A retired government commissioner is among several Ugandans who have lost hefty sums of money in bogus savings and investment schemes.

Charles Twine, the spokesperson of the Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID) at the Uganda Police, said the commissioner, on top of losing the sh300m gratuity, went on to sell his house at Bugoloobi in Kampala at over sh1.7b and invested more sh400m in the purported scam with Global Digital Currency.

The company, Twine said, is being investigated over the alleged fraud where Ugandans purportedly lost more than sh34b in fake savings and investments.

“For example, we are dealing with one case where a retired commissioner in government did not only lose his gratuity money in the scam but also his house at Bugoloobi in Kampala,” he said.

The CID in close collaboration with Capital Markets Authority (CMA) are investigating several other organisations for allegedly defrauding Ugandans in scam saving and investments.

They include; Alliance Motion Global, BA Verve Cards, PACKS Limited, PLACH Investments and Gifting Circles.

At a joint press briefing at the Uganda Media Centre (UMC) in Kampala on Monday, Twine told reporters that these organisations are not registered by CMA and their managers operate under false identities. 

Even when you use Google, some of these organisations cannot be identified,” he said.

According to the 2020 annual Police report, Uganda lost over sh11 trillion in economic crimes out of 8,096 cases registered.

However, the number was a bit lower compared to the 10,598 cases registered in 2019.

Some 2,925 victims, according to the report lost more than sh41b through pyramid schemes and cybercrimes in 2019 alone.

“We have identified some, we have apprehended some and taken them to court. But what you need to know is this, while we are very ready to apprehend the perpetrators of this crime, again it is extremely very hard for us to do the recovery,” Twine said.

The target of scammers, Twine said, include unemployed people and prominent people such as Members of Parliament.

“Someone comes and convinces you that you invest sh50m, in a week you will have sh70m which is quite inconceivable. People have lost money and some people are just keeping quiet for fear of being ashamed,” Twine said.

According to the Police, some of the scammers are highly syndicated and sometimes are trans-border on top of having very organised offices and persuasion capacity.

“When you visit their offices, they have portraits of the President, big persons in the army, Police and successful business personalities, among others,” he said.

The photos, according to Twine, are used to deceive big people that the office is legitimate.

“We have put a mechanism at CID headquarters and we have established a special unit under the department of economic crimes to investigate these schemes,” Twine said.

“I want to ask members of the public to be very vigilant and report to us any information regarding any person they suspect to be doing these dubious activities,” he said.

Miriam Musaali, the CMA director for legal and board affairs, warned Ugandans to be wary of a surge in economic crimes, especially illegal fund managers, pyramid and Ponzi schemes that are doomed to collapse.

The authority cited that Alliance Motion Global which was also mentioned by Parliament was being investigated in close collaboration with the CID.

“The general public is hereby informed that Alliance Motion Global is not licensed by the CMA, and as such, members of the public are strongly cautioned against conducting any business with the said company.

“Any person, who undertakes any dealings with them, does so at his/her own risk,” she noted.

She urged members of the public to file formal complaints when faced with these and any other scams, saying they will continue to monitor all activities in Uganda’s capital markets to ensure order, fairness and transparency as well as to protect genuine investors.