Police arrest head of $2.7M Ugandan cryptocurrency scam

Police have arrested one of the directors of a cryptocurrency startup in Uganda that closed suddenly and made off with investors’ money.

A Mr Samson Lwanga, director of Dunamiscoins Resources Limited, was arrested last week and should appear in court later this week, local news reports.

It’s reported that the scam managed to con 10 billion Ugandan shillings ($2.7 million) out of victims.

The authorities are still on the look out for the other four directors of the company.

Like numerous other cryptocurrency-based scams, Dunamiscoins promised investors and employees large returns in a short space of time. However, after a month, the company shut down its offices, leaving investors in the lurch and employees out of work — many of whom were yet to even start their job.

“We have already opened a general inquiry file and investigations are going on. We recorded statements from the complainants and arrested one of the directors called Samson Lwanga who is currently detained at Old Kampala Police Station,” a police spokesperson said in a statement.

According to the police spokesperson, Mr Lwanga is willing to refund money to investors, but he can’t because their accounts have been frozen. The police are investigating if this is true.

At the time of Hard Fork’s first report on the scam, it was unclear how many people had been affected by Dunamiscoins.

However, in Daily Monitor’s latest update, it seems the scam is bigger than first reported. And the story sounds all too familiar.

Investors were encouraged to get their friends and family to participate, only to find out later that they had all been duped

According to the report, at least 1,000 people had registered with the cryptocurrency startup, however, some victims have said the number of people involved is closer to 10,000.

Dunamiscoins reportedly began operating in March, and was paying out to early investors. It came crashing down last week when its offices shut and phone lines were disconnected.