Police in Lilongwe have arrested four people including two ex-convicts, for the offence of fraud.

The suspects have been identified as Wane Simbeye (28) an employee of Telecom Networks Malawi(TNM), Peter Sungani (32) a mobile money agent for both TNM and Airtel and two ex-convicts Aaryan Nkapu (23) and Noel Swally (22).

According to Sub Inspector Salomy Zgambo Lingadzi Police Station Public Relations Officer, the arrest of the four follows rampant cases of simcard swap and online fraud cases reported in various stations, including Lingadzi Police Station.

“In one case lodged at the station, Mr. Joab Frank Chakhaza who works as a broadcaster at Zodiak Broadcasting Service and Mr Edwin Maluwa both complained that between 21 and 24 November 2022 their phone numbers were swapped without their consent and that fraudsters managed to transfer their money amounting to over K3 million from their National and Standard Bank accounts,” said Zgambo.

She said following investigations, Noel and Peter were found with both sim registration and sim swap applications which were being used for the illegal activities and when interviewed they all admitted to be the ones behind the crimes.

Meanwhile, Police have confiscated the phones that the suspects were using to commit the offence and investigations are still in progress to recover the stolen money and arrest other suspects linked to the case.

Source; MIJ Online