In a case reminiscent of famed American crime couple, Bonnie and Clyde, a husband and wife team consisting of 24yr Rumbidzai Tsongora and her 26yr old husband, Tranos Muzanenhamo went on a rampage, defrauding unsuspecting members of the public of Thousands of dollars.
Rumbidzai Tsongora and husband Tranos Muzanenhamo, together with co-accused Timothy Bvuramiti (27) and Bradwell Shangwa (24) were arraigned before the Harare Magistrates’ Court facing three counts of fraud, one count of possession articles for criminal use and another count for contravening the Money Laundering and Proceeds of Crime Act.
According to the State, on July 9, 2024, the first accused and second accused—a husband and wife team—went to see an Econet agent in Marondera, where Tsongora allegedly identified herself as Ruth Machakadya and recovered a sim card registered in that name.
Repurposing Ruth Machakadya’s SIM card, she used it to post an advertisement on WhatsApp claiming to have $5,000 USD that they planned to convert to local currency.
Acting on this misrepresentation, three complainants allegedly transferred ZWG68 000, ZWG65 000 and ZWG90 000 respectively to a bank account controlled by the accused persons. The total value allegedly defrauded was ZWG223 000.
The quarted allegedly exchanged the stolen funds for foreign currency on the black market and converted the proceeds for personal use.
The complainants reported the matter to the Police and investigations led to the arrest of the accused persons in Chitungwiza, where they had allegedly gone into hiding.
Police recovered the following: 30 unused Econet sim cards, 36 used Econet sim cards, 4 used Net One sim cards, 4 Telecel simcards, 5 Omari bank credit cards as well as a Toyota Hiace.
