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Yeukai Karengezeka, Court Correspondent
A Harare woman, alleged to be part of a syndicate that hacked a communication system and redirected a payment of US$9 064 between a lodge and its client, appeared in court yesterday.
Wadzanai Mutungura (33) appeared before Harare Magistrate Ms Rufaro Panavanhu facing charges of hacking.
She was remanded out of custody to February 11, as she had been summoned from her residence.
The complainant in the case is the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ), represented by its finance manager, Mr Jephias Ticharwa.
According to the State, led by prosecutor Mr Rufaro Chonzi, the incident occurred in October last year.
POTRAZ had been planning a three-day workshop for 60 participants at Wild Geese Lodge in Harare, with the total cost of the bookings amounting to US$9 064.
On October 7, POTRAZ communicated with Wild Geese Lodge via the email address [email protected], and the lodge provided their legitimate banking details for the payment.
However, while the payment was still being processed, Mutungura allegedly conspired with her accomplices, Patricia Shumbahuru and Kudzai Fredboth, who are already on remand, to hack the communication.
The accused and her accomplices intercepted the email exchanges and sent a fraudulent email to POTRAZ using the address [email protected], claiming to represent Wild Geese Lodge.
In the email, they falsely advised POTRAZ that the lodge’s banking details had been updated. They provided new banking details of a Stanbic Bank account registered under Mutungura’s niece, Nyasha Regret Neruwana.
Acting on the fraudulent email, POTRAZ transferred US$9 064 from their ZB Bank account to the provided Stanbic Bank account on October 7.
The scam was discovered the following day, October 8, , when Mukudzei Murenga of Wild Geese Lodge contacted POTRAZ to follow up on the payment.
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