Some unscrupulous people have invaded Senga Hill District and swindled people of their money, purporting to be ZESCO employees.

And two residents, who claimed to have been swindled by the unscrupulous people, said the purported ZESCO employees wanted to help them connect electricity to their houses.

Janet Nachilongo a resident of Senga Hill told ZANIS in an interview that she was swindled K1,500 by one of the said people.

She explained that the unscrupulous people have taken advantage of some resident’s desperation to have their houses connected to electricity.

Ms Nachilongo narrated that a man purporting to be an employee of ZESCO visited her residence, produced an identification card, and asked if she was interested in having her house connected to power, to which she agreed.

She said the person asked to be escorted inside the house so he could inspect the wiring after he pretended to be accessing the distance from the pole to the house.

Ms Nachilongo disclosed that the same man came the following day and got the mobile line so that he could be communicating, claiming he had made headway in securing connection cables from his workmates in Mbala.

She disclosed that the man later asked for something to give his boss and the store officer to release the cables so that the house could be connected the following morning, and she gave in and gave K1,500.

And Ruben Mwambazi said she was swindled K1,600 by a man who wanted to promise to connect his business premises.

He explained that he also received a call from a person purporting to be from ZESCO who told him that he had checked in the system, which showed that his case had taken time to be worked on, and since assured him of being among the prioritised list of clients.

Mr Mwambazi disclosed that after an hour, the same person called him to tell him that he had found some cables from a friend but that he needed something so they could divert them to his house.

“The gentleman really sweet talked to me, and because I was desperate, I had to give him K1,600 to have business premises connected, which have just gone to waste, “he said. 

Mr Mwambazi disclosed that he suspects that he may be living with the community, which may be preoccupied with the information because three others have been swindled in a similar manner.

He appealed to the community, which may have information about this person to report to the police.

Efforts to get a comment from the police failed by press time.