Young woman arrested in Maputo

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Young woman arrested in Maputo

12:18 CAT | 07 Jul 2017

Police have arrested a 23-year-old woman suspected of defrauding 17 people with promises of work that never materialised.

The defendant, who is being held at the 16th Precinct police station in Maputo’s 25 de Junho neighbourhood, was acting in collusion with a man thought to be her cousin, whose whereabouts are unknown, but claims not to know she was involved in any fraud.

She told reporters and the police that her cousin called her and told her that he wanted to give her a job because she was unemployed. To achieve this, he would pretend to be the manager of a restaurant setting up in business in the Costa do Sol neighbourhood.

One of the young people scammed reported that the woman in detention phoned him several times, including late at night, demanding money and “asking me to look for other people who needed a job”.

Several other individuals also fell victim to the scam.

“The girl always had excuses not to take us to the people who wanted to recruit us. I began to distrust her and one day I went to Costa do Sol to try to locate the restaurant that was about to open. When I got there I discovered that there was no restaurant ready to open, but, on the contrary, one where they had all been working for a long time,” one young woman said.

The detainee said her job was to find people interested in working as cooks, receptionists and cleaners.

“He [the cousin] said that I would have a monthly salary of eight thousand meticais, but that, at his place of work, the bosses wanted money” to take on employees. The amounts demanded from job-seekers varied from 2,000 to 3,000 meticais, but those who couldn’t afford it could pay just 1,000 meticais.

After collecting application documents, the girl stayed with her cousin somewhere on Avenida Eduardo Mondlane. Relentless even after receiving the money promised, the woman continued to find people willing even to get into debt to get a paying job.

But it was all a trick.

“When I realized that there were already a lot of people,” who never had the job, “I asked him [the cousin] how it was possible to take on so many people” at one time. His answer was that I shouldn’t worry and that everything was taken care of.

To allay her suspicion, the young man took her to the restaurant he said needed employees, so she could see everything in for herself and convince people to be patient.

“He took me to A Taverna, showed me the space, sat down and talked. The [applicants] always called me to find out when they would start work, because they had waited a long time.”

Instead of providing the promised work, the young lady occupied herself inventing excuses to calm those defrauded. The last time she managed to find another candidate, she was unlucky enough to be detained by the police with the curriculum vitae of one of her earlier victims in her possession.

The police said that a criminal case to hold the woman accountable had already been opened, and her fugitive cousin was being actively sought.

Source: A Verdade