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Herald Reporter

A serial fraudster has been arrested by police for duping prospective army recruits of thousands of dollars while pretending to be a recruiting agent.

In a statement yesterday, Zimbabwe National Army public relations director Colonel Alphios Makotore confirmed the arrest of Tsikwa Chitepo by police about a fortnight ago.

The army was worried about the proliferation of these scams, despite having conducted a number of awareness campaigns warning the public that there were no recruiting agents and the military did its recruitment directly and openly. Military police confirmed Chitepo was committing fraud. The police were then called in.

“The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) has arrested a serial fraudster, Tsikwa Chitepo. Chitepo was arrested on 11 May 2022 in Harare for defrauding several army potential recruits of varying amounts of cash,” said Col Makotore.

“The Army is worried with the continued incidents of people being defrauded of their money despite the fact that on several occasions the public has been warned that the Army does not employ recruitment agents.”

Col Makotore underscored the need for the public to pay attention to the warnings. Chitepo used social media to lure potential recruits after misrepresenting that he was a soldier.

“Chitepo lured several potential Army recruits on social media using the WhatsApp platform. He misrepresented to all his victims that he was a ZNA recruitment agent responsible for the recruitment of new members into the army,” said Col Makotore.

He reiterated that the ZNA did not use third parties in its recruitment drive, adding that advertisements, notices and news releases are published in the mainstream media.

The public has been challenged to report to the Military Police on hotline numbers 0712842318 or 0777258410 if they suspect anyone of underhand dealings.

Reports can also be lodged at police stations.