Man Arrested for Using Hired Cars as Collateral for Loans in Lilongwe
Published on April 10, 2025 at 9:17 AM by Edgar Naitha
Lingadzi Police Station in Lilongwe is keeping in custody Russell Golden, 46, for allegedly tricking and defrauding six people of their cars and use them as collateral to obtain loans from money lending agents.
Lingadzi Police Station Deputy Public Relations Officer Maria Kumwenda said police have also arrested the suspect’s proxy identified as Emily Lungu, 24.
The suspect was hiring cars on self driving for a number of days, and later remove car-tracking system, prepare fake blue books and motor vehicle insurances, all in his name, or bearing names of his proxies, Emily and Ntombi, before exchanging them for money to lending institutions and individuals as collateral.
Each time the owners contacted him when it was time to return the cars, he was always non-committal and could not pick calls.
After becoming suspicious of the suspect’s behavior, the car owners decided to report the matter to Lingadzi Police.
Following investigations, the station’s detectives arrested the two suspects, Golden and Emily at the city centre in Lilongwe.
Detectives also managed to recover all the six cars that Golden obtained from rightful owners through such dubious means.
The suspects will be taken to court soon to answer a case of Fraud Other than False Pretenses and Theft of motor vehicles.
Russel Golden comes from Nzamani Village, Traditional Authority (T/A) Chankhumbira in Ntcheu district while Emily Lungu hails from Daniel Village, T/A Machinjiri in Blantyre District.
