Online Reporter
Patrick Chitumba
A Zvishavane man will spend 14 months behind bars after he tried to dupe Ecosure Insurance out of US$6 250 by creating a non existent daughter and faking her death.
Promise Banda (40) cooked up the elaborate scam, even producing a forged child health card and a burial order for a non-existent girl he named “Chipo Enia Banda.”
He appeared before Zvishavane Magistrates’ Court where he was convicted of fraud. He had been slapped with an 18-month sentence, but four months were suspended on condition of good behaviour.
According to the National Prosecuting Authority of Zimbabwe (NPAZ), Banda claimed the phantom child had died and lodged for death benefits with Ecosure. But investigators uncovered the truth — the child never existed.
The NPAZ condemned the con, saying such schemes are a direct attack on financial institutions and destroy public trust in the insurance sector.
“This was a deliberate attempt to defraud an insurance company and undermine confidence in the system,” said the authority in a statement.
The court’s ruling means Banda will spend over a year cooling his heels in jail while insurers tighten the screws on fraudsters.
