TWO Harare men allegedly hacked Artemis Herbal Centre’s WhatsApp groups and converted them into forex trading groups. Kudakwashe Kazingizi and Shingirai Mutumwa were not asked to plead when they appeared before Harare magistrate Ruth Moyo. The complainant is Artemis Herbal Centre (Pvt) Ltd, represented by Takwana Jonga.
The court heard that on January 23, the duo hacked Artemis Herbal’s five WhatsApp groups. They allegedly started advertising that the company now specialised in forex trading, commodity broking and evaluation of houses and cars. Jonga came across the messages and discovered they originated from his WhatsApp Business account.
Jonga realised that the duo had gained unauthorised access and control of his WhatsApp Groups. On Sunday, Jonga filed a police report at Harare Central and he was later referred to CID CCD Harare the following day. The police lured Kazingizi, using Jonga’s number, and arrested him in the Harare Central Business District.
[paywall]
Kazingizi implicated his accomplice, claiming Mutumwa was the one who gave him a duplicate Econet sim card line, with Jonga’s number. He said this was the number which was used to hack Jonga’s WhatsApp business account. The sim card was then recovered and will be produced as an exhibit in court.
[/paywall]
