from his alleged accomplices and “print fake ones with details of the targeted pensioners or account holders bearing the facial photos of David Madzinga or Samson Chome targeting account holders with CBZ to commit crimes via the bank’s mobile banking facility.

The suspects, said Comm Makamure, would then approach Econet agents in smaller towns and do sim card replacements.

“Once in control of their victim’s cellphone line, the accused persons would then use it to log in to CBZ mobile banking platform and make withdrawals or other transactions,” said Makamure.