At least 1,500 Ugandans across the country have lost about Shs10b over the past three months to online fraudsters masquerading as associates to Bridge Water Stocks, a United States-based virtual company dealing in cryptocurrencies.
According to an investigation carried out by Monitor, the scammers allegedly led by one Byrain Musheruzi, targeted top civil servants, senior army and police officers, businessmen and students from various universities, whom they promised huge daily interests on their investments.
The fraudsters are said to have held meetings in top hotels in Mbale, Tororo, Gulu, Kabale, Mbarara and Kampala, from where they lured their unsuspecting victims after treating them to sumptuous meals and drinks.
The group reportedly told the victims that they (fraudsters) were attached to the Bridge Water Stocks and encouraged to make investments, while being promised huge daily interests of $1.25 percent (Shs4,450) for each deposit they made.
Dr Ayebare Kule, who works at Masaka Regional Referral Hospital, at the weekend, said he was last September encouraged to join the online business by a friend in Tororo Town and invested $12,000 (about Shs39m) in the venture after selling some of his property.
Dr Ayebare added that he deposited the money on an Airtel number provided by the fraudsters, but shortly after, the system was switched off before he would make any profits and that is when it dawned on him that he had been fleeced.
How it happened
Mr Jerry Orono, another victim and a resident of Tororo, said he was lured into joining the business by Musheruzi, who told him that they were allied to international online businesses that provide huge profits to their clients upon investment.
“The business and profits they were promising were so attractive that we all accepted to be part of this venture and that is why many of us had to sell our houses and land to get the money to invest,” Mr Orono said.
According to Mr Orono, after the fraudsters closed Bridge Waters, they created Meta Connect, where they claimed to be associates of Mark Zuckerberg, the owner of the Meta (formerly Facebook), which they later closed and created Green Monday Investments and Global Innovations as they covered up their online tracks.
In one of the posts dated December 11, 2021, which Daily Monitor has seen, the fraudsters claimed they had shut down the Bridge Waters website because “it was experiencing attempts by notorious hackers from various countries”.
It read: “We will temporarily be putting the website offline to avoid damage to our systems, which would further complicate efforts to resume our operations.”
Complainants
Mr Julius Obara, another victim, has formed three WhatsApp groups in which at least 750 people have come forward to complain about being fleeced of millions of shillings, with Shs3m and Shs720m being the lowest and highest amounts reported lost in all the groups.
Mr Orono said they have received complaints from as far as Mbarara, Kabale, Gulu and Kampala, with information suggesting that in Gulu alone, victims lost close to Shs2.5b between September and December 2021 to the fraudsters.
Those in Mbarara and Kabale lost about Shs3b, while Kampala, Jinja, Mbale, and Tororo collectively lost an estimated Shs2b.
Another victim, who declined to be named, said initially, he invested Shs43m, before adding Shs17m, Shs18m, Shs7.4m and lastly Shs2m, which was all lost in the scam.
A Jinja-based victim, said she had lost Shs18 million, her husband lost Shs17 m, four of her friends collectively lost Shs73m, while one of the victims, who claims to be a student of Kyambogo University, said lost her tuition amounting to Shs2m.
“We have investigated and established that whereas the companies mentioned exist and are of international repute and based abroad, the Byrain Musheruzi-led online website did not have any connections with them, but used their reputation to steal money from us,” Mr Orono said.
Mr Micah Etyang, an accountant in Tororo Town, said he lost Shs10m after being hoodwinked.
Police investigate
Police in Tororo have arrested Daniel Oppio Akanga and Hillary Mukisa, who are alleged accomplices to Musheruzi.
The duo was at the weekend picked up at one of the fuel stations as they tried to get Shs45m from some members of the public.
Mr Moses Mugwe, the Bukedi regional police spokesperson, confirmed the arrest of the duo.
“They are being investigated in relation to Electronic Fraud contrary to the Section 19 (1) of 2011 of the Computer Misuse Act,” he said.
The suspects were later paraded before Tororo chief magistrate Doreen Ajuna who granted them bail after they each provided the sureties.
Security connections?
During the Tororo court session, plain-clothed men with army uniforms fastened to the car seat of a black Golf Volkswagen kept taking pictures of the complainants.
As proceedings went on, the scammers told court that some people were trailing them.
Mr Asuman Basalirwa, who is representing the victims, said: “My clients are not interested in keeping people in jail; what they want is their money back. We can also enter a plea bargaining and have the suspects free; short of that, we shall pursue this matter to the very end.”
Daily Monitor has also established that several cases relating the online fraud have been opened at police stations in Kabale, Jinja, Kampala, Mbarara, Gulu, and Mbale.
GROWING TREND
Mr Charles Twine, the police CID spokesperson, said cases of online fraud in the country were on the increase and urged Ugandans to be on the lookout for the scammers.
“We are beginning to record more of these cases – where people are fleeced of their hard-earned money in the name of providing highly-paying jobs overseas or promised very high profits on investments,” Mr Twine said.
According to Mr Twine, many victims fail to report such cases to police because some of them are civil servants, while others earned that money illicitly and believe they will be investigated for the source of such money. He added that once the fraudsters are arrested, recovering the victims’ money is hard because shortly after receiving the money, the scammers quickly share it among their many networks.
Report compiled by David Awori, Monitor Reporter
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