Last week we were all rocked with the news that there was a US$100 million fraud happening that affected EcoCash users. According to the police, there were scammers who were hijacking people’s Econet phone numbers and subsequently their WhatsApp accounts.
They would then go into WhatsApp group chats and offer forex deals at above-market rates. They targeted groups that mainly had family or friends to increase the likelihood of someone jumping on to the deals.
The scammers were able to make off with a reported US$100 million, which might be an inflated figure because of EcoCash’s limit among other things.
Arrests have been made
There has been a development in the story, we have received information from an impeccable source that the ring leaders have been arrested. What we know at the moment is that three individuals are in police custody and appeared in court today.
You should read:
EcoCash WhatsApp scam on the rise, Police say US$100 million lost so far
US$100 mil EcoCash WhatsApp scam doesn’t make sense & here’s why
“We were not hacked!” says EcoCash concerning the WhatsApp scam