The suspects after their arrest
Police in close collaboration with Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) have arrested two suspects namely; Ronald Muhumuziibwe, 26 years old and Francis Mutambuzi,38 years old in connection with a fake Facebook account created and run in the names of the Commissioner General of URA, John Musinguzi Rujoki.
According to Ian Rumanyika, the Manager Public & Corporate Affairs at URA told Business Focus that the fake account was being used in an attempt to defraud the public through false promises of jobs and business opportunities with URA.
“Investigations have unearthed these two individuals and useful potential exhibits including 7 used sim cards, 4 unused sim cards and 6 original National Identification cards have been recovered from them,” Rumanyika said.
He added: “We have established that one of the suspects operates a sim card registration business and he takes advantage of clients’ National Identification cards forgotten at his shop to fraudulently register sim cards which sim cards he then utilizes to contact and defraud unsuspecting members of the public.”
He revealed that a complainant who commenced interactions on 27th April 2020 with this “fake” Facebook account in an attempt to reach out to the Commissioner General was instead alarmed when the fraudsters running the fake account promised him a contract with URA for a kick-back of UGX Shs10m.
“The complainant contacted us about this scheme and investigations duly ensued culminating into the duo’s arrest. The suspects are to be charged under the Computer Misuse Act and the Penal Code Act,” Rumanyika said, adding: “We urge the public to stay vigilant and to always reach out to us through our official contact channels for inquiries about any of our services. The public is also encouraged to swiftly report cases of impostors to URA or any nearby Police station so that such unscrupulous persons are duly arrested and effectively prosecuted.”
