Zvikomborero Parafini
A HARARE woman lost US$22 000 in an attempt to assist her siblings to relocate to the United Kingdom for care work.
The woman was allegedly referred to the suspected fraudster, Nyasha Mandeya, by a friend.
The court heard that the complainant Olivia Mugugu was looking for a certificate of sponsorship and approached Mandeya after being referred by a friend.
Mandeya claimed her brother has a care company looking for employees.
She advised Mugugu that she was able to process all the relevant documents for them to get employed by the company.
Mandeya told Mugugu she will need US$8000 per person to facilitate the certificate of sponsorship and other relevant documents.
On July 28, Magugu went to Mandeya’s office and paid US$19 500 for her three siblings, who all wanted to go to the UK.
She later paid another US$3300 and was told that there was a balance of US$1320.
After the payments were made, Mandeya told them to wait for their documents.
In August, Mandeya told the family to submit their visa applications.
On September 3, Mugugu received an email from the United Kingdom visa decision making centre that their Certificates of Sponsorship were fake and that their visas had been rejected.
Mugugu conducted further investigations and discovered that Mandeya was not known by the company which she had indicated was owned by her brother.
Mugugu demanded her money back and Mandeya became evasive, prompting her to file a police report.