Man nabbed for hacking Ecocash data

A HARARE man who used to hack Ecocash information data before producing fictitious transactions to buy an assortment of goods from unsuspecting shop owners was yesterday dragged before Marondera Magistrate Josephine Sande facing fraud charges.

Robert Kamufolomu from Westgate in Harare, was arrested while trying to dupe a Marondera businessman Clever Antonio (41).

Kamufolomu is on the police wanted list over a spate of duping shop owners using fictitious Ecocash transaction messages in both Harare and Marondera.

The accused pleaded not guilty to the charges and was remanded in custody to Monday next week for continuation of trial.

According to court papers, on February 14, this year at around 1300hrs, Kamufolomu approached the complainant at his hardware shop and told him that he wanted to buy a 24inch LG television set and gas stoves which were all priced at US$300.

The accused told the complainant that he wanted to do the transactions using Ecocash and he was given the complainant wife Unicah Antonio’s mobile number for the transaction.

The accused person then moved out of the hardware briefly. It is reported that he hacked the Ecocash information data and created a fictitious Ecocash transaction to the complainant’s wife mobile number.

Not knowing that she had received a fake message, the complainant issued the accused with a receipt and ordered his wife to go and withdraw the money at Ok Supermarket.

During the transaction at Ok Supermarket, Unicah was told that her wallet had insufficient money for cash out. She went back to the hardware and informed her husband about what had transpired.

The couple alerted the police leading to the subsequent arrest of the accused. The goods were recovered.

Lovemore Musariyarwa represented the state.

SOURCE:NEWSDAY