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Zvikomborero Parafini
A SUSPECTED member of a card cloning syndicate has been targeting pensioners who bank with CBZ Bank.
Tawanda Matau and his accomplices, Luckmore Matuku and Precious Sunungurai Muzenda, who are on the run, used forged ID cards bearing the details of their victims, but with their facial photos, to approach Econet agents in small towns across Zimbabwe.
Matau was arrested and appeared in court yesterday.
They did SIM card replacements to log in to their banking app using their details and withdrew all their money.
The syndicate stole from several pensioners who received their lump sums.
The first complainant, Florence Kariyo, a retired lecturer from Madziwa Teachers College received her pension lump sum of $6 238 916.84 and US$250.
On July 28, Kariyo received a call from a caller who purported to be an employee of CBZ offering her a new service in which she could buy US dollars from the bank, but the call ended abruptly.
Muzenda called again after a few minutes saying that the call had ended due to network challenges and she then asked the complainant for the 6-digit number from the message sent to her phone.
Kariyo gave Muzenda the OTP as well as her CBZ Touch pin.
Shen then received another message informing her that she had successfully registered another device for the banking app.
Two days later she received an email informing her that another user had logged into her account and cashed out all her money.
Using the same method, the syndicate stole $6 800 000 from Tanetswa Nyamukapa a retired Air Force officer, $12 328 529 from Itai Jere, a retired police officer, $3 700 000 from Loveloge Zindawa, a retired soldier, and $6 700 000 from Letwin Dzapasi, a retired teacher.
The case remains under investigation.
Bongani Ndlovu
Mathew Masinge