Police are holding a man suspected of impersonating government officials and conning unsuspecting job seekers of their money.

Jean Damascene Uwimanimpaye, 33, who was paraded before the media yesterday, was arrested recently in Rubavu District in a Police operation following complaints filed by victims.

It is said the suspect, a resident of Rubavu Sector where he was arrested, was posing as both an official from the Ministry of Internal Security, and National Agricultural Export Development Board.

At the time of his arrest, Police said, Uwimanimpaye had defrauded different people of about Rwf400, 000.

Uwimanimpaye, who admitted committing the offences, told journalists that he solicited the Rwf400,000 from two unsuspecting people who were seeking for a job in the Ministry of Internal Security.

"I acquired a masked MTN SIM card at Rwf20,000 from an MTN employee. I could go on several websites looking for lists of people shortlisted for job interviews, their contact and those of the official that signed such documents,” said Uwimanimpaye.

He added that he would then use the masked number to call the shortlisted people while pretending to be an official from the institution in question and solicit a payment claiming that he would assist them get the job.

"I have been doing this for two months; on the case of the Ministry of Internal Security, of the four people I called, only two sent the money on my mobile money account,” explained Uwimanimpaye.

The suspect claimed that he was introduced to the criminal business by a friend he identified as Sadiq Saruhara, also a resident of Rubavu, who is still at large.

Saruhara is said to be a former employee of MTN who allegedly helped the suspect to acquire the private number he was using to con people.

"I understand and admit all the accusations and pledge to cooperate with police in investigations,” Uwimanimpaye, who pleaded for leniency, said.

Addressing the media on the issue, Police Spokesperson Celestin Twahirwa urged the public not to fall prey to such con men, saying tthere are legal and proper ways of getting a job.

"If you applied for a job and again you pay money to acquire the same job illegally, that’s promoting corruption and aiding criminality,” Twahirwa said.

The arrest of Uwimanimpaye comes more than a month after Police also busted another ring of five people, who were also stealing money from unsuspecting people’s mobile banking accounts.

"We have all the means to arrest these fraudsters but the public should always share with us concrete information and in the quickest time possible. We request telecommunication companies to also devise a way of tightening means of acquiring a simcard beyond just registration and also switch off such simcards,” said Twahirwa. editorial@newtimes.co.rw