Residents of Masaka Town who fell victim to a crypto scam last week might rest easy now knowing the mastermind of their misery is now in police custody. One Mr Samson Lwanga, director of Dunamiscoins Resources Limited, found himself at the law’s wrong side and is expected to appear in court later this week.

To catch you up, Mr Lwanga was head of Dunamiscoins that had promised residents of the town as well as employees of returns on investments they made to the “crypto-based” company. It later turned out to all be a mere scam when the company’s offices were found deserted.

It is reported that the scam managed to con 10 billion Ugandan shillings (about Kes.275 million) out of victims. Moreover, the authorities are still on the lookout for four of the company’s directors who are believed to have been in cahoots with Mr Lwanga.

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Like many 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.

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.

Earlier, it was unclear how many people had fallen victim but it now turns out to be bigger than actually expected. Reportedly, 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.

As much as it’s all about reports, we do hope that such scams are fought especially in developing countries where not much is known about the tech that is cryptocurrency.