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Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Buganda Road Grade One Magistrate’s Court has remanded five people on nine charges related to defrauding unsuspecting customers of Airtel Uganda Limited.
The suspects are businessmen Alex Kalema alias Mumerika, Eddy Katumba, Hassan Sekabira, Bashir Kigozi a Peasant and Geoffrey Ssebisubi, an Artist. The suspects are all residents of Namasuba Kikajjo in Wakiso District. The suspects appeared before Buganda Road Grade One Magistrate, Marion Mangeni on Tuesday afternoon.
Court heard that the accused persons and others still at large secured unfair and unlawful amounts of money from Airtel money customers using the Airtel money Application to access and cause the transfer of the money from their victims without their consent.
The court charged the suspects with unlawful access to Shillings 5, 083,660 from Salim Sseruja’s Airtel money number, Shillings 4.3 million from Norah Ajaro, Shillings 500,000 from Emmanuel Munyaneza, Shillings 210, 000 from Jenina Tutaireyo and Shillings 12,660 from Julia Kasingwire.
Court heard that the accused persons were in possession of nine mobile phones and simcards, the majority of which were registered in the names of their victims. According to the prosecution, the suspects obtained the simcards and phones of their victims unlawfully.
The suspects were also charged with conspiracy to commit a felony, which they allegedly committed on July 22 2021 within Kampala and Wakiso districts. Prosecutions also told the court that the accused persons with intentions to defraud used an Airtel Money application and sent a code to the victims after, which they called them on their numbers masquerading as Airtel employees involved in a system upgrade.
They instructed their victims to read the codes sent on their phone numbers, which they used to get access to their mobile money account and unlawfully transferred money to three other numbers. The accused pleaded not guilty to the charges prompting the magistrate to send them to Kitalya Government Prison until August 25 2021.
Abdu Salaam Waiswa, the legal officer from Uganda Communications Commission, who led the prosecution said investigations into the matter were still ongoing and warned all mobile money users not to share their passwords to anyone.
He also advised parents to talk to their children about the dangers associated with theft and encourage them to engage in developmental projects, saying the remanded suspects are between 20 and 29 years of age.
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