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50 suspected lucky draw fraudsters arrested
Fifty people suspected to be lucky draw fraudsters have been arrested.
The operation by police in Kampala was effected after several telecom companies complained to detectives that a number of their subscribers have been receiving text messages from unscrupulous people that they had won cash prizes in dubious lucky draws.
Police investigated the cases, identified the suspects and tracked their mobile phones and movements, according to Mr Luke Owoyesigyire, the Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesman.
Mode of operation
The suspected fraudsters, according to Mr Luke Owoyesigyire, would send congratulatory messages to various unsuspecting people informing them that they had won cash.
The suspects, according to Mr Oweyesigyire, would tell recipients of the text messages that they were required to call a certain phone number to redeem their prizes.
He said the text messages are often accompanied with a fake pin number, which are all attempts to obtain the recipient's attention and cooperation.
The moment you call, he said, the receiver purporting to be an employee of a telecommunication network would ask the targeted person to send them cash ranging from Shs20,000 and Shs50,000 to enable them process the prize.
“You are also promised a refund of the money when the processing is over. However, after defrauding you, they switch off the phones and there is no prize to get,” Mr Owoyesigyire said.
He said the fraudsters would also send a fake mobile money message to a victim and call them to say it was a mistaken deposit before telling the unsuspecting users to send the money to them.
He said if the victim has some float on their phones, they would send the money to the fraudsters.
Most of the suspects, according to police, were picked from Salama Road in Makindye Division and Busabala in Makindye Sabagabo.
“The officers cordoned off all particular areas where the tracking device had led them and arrested the suspects. They [officers] also recovered forged documents, devices and tools as well as mobile phones and simcards, suspected to be used in the fraud,” he said.
Police say, some suspects confessed to the crime and revealed to the investigating officers that they were forced into such acts by the harsh economic conditions in Uganda.
Mr Owoyesigyire said the suspects would be charged with obtaining money by false pretence.
Meanwhile, City Hall Court Grade One Magistrate, Mr Patrick Talisuna on Friday charged a security guard with obtaining money from a person who wanted assistance to join the Local Defence Unit (LDU).
Its alleged that Benjamin Kiprono, 29, a security guard, on September 27, at Kamwokya, Kampala, defrauded Shs250,000 from a one Winnie Namataka after promising to help her get recruited into LDU after claiming that he is a close friend of some high-ranking UPDF officials.
Having presented reasonable grounds for his release, Kiprono was granted a Shs1 million non-cash bail and the case was adjourned to November 3.
