{Rwanda National Police (RNP) has arrested a group of five people suspect to be in a ring that has been stealing money from unsuspecting people’s mobile banking accounts.}
The suspects, all hailing from Cyabakamyi Sector in Nyanza District are identified as Jerome Bamurebe, a Mobile Money agent in Kigali, Jeremy Bikorimana and Emmanuel Tuyishime, both aged 18 and Senior two students at Nyagisozi in Nyanza; Donat Uzabakiriho, 19, and Sosthene Habineza, 24.
They were arrested in Kigali in a two-day police operation conducted between January 19 and 20 in the suburbs of Muhima, Nyabugogo and Gatsata.
The suspects were paraded before the media on January 22 in which Police said that it “should signal a stern warning to anyone still involved.”
All the suspects acknowledged to have been working together to defraud unsuspecting people.
One of the suspects, Tuyishime said that they would just compose any number and if it went through, they would tell the person he or she has won a jackpot.
Unsuspectingly, he added, the victim would then follow their instructions and sends the money on their MTN mobile money, Tigo cash or Airtel money as the only prerequisite to claim their prize.
The suspects would then disconnect the used SIM-card and acquire a new one with the help of Bamurebe, who was also selling SIM-cards.
At the time of his arrest, Tuyishime had 20 SIM-cards of different telecom companies, which he was allegedly using to defraud people.
Another suspect, Bikorimana narrated that he was recruited by Tuyishime in November last year after he joined him in Kigali from Nyanza, for a holiday.
According to Bikorimana, he had already collected over Rwf200, 000 from different people in the last two months.
Police spokesperson, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Celestin Twahirwa, said that the successful operations were conducted after some victims reported to police.
“During the operation, we found out that most of the SIM-cards these suspects were using to con people were actually registered in names of other people, who are not connected to this ring. So there was through investigations to identify and arrest real suspects,” ACP Twahirwa said.
According to investigations, the suspects would just compose any national ID number and search by use of mobile phone, and if they luckily found it to be registered, they would then use the same number to buy another SIM-card.
Investigations further revealed that in the last two months alone, they had used 89 SIM-cards, majority registered on other people’s names.
About 30 SIM-cards were registered on only one unsuspecting victim.
“These suspects are few… there are many others and we have a list, but thorough investigations are still ongoing to ensure that all those involved in this mobile telecom theft are apprehended. We are working with telecom companies in these investigations, and to also ensure that such SIM-cards that these thieves use, are disconnected,” said ACP Twahirwa.
“Why should people believe to have won a jackpot in a lottery they never participated in?” he wondered calling on the public to desist from believing such tricks fraudsters use to steal from them
He appealed to the general public to facilitate investigations to break this chain by reporting those SIM-cards that conmen use to call or defraud them.
Such criminal acts, he said, are against article 318 of the Rwandan penal code.
It states that “any person who, intentionally obtains a property belonging to another person fraudulently or by using false names or qualities, to give rise to hope or fear of harm and obtains a part or whole of a fortune shall be liable to a term of imprisonment of three to five years and a fine of Rwf3 million to Rwf5 million.
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