The Herald
Roselyne Sachiti Features, Health & Society Editor
While some criminals are still using yesteryear tricks to scam unsuspecting people, others are using social media, and the Internet to con would be job-seekers. Of late, people have been complaining that they have been duped online by fraudsters placing job adverts through social media. Corporates are also falling victim to these scams as fraudsters are using their names to fleece unsuspecting job seekers.
Not so many years ago, downtown Harare was a fraudsters playground.
Here, neatly dressed men waylaid their victims through a scam that became known as “chabata” and another where job seekers are duped in broad daylight.
Here, hundreds fell victim to the two scams which operated in a manner that left one victim heartbroken.
Mrs Mercy Kamba (44) of Budiriro had just withdrawn US$300 from an automated teller machine at a bank in Harare’s central business district (CBD) when she decided to buy her son’s school uniforms in December 2014.
“I walked towards Leopold Takawira and Robert Mugabe streets looking for good bargains when two immaculately dressed and well clean-men approached me asking if I was interested in a job that would pay me US$25 per hour,” she said.
“They said the job was to offload lots of new items that had just been delivered at a school uniforms shop and they needed my services for just three hours.”
Working for three hours at a rate of US$25 per hour meant she would…
