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Chiyangwa’s son nabbed in card-cloning scam

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MIKE Harris, son of the late bus operator James “Jimmy Jimalo’ Chiyangwa, appeared at the Harare Magistrates’ Court yesterday facing six counts of bank card cloning charges.

MIKE Harris, son of the late bus operator James “Jimmy Jimalo’ Chiyangwa, appeared at the Harare Magistrates’ Court yesterday facing six counts of bank card cloning charges.

BY DESMOND CHINGARANDE

Chiyangwa was not asked to plead when he appeared before magistrate Rumbidzai Mugwagwa, who remanded him to today for bail ruling.

Chiyangwa, who is being charged with multiple counts of fraud and unauthorised possession of debit cards as defined in Section 167 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act also appeared before another magistrate Josephine Sande yesterday for the confirmation of his warrant of arrest issued in December last year following his release on bail.

The accused, who is also into transport, property and night club businesses is alleged to have stolen $14 000 from Denis Magaya’s account using a cloned credit card. It is the State case that on December 22 last year, Chiyangwa cloned Magaya’s ATM card which had a credit balance of $9 045 and he took the counterfeit card to Telecel Bindura and used it to buy airtime worth $4 500.

He used the card to make various transactions and the complainant would receive bank alerts.

On the same day, the complainant called his bank, FBC, and was told that he indeed made some transactions yet he had not.

The bank then reported the case and investigations established that Chiyangwa had committed the offence.

They tracked his handset which he also used to make some transactions from Magaya’s account.

Using the same modus operandi, Chiyangwa also allegedly swindled several other people and businesses after fraudulently cloning their bank cards.

These include Tashupika Mwanjira who lost $4 000, car dealer Roy Shanu who lost $5 100, Knowledge Marowa ($1 980), Tunduwani Chandi ($7 000), Mukbul Mukadam ($1 100) and Engen Service Station, Gazaland ($1 575).

Sebastian Mutizirwa appeared for the State.