Rwanda National Police (RNP) has arrested two men in City of Kigali, who were masquarading as currency traders and defrauding unwitting members of the public. The suspected duo of Omar Kanyemera alias Byamungu, 45, and Gregoire Mugiraneza, 35, was showed to the media at the Police metropolitan headquarters in Remera, Gasabo District on Saturday, February 27.
The duo was using dollar notes to dupe people. According to one of the suspects, Mugiraneza, he met Kanyemera in Mageragere prison where they were both serving varied sentences.
Mugiraneza had been convicted for the same crime in 2018 after scamming someone of Frw1.8 million through the same scheme.
The scam
It is said that the duo was using dollar notes of US$100 to cover other dollar notes in small denominations.
It is through this trick that they would scam people thinking that all dollar notes in the bundle are in the denominations of US$100.
RNP spokesperson, CP John Bosco Kabera said that the two suspects were arrested in Kimisagara Sector, Nyarugenge District. They were at the time traveling in a private vehicle Toyota Corolla plate number RAB 191I.
“Police had information that these two men are scamming people with dollar notes. On the day of their arrest, Police had also received prior information that they would be traveling to Muhanga District to defraud other people.
Indeed, when Police arrested them, they found them in possession of 174 USD notes with only one note in the denomination of US$100. Other 173 notes were in the denominations of US$1,” CP Kabera said.
The two men were setting their traps outside forex bureaus and banks.
“They would stand in front of a certain forex bureau or bank with many dollar notes in small denominations wrapped in a dollar note of US$100. Certainly, they would approach someone coming to buy dollars, people going to deposit money in the bank or coming out of the bank to withdraw money. They would wrap 150 dollar notes together and make people believe that they are in the denominations of US$100 or US$15000 in total,” CP Kabera explained.
To escape from the victim, who at this moment is not aware that he or she has been duped, one of the fraudsters would appear from nowhere, tell the other about other people that need to buy dollars.
In one of their scams, they allegedly defrauded one of the victims in Muhanga District of Frw900,000 and Frw700,000 in Kicukiro District.
CP Kabera advised the general public against buying currencies on black market or outside forex bureaus and banks to avoid falling prey.
Clause One of article 174 of the law determining offences and penalties in general in Rwanda, defines fraud as deception, obtaining another person’s property, whole or part of his/her finance by use of false names or qualifications, or offering positive promises or threats of future misfortunes.
Clause Two of the same article provides a term of imprisonment of between two and three years, and a fine of not less than Rwf3 million but not more than Rwf5 million, upon conviction. (End)