Police arrest sibling scammers using fake Onjezani Kenani’s Facebook name

Malawi Police have arrested two people, a brother and sister who created a fake face book account for social media influencer Onjezani Kenani and managed to scam unsuspecting donors K1 million.

Kenani writes on his Facebook wall that police have arrested two people, Lumbani Kaunda of Dwangwa, and his sister, Thokozire Kaunda of Mzuzu, on suspicion that they have been using Kenani’s name to steal money from unsuspecting Malawians.

“These people, with an accomplice based in South Africa, allegedly created a fake “Onjezani Kenani” page, and convinced some Malawians to channel to them donations meant for the fight against Covid-19.

“They made potential donors transfer money to a bank account known as “Journalism for Environment, Disability and Development” – also known as “Environment and Disability” – account No. 0005502002570, held at First Capital Bank, Mzuzu Branch.

“They opened this account in 2019, and I have, over the years, struggled to stop the scam,” says Kenani.

He says private investigator Orama Mamlambo gave him the name of Lumbani Kaunda in 2020, but he was unable to take further action because there was no specific case to accuse them of until last month, when they tricked a representative of the St. Andrews alumni, to deposit a Covid-19. donation of K300,000 into this account.

He said when this was brought to his attention, he immediately complained to the police. “The bank cooperated with law enforcement officials, and the documents shared by the bank show that Lumbani and Thokozire Kaunda are signatories of this account.

“The police left Lilongwe early morning yesterday to Dwangwa, where they arrested Lumbani, and then proceeded to Mzuzu, where they arrested Thokozire.

Kenani says the two will be taken to court in Lilongwe in the next couple of days.

” If found guilty and convicted, this will send a strong message to those who think they can get away with cybercrimes of this nature.

“We have seen similar fake pages created in the name of my friend, Dr. Thandiwe Majenda Hara-Msulira, known here on Facebook as Thandie Wa Pulimuheya,” he said.

He said it is possible that they got carried away with the success they had using his name, and wanted to steal more money from Malawians by using Thandie’s.

Kenani said they also tricked a representative of Mlanda Girls Secondary School to deposit K137,000 to the same account.

Overall, he says, it shows that K1 million went to this account.

He says this was money that could have been used to buy essential drugs and equipment for saving lives.

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