NetOne Cellular, a cellular services provider, allegedly lost ZiG285,817 to a suspected hacker who exploited the RTGS to ZiG currency conversion that occurred from April this year.
Takunda Gwaranda (21) appeared before Harare magistrate Dennis Mangosi on charges of fraud and money laundering. He was remanded in custody pending a bail application.
The complainant, NetOne Cellular (Pvt) Ltd OneMoney Wallet, was represented by regional loss control officer Takaitei Chitekwe. Prosecutor Thomas Chanakira alleges that between May 10 and 13, Gwaranda hacked into NetOne’s OneMoney Wallet, fraudulently transferring ZiG285,817 to various EcoCash accounts using his NetOne line.
Also read: NetOne loses US$200,000 Due to two workers abusing lax internal monitoring procedures
Gwaranda allegedly conducted 203 transactions using a line registered in his mother Prisca Tsvakai’s name. NetOne claims that the ZiG285,817 was not a balance in Gwaranda’s wallet account but phantom money transferred by exploiting a glitch in the OneMoney system. At the time of the transactions, Gwaranda’s wallet balance was only ZiG340.68.
The court heard that the phantom money was processed through Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) Corporation Zimbabwe, ZimSwitch, and EcoCash, supported by NetOne’s OneMoney escrow account number 3067500400062. Gwaranda’s actions depleted NetOne’s OneMoney account funds, which FBC Bank ultimately settled.
The suspect then converted or transferred some of the proceeds to assets that have yet to be recovered. Although the total loss was ZiG285,817, some funds were recovered after the wallets were frozen. The exact amount recovered is still being determined.
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