A Harare man allegedly lost US$80 000 to a fraudster who claimed he operated a company called Homelife Furniture and Electrical Appliance Company, reported The Herald.
The suspect Emmanuel Chikweza is being charged together with his Homelife Furniture and Electrical Appliance Company.
He appeared before Harare magistrate Dennis Mangosi at the weekend and was remanded in custody to this Tuesday for bail application.
The complainant in the matter is Brighton Ushendibaba.
The court heard that sometime in January 2023, Chikweza approached the complainant to persuade him to invest US$80 000 in his company.
He promised Ushendibaba that if he gave him a total of US$80 000, his company would in return make sure that the complainant would get a monthly profit of US$25 000.
It is further alleged that from March 2023 to date, the complainant made follow-ups with the accused person for the promised profits but the accused became evasive and was no longer answering the complainants’ calls.
That was when Ushendibaba realised that he had been duped and he then reported the matter to the police.
The accused person allegedly never paid the complainant the monthly profits of US$25 000.
Instead, he converted the capital injected to his own use thereby prejudicing the complainant of US$80 000. Nothing was recovered.
Last week, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) warned members of the public against investing in Ponzi and Pyramid schemes.
FIU said it had noted with concern the proliferation of Ponzi and Pyramid schemes in Zimbabwe.
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