GIDEON NYENDWA
A CONMAN who has made millions by duping hapless individuals through various internet scams and using Facebook to run a fake online store for televisions has been nabbed after a combined operation by the Zambia Information Technology Authority (ZICTA) and the Police.Maxwell Mamba, 29, is believed to have scammed people out of K3 million since 2019 when he started his operations, making him the second culprit after two men of Mtendere in Lusaka were nabbed less than a month ago. Mr Mamba owned a number of online stores on Facebook which included Television Zambia which he claimed was located in Ibex Hill at Shop number 15. He is being held at Chelstone Police Post. ZICTA confirmed that they assisted the Police to track down the man who had allegedly been scamming people online using Facebook by running a fake online store for television sets.ZICTA acting Director-General Mwenya Mutale said working together with the police, they arrested a man who had been swindling people of their money by running a fake online store on Facebook.Mr Mwenya said ZICTA and the police would issue a comprehensive statement regarding the matter later.“We want to engage the media to raise awareness about such issues to avoid misinformation,” he said. Mr Mwenya also said ZICTA was working tirelessly to make sure that consumers were protected by having all these scammers fished out.Mr Mamba who is a TV stand designer narrated that he had been swindling people out of money using his fake online store that he had been running since last year.He said that he used to display television sets on his Facebook page called “Television Zambia” and when a customer gets interested in the product he would trick them into sending the payment via mobile money and later block them upon receiving the payment.Mr. Mamba said that he had swindled a lot of people that he could not give an account of how many fell prey to his schemes.In the same video, reportedly leaked by some officers, a search revealed that the man had a lot of merchandise like clothes stored at his house, and brand new Zambia Air Force combat uniforms.And efforts to get a comment from the police proved futile by press time.
