Man loses $2 600 in cloned card scam

Sheillah Mapani Herald Reporter
A 28-year-old Harare man has been arrested for allegedly cloning a Steward Bank debit card belonging to another man and using more than $2 652 from his account. Bryan Gaha, who was represented by Mr Knowledge Maeresera, yesterday appeared before Harare magistrate Mr Gideon Ruvetsa facing charges of fraud. He was remanded to December 6 on $50 bail pending finalisation of investigations.

Posecuting, Ms Linda Gadzikwa alleged that on October 28 this year, David Muchatiza, who is the complainant, received a notification message from Steward Bank that he had spent $1 700 from his account at Sun Casino. However, at the time, he was at home. He then visited his bank for assistance and after learning that his account had been abused, he blocked the debit card. Subsequent investigations by the bank’s loss manager, a Mr Khaye, with the help of police officers, discovered that one Mike Chiyangwa, who is still at large, was the cul- prit.

It is the State’s case that Chiyangwa was interviewed by the police and implicated Gaha as the one who had given him the bank card. Upon his arrest, Gaha was searched and found in possession of bank cards belonging to different banks from different cus- tomers.

Muchatiza lost $2 652 to Gaha through swiping at Point of Sale machines and nothing was recovered.