Four online fraudsters arrested in Lilongwe

Malawi: Lingadzi Police Station in Lilongwe on Saturday, December 17, 2022, arrested four people, including two ex-convicts, for fraud, writes Judgement Katika.

The arrest of the four follows rampant cases of sim card swap and online fraud cases reported in various police stations, including Lingadzi Police Station.

The suspects have been identified as Wane Simbeye, Peter Sungani, Aaryan Nkapu, and Noel Swally.

Simbeye is an employee of Telecom Networks Malawi(TNM), Sungani is a mobile money agent for both TNM and Airtel; Nkapu and Sally are both ex-convincts.

Mr Joab Frank Chakhaza, a broadcaster at Zodiak Broadcasting Service, and Mr Edwin Maluwa both complained to the station that their phone numbers were swapped without their consent between November 21 and 24, 2022 and that fraudsters transferred over K3 million from their National and Standard Bank accounts, respectively.

Following an investigation, Noel and Peter were discovered with both sim registration and sim swap applications that they were using for their illegal activities.

When they were interviewed, they all allegedly admitted to being the perpetrators of the crimes.

Investigations are still ongoing to recover the stolen funds and apprehend other suspects connected to the case.

Meanwhile, police have confiscated the phones that the suspects were using to commit the offence.

Wane Simbeye, 28, is from Dakalinali village in Traditional Authority Mbewe in Karonga. Peter Sungani, 32, is from Namisemba village in Traditional Authority Mwambo in Dedza. Aaryan Nkapu, 23, is from Germany village in Traditional Authority Chikowi in Zomba, and Noel Swally, 22, is from Nkanda village in Traditional Authority Chikowi in Zomba.