By Bano News Correspondent
In Zimbabwe, where the economy has been in a tailspin for years, job seekers have become easy prey for scammers.
The promise of a well-paying job abroad is enough to lure desperate men and women into the trap, only to find that the job is a mirage, and their money has disappeared.
Last year a Chinese national Zhao Jiaotong was arrested after he swindled several Zimbabweans of large sums of United States dollars in a scam called E-Creator.
Jiaotong connived with other Zimbabwe nationals and registered an e-commerce investment scheme that prompted desperate Zimbabweans to write reviews about E-Creator at the same time investing on the platform. Writing reviews for E-Creator attracted payment per review while investing ensured more gain.
Those who wanted to 'get rich quick' fell for the scam.
Jiaotong was arrested having tried to run with over US$ 1 million of investors' funds.
Seemingly, Zimbabweans never learn. Another scammer has hit again. This time the scammer targeted those who ridiculously believe in the fantasy of getting rich fast.
Scammers often advertise job opportunities on social media through Facebook, WhatsApp and other online platforms, targeting those who are looking for a way out of the country.
They offer seemingly legitimate opportunities, but once a job seeker has paid the required registration fees, they discover that the job doesn't exist.
Recently, the so-called "dropshipping" scheme promised would-be entrepreneurs the chance to earn a steady income by selling goods online. But many of those who signed up told this publication that they never received the profits they paid for, and have been left struggling to make ends meet.
A victim of the scam from Victoria Falls, Tshepang Sebata said, "I invested everything I had into this scheme," said one victim, who asked not to be named in fear of being victimised.
"I am at point in my life where I'm desperate for a job and that's why I joined a group called *No Level Jobs All Updates*, in search for a chance to finally get ahead.+ in life. It is in this group that a guy I only know as Doctor is a group admin and he promised to double my investments."
"In this group, the Doc was advertising his dropshipping business and explaining how everything works. He convinced us that his business was legit, and tutored us on how to do dropshipping. "
Sebata who is a single mother of one, said she was tempted to invest due to the attractive profits that had been proposed by the self-proclaimed Doctor.
She narrated that the Doctor said the only thing she had to do was buy an account worth US$60, which would be managed on her behalf and further earn a 50-50 profit spilt from the investment.
Tempted and curious, she invested the money and made payments to the Doctor via inbucks to buy the account.
"Before buying the account, our conversations were flawless and consistent, but after sending the money, he started revealing his true colours."
"He became a person of one word responses and would sometimes take days to respond."
"He was no longer responding to my messages when I wanted to understand what was happening with my account. As time went on, I requested for my money back but he started switching contacts and eventually blocked me."
The victim said the Doctor had tricked her into believing that he comes from Figtree, but after messaging him with another contact, the doctor told a different story of residing in Kariba.
She said the scam affected her immensely as she was hoping to raise funds for supporting her baby and was forced to invest in dropshipping.
Another victim, who only identified herself as Natsie narrated that she met the the Doctor in a job seeking group and was convinced to open a dropshipping account with US$60, after having been assured of a minimum of US$200 profit within 12-24 hours.
"He sent me a page about dropshipping. In this page, he said after investing with US$60, we would buy things online and share the profits every day after 12-24hrs. He assured me that i could make US$200 profit everyday.
"He convinced me into believing that it was not a scam and I sent him US$60 for buying a dropshipping account."
"I asked to meet up so that I could trust him but he told me that he is located at Chirundu. He then sent me his next of kin details of where I could get hold of him. I trusted him because he also said he is a doctor."
After sending the money and proof of payment, the victim said she was sent her account details by the doctor via email.
"He said I must open telegram where I was supposed to view my account with some dropshipping operations, after 24 hours I asked him about the sharing and he started giving unreasonable explanations."
"I asked in the group and inboxed other members who said they never received any profits from him. The doctor removed me from the group and blocked me."
Other victims said they were also swayed to invest in dropshipping after having been tempted with daring profits.
The doctor continued to do the same with other victims who fell prey to the scam. As more victims continued to invest money, he purportedly blocked their numbers and did not deliver their profits as promised.
Responding to the fraud allegations levelled against him, the Doctor responding to *BANO NEWS* said,
"I have a very reputational background chibaba, people when they purchase accounts they get them so what ever you are saying, I barely delay sending log in details."
"I am a busy man i will assign my PA or lawyer to verify this information am sure you will get an update this week."
"Be cautious about what information you apprehend to your own knowledge you barely know how this business works, you could simply ask me how the whole model works then u get my side of the story."
He also denied having blocked anyone, stating that he only recently changed his contact. He further denied the allegations, stating that dropshipping accounts are working perfectly fine."
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