The police have warned members of the public against several conmen who are targeting vulnerable students, families and good Samaritans, with fake bursaries, scholarships and fundraising activities.
According to CP Fred Enanga the police spokesperson, there are fraudsters who are using the “O” level results of a one Atucungwire Princess, who passed in Grade 1, from Kibingo Girls SSS, to solicit funds.
“We are asking the public to ignore the tweet that has gone viral, simply because the victim has already secured sponsorship from an American organization. As a result, a casefile has been opened at Sheema police station, to track down the culprits. We are also using this opportunity to call upon any persons who could have fallen victim to this fundraising scam or other form of education scam, to liaise with the police at Sheema” Enanga says.
He added that the other common areas of fraud are; persons offering bursaries and admissions to schools that students never applied for, processing fees for bursaries, companies with expensive and sometimes vague bursaries among others. The conmen use language and techniques which entice intending beneficiaries.
Enanga says it is important that parents and students do sufficient homework by researching about the scholarship or bursary, look for previous beneficiaries or students for legitimacy and that it is also important to correspond with the alleged sponsors in writing for record purposes since conmen are usually hesitant to correspond in writing which is a sign of fraudulent activity.