Business
Mobile money ‘thief’ invents new tricks targeting agents
Suspected Fraudster Tumwijukye
Police in Kisoro is holding a man who was caught pretending to be an Airtel sales representative.
Ivan Tumwijukye, a resident of Kabale, was intercepted after visiting several agents and fleecing unsuspecting persons of over UGX2.4 million.
Tumwijukye who was wearing an Airtel T-shirt visited several agents inquiring about their Easyload phones claiming that he wanted to update the information on easy load and Airtel money.
A few of the agents he visited who were not familiar with his face made calls to the Distribution Manager for Kisoro cluster asking if he had sent a new representative.
Elton Kirya, the Airtel Distribution Manager for Kisoro recounted that: “I received several calls from my agents asking if I had sent them a new representative I said, No I haven’t sent any new representative.”
According to Kirya, he then decided to visit the outlets to follow up on this new “sales representative”.
After several hours, Tumwijukye was apprehended at one of the Airtel outlets and taken to the Kisoro Police Station for further investigations under reference number SD REF11/15/07/2022.
Police inquiry quickly confirmed that Tumwijukye was indeed the culprit that had stolen 2.4 million shillings from one of the agents the day before.
While at the police station, the suspected fraudster admitted that he had come from Kabale the day before looking for survival as a mutembeyi (hawker).
The Territory Business Manager of Kisoro region Eugine Twinomugisha commended the Distribution Manager for his quick action and emphasized Airtel’s commitment to the fight against fraud.
Twinomugisha asked both customers and agents to remain vigilant and immediately contact their customer service helplines in case of any attempt by fraudsters to access their Airtel money wallets.
“I urge the public to avoid falling prey to fraud-related incidents and to not share their Airtel Money PIN with anyone,” Twinomugisha concluded.
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