3 men charged with obtaining financial advantage by deception

Three men have been charged by the Fiji Police M-PAiSA Task Force in relation to separate cases of obtaining financial advantage by deception via the mobile money transfer app.

Police say in the first case, a 27-year-old man from Nabekavu, Labasa, is alleged to have on the 16th of April this year, dishonestly obtained $230 from the victim after hacking his friend's Viber account requesting money for urgent needs.

They say the victim sent the money to the accused, where he quickly withdrew it in Labasa.

The matter was then reported at the Namaka Police Station after the victim saw the post that someone had hacked his friend's account on their family chat group.

Police say the accused was charged with one count of obtaining financial advantage by deception.

In another report, Police say a 27-year-old man from Bulileka is alleged to have dishonestly obtained $230 also by similar means after asking for money from the victim under the pretext that he was using a Viber account, which he hacked belonging to the victim's friend.

The victim sent the money and it was withdrawn by the accused.

Police say in the third case, a 29-year-old man residing in Namara is alleged that on the 17th of October last year, had dishonestly obtained $535 from the victim, who was surprised to see a message stating that he had successfully sent the said amount to the accused.

The accused later withdrew the money.

All three accused persons were appeared in the Labasa Magistrates Court today.