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Prosper Dembedza Court Correspondent
A 27-year-old Harare man yesterday appeared in court on allegations of using the names of President Mnangagwa’s sons to defraud an unsuspecting man of thousands of dollars in an elaborate con.
Warlord Billy Masango appeared before Harare magistrate Mrs Judith Taruvinga facing fraud charges.
Prosecutor Mr Sebastian Mutizirwa opposed bail and the hearing was adjourned to today for the bail ruling.
The court heard that on Thursday last week Hilton Mbano (40) received a call from Masango asking him to assist a son of President Mnangagwa, but did not name the person.
It is alleged that after a while, Mr Mbano received a message from another number saying he had been referred by Masango. Mr Mbano phoned back and the person introduced himself as “Collins Mnangagwa”.
The court heard that the fake Mnangagwa said he was in urgent need of money and asked Mr Mbano transfer the money into his CABS or CBZ account but the supplied details were for a CBZ account in the name of A Mutsango.
It is the State’s case that Mr Mbano asked a friend to transfer $180 000 into that account. A scanned copy of proof of transfer was sent to to the number of the fake Mnangagwa. The alleged con then grew with the fake Mnangagwa now asking Mr Mbano to deposit R60 000 in a South African FNB account and that was followed by a call from South Africa by a person who called himself “Shawn Mnangagwa” who wanted help and R2 500 transferred into another FNB account.
After the transaction, the fake Shawn told Mbano that someone called Moro NFPK, was coming with the money to pay everything back and gave a mobile number.
Since that day, Mbano has been trying the number without success, prompting him to make a detailed report to the police.
Online Reporter