Fraudsters steal Shs1 trillion in three years

Government, individuals and companies have been defrauded of more than Shs1 trillion in the last three years, the 2019 annual police crime report indicates. From 2017 to 2019, police only recovered Shs15.7 billion.

Last year, Shs11.4b was lost to fraudsters through cybercrime, but only Shs51.8m was recovered. An additional Shs7.5b was lost in economic crimes.

That means Shs290b was lost to fraudsters through embezzlement, financial loss, abuse of office, counterfeiting, forgeries and uttering of documents, issuing false cheques, banks and other corporate frauds, obtaining by false pretences, cyber (computer) crimes and land frauds.
The report released on Wednesday also shows that the public issued false cheques amounting to Shs115.6b to settle their obligations last year.

However, in the course of investigations, police only managed to recover Shs413m. The country also obtained goods by false pretence amounting to Shs104b. Police only managed to recover Shs6.6b.

The report also shows that civil servants and employees embezzled Shs33.6b last year.

In cybercrime, fraudsters took advantage of the country’s 19 million Internet users to steal from unsuspecting public.

Fake accounts
In some instances, the fraudsters created accounts in the names of government officials to solicit money from the public.
For example, a fraudster created a fake LinkedIn account in the name of Dr Ruhakana Rugunda, the Prime Minister, and stole Shs1.3m.

Another created a fake Facebook account in the name of Vice President Edward Kiwanuka Ssekandi to solicit money from the public, promising to get them government contracts.

Similar accounts were created in the name of Gen Peter Elwelu, the UPDF Land Forces commander, Ms Rebecca Kadaga, the Speaker of Parliament, and Mr Okoth Ochola, the Inspector General of Police.

The report also indicates that police recorded 13,264 cases of fraud last year, compared to 15,099 in 2018.

In 2017, there were 16,031 cases of economic crimes, compared to 17,214 cases in 2016.
In 2017, Shs586b was lost to fraudsters. In the course of investigations, police recovered Shs7.7b.
However, the amount of money lost to cyber fraud in 2018 was Shs169.5b. Police only recovered Shs413m.
In 2018, the country registered a number of pyramid schemes such as D9 Clubs.
Last year, the Central Police Station in Kampala recorded the highest number of economic crimes with 708 cases.
Kampala was followed by Kamuli District with 325 cases, Katwe Division (287) and Old Kampala (282).

A total of 13,264 cases were reported at police last year. Obtaining money by false pretence was the highest category reported with 10,598 cases. Dunamis Coins Resources Limited and Global Crypto currencies pyramid schemes obtained Shs30b from 2,925 victims.

The crime report also states that Shs709m was blocked by the Financial Intelligence Authority.

A total of 248 cases of cybercrime leading to a loss of Shs11.4b and Shs51.8m was recovered.

The report states that the Criminal Investigations Department is still facing challenges in addressing economic crimes.

Delays
For instance, the Office of the Auditor General sometimes takes long to produce audit reports as requested by CID, and some internal auditors conduct shallow audits.

There are no funds/companies to carry out audit of account of private companies under investigations or when employees of those companies are accused of crimes.

The experts take long to release the reports due to inadequate number of handwriting experts.

The country has only four handwriting experts. This leaves the Directorate of Police Forensic Services and Government Analytical Laboratory with a backlog of cases.

Challenges in investigations
Police Forensic Laboratory is overwhelmed with request for forensic analysis from criminal investigations and other government agencies and departments. Police detectives, who spoke to this newspaper on condition of anonymity, said sometimes they have to use their own resources to fund investigations.
“To track down fraudsters, you have to pay for telecom phone printouts, court orders and all that money is never refunded. When a case starts, there is a lot of interest but after sometime, it becomes a detective’s case,” one of the detectives said. He said Uganda lacks a place where detectives can get information about persons.
The source also added that the passport office would be a vital place to get such information, but that they have no proper record keeping systems, while banks also are very guarded with their information. “That is why its difficult to trackdown and arrest fraudsters, so they remain at large and continue their craft.”

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