By Ross Moyo

Zimbabwe’s state security agency, the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO), has successfully dismantled an intricate WhatsApp-based scam that had been targeting and defrauding top government officials and prominent businessmen.

The dramatic conclusion to the operation comes with a major twist: Initial reports that CIO Director-General Dr. Fulton Mangwanya had been personally scammed out of R1.5 million (or R800,000) using gold dealer Pedzisayi Scott Sakupwanya’s name were inaccurate.

According to intelligence sources, the large sum of money was deliberately used by the CIO as bait in a secret sting operation designed to trap the criminals.

“The money was used in an operation to catch the scammers. It was a bait to catch the crooks. The scam kingpin Desmond Mangena fell for it,” a source told the media.

The scamming ring was arrested after they targeted Director-General Mangwanya. Allegedly acting as runners for Sakupwanya, the suspects called Mangwanya and asked him to deposit money into a specific account to facilitate a supposed business deal. Unbeknownst to the crooks, they had walked right into the CIO’s trap and were subsequently apprehended.

Sources confirm that those arrested in the CIO operation include the alleged kingpin Desmond Mangena, as well as Blessing Vava (not the Crisis Coalition director), Prince James and Solomon Jokonya.

The fraudsters relied on advanced technology to clone high-profile individuals’ WhatsApp accounts, then used the cloned profiles to solicit money or offer fake business deals to unsuspecting victims. This process can be executed either by:
Linking devices: Installing WhatsApp on a secondary phone and using the “link to an existing account” feature to scan the QR code from the primary device.
Dual Apps: Using built-in smartphone features like “Dual Messenger” or “App Twin” to run two independent WhatsApp instances on a single device.

This successful CIO operation is a significant victory against the rise of sophisticated technological fraud targeting Zimbabwe’s elite.