Rwanda National Police (RNP), last week paraded 15 suspects at Kicukiro Police in connection with making and circulating counterfeit money. The suspects, who were arrested in different parts of the country, include a headmaster, who was found in possession of fake bills worth Rwf 19,688,224. 

How it started

Xavier Muganwa, a headmaster of ES Rukira in Huye District was lured into trading real money for larger amounts of counterfeit money by a friend.

"A friend told me that he had 25,000 Euros and asked me to give him Rwf5 million in exchange. I went to a SACCO and got a loan of Rwf4 million which I gave him in an exchange for the foreign currency,” said Muganwa.

After the transaction, he tried to exchange it on several occasions, in vain. Later, he interested another friend to take 10,000 Euro counterfeits to give it to unsuspecting people in return for real money in local currency.

"Days later, he called me saying that he had changed the money and asked me to bring more. I carried with me the remaining money and when I got there, that’s when the police arrested me,” added Muganwa, who was arrested last Sunday in Huye along with five other accomplices.

Looking back, Muganwa, who joined this shady deal behind his wife’s back, is yet to come to terms with the reality of his situation.

"I wrecked my family. My wife didn’t want me to take the loan in the first place, and when I took it, she never got to know what I used it for. Unfortunately, I have to service the bank loan up to the end of 2017,” he says

This is not the first time Muganwa is embroiled in counterfeit dealing. In 2013, he was involved in a similar case.

The suspects also include two men; Egide Ndagijimana and Solomon Nzigiye from Kirehe district. They were found in possession of US$ 8,700 worth of fake notes.

"I used to be a barber but later I decided to quit. One day, a former customer called me, we met at the Kayonza bus terminal and he introduced the idea of trading fake money which I accepted on condition that we would share profits equally,” Ndagijimana said. 

His first assignment was to sell fake $400. But Ndagijimana was apprehended together with his recruiter in Mahama Sector, before circulating the fake bills.

How the money is spent

Frank Bugingo is the owner of Tech Link, an appliance and electronics shop in the city centre. He told this journalist that every shop in town is a potential target especially shops dealing in gadgets and household appliances.

" Not to attract unnecessary attention, the tricksters come and buy a number of appliances saying that they just got married and are furnishing their new home;” he says.Bugingo adds that the fraudsters then buy different expensive items without haggling and pay very quickly and

leave. A few years back, two popular appliance shops suffered great losses when they found out that the money that they had made from a very huge sale was fake.However, he says that business people today are now more vigilant and take precautionary measures when

making any big sales. They photocopy the client’s ID and make the client sign off for purchased goods.

With difficulty in trying to trade the fake currency in towns, the tricksters have raided villages where gullible people have lost millions in this fake scheme.

Dieudonné Ntaganzwa, 31, a resident of Musha Sector in Gisagara district was told there was a ‘lucrative deal’ that would change his life forever.

Determined to go for this life changing deal, on July 9, he paid Rwf3m in exchange for €10,000.  The deal was sealed at an area called Gateme in Cyarwa Cell, Tumba Sector of Huye District.

But the businessman is now counting losses as it turned out he was conned.

"One of the conmen disguised as a Burundian told me he got the Euros after unrest broke out in Burundi and he sneaked away with the wad of Euro bills he salvaged from the nuns’ home where he used to work. He also said they were worried the Euros could get stolen while at the refugee camp and therefore, wanted a swift exchange,” Ntaganzwa said.

Ntaganzwa said when he insisted on checking the Euro notes for authenticity; they told him that he could not go with all the bills but rather one note since they were all the same denominations.

"Unknown to me, he picked out one genuine Euro bill from the wad and I took it to the bank where I was told it was a legal tender. I believed all the bills were genuine,” he said. He then returned to the conmen and paid Rwf3million for the €9,900, which turned out to be counterfeit. To raise Rwf3million, he took Rwf2million loan from a friend and topped up with his savings.

Police speaks out

Police said the counterfeit money cases are on the increase. Police in the Southern Province arrested other people with counterfeit worth Rwf160,00 in Huye District. The Spokesperson of Police in the Southern Province, CSP Hubert Gashagaza, said those circulating counterfeit money use several tricks to dupe their victims.

"To achieve their goal, they place them subtly, a few genuine bills are placed on top of fake ones to evade detection,” he said.

How the vice is being controlled?

Seeing that Forex Bureaus are mainly affected, Fred Karangwa of Platinum Forex says his forex has testing machines that can distinguish between fake and real notes.

"Aside from the machines, our employees are also very vigilant and they take little time to figure out a fake note and call the police immediately,” he noted.

Karangwa also adds that counterfeit money hasn’t been an issue at his business area for a while.

How the fake money gets into the economy

Police Spokesperson CSP Celestin Twahirwa says the counterfeit currency gets into the economy through various ways.

"There are several means used to smuggle fake currency in the country. Most of these counterfeit currencies come from outside Rwanda,” he said.

He says the public needs to be on alert and report such cases as fake bills can wreck the economy and affect people’s businesses.

"We have systems and means to deal with such crimes. We already have a unit charged with that and it’s working with financial institutions and telecommunication companies to ensure safety of people’s money,” CSP Twahirwa said.

What the law says

Currency counterfeiting is a crime punishable by article 601 of the penal code which stipulates that, "Any person who fraudulently counterfeits, falsifies or alters coins, which are legal tender in Rwanda or abroad, bills issued by the State and bearing its stamp or emblem, banknotes, authorized notes or any other related effects used in Rwanda or abroad, or any person who introduces or issues on the Rwandan territory bills or notes which are legal tender with knowledge that they are counterfeit or altered, shall be liable to a term of imprisonment of 5 years to 7 years.”

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