Police have kicked off investigations into circumstances under which several officers were conned of millions of shillings in a fake promotion deal.
According to police spokesperson, Fred Enanga the conman posed as a police officer from police headquarters who calls officers asking them for money to get them promotions to the next rank.
“The scammer calls himself Senior Superintendent of Police Ronald Mushe on phone number 0761987638 and claims to be from the human resource department at police headquarters who fleeces money from police officer with promise of getting them promotions to the next rank,” Enanga said.
He said the cyber unit at the Criminal Investigations Division in Kibuli has started tracking the scammer after several victims raised complaints to their various commanders.
According to the police spokesperson, arresting the scammer will help the force get to the bottom of the puzzle on how the suspect got personal and confidential information of the officers that he targeted.
He explained that information like the force number and department of deployment is confidential information, adding that it is puzzling how the scammer got the information and the phone contacts of the victims.
Victims face charges
The police spokesperson said the police officers who have fallen victim to the scam will have to answer disciplinary charges for accepting to pay for promotions yet they are well aware that they are not paid for.
“We want to strongly condemn this act but again want to remind all officers that police ranks are never bought or deemed for sale.”
“We have asked commanders to get complaints of all those officers who have been parting with money under this unlawful arrangement to buy ranks so that they are charged disciplinarily.”
Past scams
Previously, several police officers were fleeced of millions of shillings in fake passport and training deals.
In the scam, the officers were each asked to pay shs600,000 to help them secure express passports ahead of a fake leadership course in Switzerland.
Some of the victims received calls while others received text messages from the fraudster who posed as a director from the police headquarters in Naguru using a landline similar to one used by the Police to dupe them.