Scammers are increasingly innovating new ways of stealing from Ugandans. The latest trick is using registered online lending platforms to defraud Ugandans of their hard-earned money.
The registered online platforms start by lending out small amounts of money, ranging between Shs15,000-50,000.
“Dear Client, because of your good reputation, we have upgraded your record,” they approach clients after repaying the first loan. That is after one has paid back the first and possibly second instalment.
“You can now borrow between Shs1.5 million and Shs50 million,” they entice the unsuspecting clients.
They promptly ask for an Application fee of Shs106,000 promising a payout in Two Minutes .
After that, they claim your application needs a “Boost” so you have to pay an extra Shs156,000.
However, immediately you send the “boosting” fee, they disappear. One of the prominent platforms the scammers are using is called “One Loan”.
These suspected scammers claim to have offices in different capitals of the world.
What they do is locate genuine operators in these capitals and then claim to be allied to them.
The Ugandan office is claimed to be operating from a building in Jinja City’s Iganga Road, headed by one John Sessanga.
They claim that office is in Room 8 on the Second Floor of Jonada Plaza, next to Bethel Institute.
However, victims of the new trick say that the building does not exist. “Curiously for such a large outfit, they do not have a Kampala address. When we called Sessanga on their given Telephone number (0765-2….71), he claimed the Kampala Office was located in Bunga, Tangore Building. We could not establish whether that office exists. Our contact said the London Office has a completely different registered lender. Sessanga said that the office was shut down temporarily because there were “Management issues” but it would be re-opened after these were resolved,” said one of the victims. Kampala Metropolitan Police (KMP) is yet to officially register a complaint. Deputy Police Spokesman Luke Owoyesigyire has advised the victims to report the matter to Police.
Switching posts
While they use “One Loan” as their apparently legitimate Online lending platform, they switch their identity to ‘Credit Loans Uganda’ for the supposed larger loans.
Their official Credit Loans WhatsApp chatline is 0780…13 and constantly posts inadvertent promises to pay, saying their Funding Platform has crashed.
They urge the clients to be patient as they work on this matter.
“As they do, their apparent hope is you will give up and lose your money. One Borrower paid up to three times before they stopped responding to his messages. When challenged about their spurious claims, the agency claimed they had a lot of funds in one of the banks in Uganda (name withheld),” added the victim.
The Mobile Money number they give (0752….73) is registered in the name of a one Daniel Ngode.
Ngode is yet to respond to our WhatsApp messages. One of his accomplices identified as Stella Esau did not respond to our repeated phone calls.
An online Google search identifies Ngode as a Nigerian and an IT specialist. They are apparently also registered with Airtel as they have a Payment Code (*185#*) and their merchant code is *6526763*. The money paid goes to *DANUEL NGODE or CREDIT LOANS UGANDA*.
For MTN Uganda users, the scammers suggest that: use your *MTN* line to send the processing fee to our airtel master line *0741134949* ( *DANUEL NGODE*).
“After, wait as the system processes in the agreed time to cash out. Thank you for choosing us,” the scammers claim.
