Duo fleeced in murkey deals

Arron Nyamayaro

TWO women lost money in separate incidents of fraudulent foreign exchange deals.

Thulisani Hove, 59, and Ruvimbo Bunjira, 26, from the National Defence University, were both lured into depositing money into bank accounts, expecting to receive US dollars on the parallel market.

Thulisani lost $4 800 000 to Sergeant Mukaro and Sergeant Moyo, after receiving calls from the two enquiring if she was interested in buying mealie-meal from the Grain Marketing Board.

Ruvimbo lost $1 400 000 she deposited into the bank account of someone only identified as Dube, which she was given by Kudzai Katsoma at Arundel Office Park.

Kudzai had promised Ruvimbo that Dube would hand over US$700 for the money.

Harare provincial police spokesperson, Inspector Luckmore Chakanza, said police were investigating the two cases and urged the public to be cautious when conducting any business dealings.

“In one of the cases, the complainant received a call from Sergeant Mukaro asking the complainant if she wanted to buy mealie-meal from GMB.

“Sergeant Mukaro told the complainant that he was given her number by the PRAZ (Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe) stating that she was a frequent buyer at GMB.

“He further told the complainant that if she was interested, she should do a quotation.

“When the complainant did the quotation, she was given the number of the GMB manager, who was going to organise the quantity of mealie-meal she wanted.

“The complainant was given an account number to make the payment and deposited $4 800 000 into a CBZ account.

“After she had deposited the money, she was told to contact the accused upon arrival at GMB Msasa.

“She tried to contact Sergeant Mukaro on his cellphone.

“She rushed to CBZ Bank to make an inquiry and was told that the money had already been transferred from her account,” said Insp Chakanza.