Stanford Tapiwa Marongwe, a 21-year-old from Gweru, has been sentenced to prison after committing a series of mobile money frauds that led him to deceive multiple victims.
On September 21, 2024, he approached a mobile money outlet where he interacted with a cashier complainant and requested a calculator, cleverly borrowing the complainant’s cellphone under the pretense of performing a transaction.
With an ulterior motive in mind, Marongwe saved his phone number as “+263164USD” in the complainant’s contacts and then sent a “please call me” message to his own number, setting the stage for the deception.
He later concocted a fraudulent text message that falsely claimed he had successfully made a cash withdrawal of USD450, which he then sent to the complainant’s mobile number.
Acting on this misrepresentation, the unsuspecting complainant handed over USD450 in cash, believing the transaction to be legitimate.
It was only later that evening, during the reconciliation of accounts, that the complainant discovered the scheme and reported the incident.
Investigations revealed that Marongwe had employed the same fraudulent method to deceive two other individuals, extracting USD850 and USD1000 from them.
The court ultimately found him guilty on three counts of fraud and sentenced him to 36 months in prison.
However, this sentence included an 8-month suspension over a period of 5 years, along with an additional 18 months suspended on the condition that he makes restitution to his victims.
Consequently, Marongwe will serve an effective 10 months in prison, a substantial consequence for his calculated deceit.
SOURCE : NEWSREPORTZIM.COM
