AT LEAST 37 Chinese nationals have been booked for fraud by the Ugandan authorities for running a tele fraud scheme while on a visitor visa in this African nation, according to local TV network NTV.
They were caught from a house in Uganda and police charged them for being in unlawful possession of suspected stolen items. It followed an ongoing police probe that unveiled the racket after concerns by some neighbours, said the TV report.
The raid was conducted after some neighbours raised concerns and police started investgating and thereafter exposed the racket.
Police seized motherboards of used cell phones and laptops reportedly stolen in Uganda and repackaged and exported to China.
TV reports show that police exposed a control room with some 2000 phones each connected with Ugandan SIM cards in the name of certain individuals.
Police investigations revealed that these were used for financial crimes especially on WeChat and social media.
Charles Twine, spokesperson of Criminal Investigation Directorate said, “These phones were connected to an online platform called WeChat, a Chinese online platform and it is used for messaging and financial transactions.”
Chinese nationals caught in major tele fraud in Uganda
He added, “The preliminary investigations that we had, indicated that there were so many financial Transitions done on WeChat. Basically, the targets were Chinese.
“We have also noticed that they are using Ugandan telephone lines including Airtel.”
Police have also recovered tortoises and skins of wildlife protected species from the Chinese hideout.
China is rapidly losing its goodwill in Africa in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak and a number of scams that have been traced to Chinese Nationals misusing their visa status. (ANI)