Samantha Dungan

[Samantha Dungan @SamDungan01]

Scumbags Chirara twins.

[𝐂𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐖𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐙𝐖 @CrimeWatchZW]

Chirara twins, Craig and Carel, who are based in the Netherlands, have been exposed on a Zimbabwean community platform on Reddit. They are being accused of scamming several people, including some of their own friends and former schoolmates from Zimbabwe.

Carel attended St John's College and Craig attended St George's College, where they both completed high school in 2016.

According to the allegations, they usually target old friends. After reconnecting with them, they ask to borrow money and promise to pay it back. However, once they receive the money, they start giving excuses and avoid repaying it.

One of the alleged victims shared: I can share my story with the twins. I got scammed too. I knew them from back in high school in Harare. Carel was my friend. Moved to NL for studies. One day Craig added me on Instagram, so I asked him to connect me with his brother. Coincidentally, I happened to be moving to Rotterdam too.

When I moved here, they greeted me and my partner with open arms, inviting us over to their place and telling us stories about their lives over the years we had been disconnected (most of which are probably lies now in retrospect). They really emphasized how happy they were to have people they knew from back home in their lives, community and such.

After that, we ended up seeing them quite often. They introduced me to their friends and made an effort to show off their lifestyle, etc. One day, similar to the others, I got a phone call from Carel telling me a story about issues with his international account. He needed money transferred to his account and said he would give me cash. Luckily, it was only €600.

I agreed because I thought I was helping my friend of 12 years out. And who would try to dodge paying back a friend who knows where they live?

So I waited for the transfer for over a week. To be honest, I regretted it the minute I sent the money, but I thought, “He's my friend, I should be able to trust him.” It was then that Reddit posts from others who had similar experiences started appearing, along with a mysterious website exposing them. The moment I realised how badly I had messed up was when my friend, a successful programmer whom I had introduced to them once, gave me a call.

He said Craig had called him, claiming he had been hacked and needed assistance. He then went on to ask him for €400. He also revealed that they had called him every few months after I introduced him to them, asking whether he wanted to work for their company and invest in a stake. After that, I went through social media trying to find every person they had ever introduced me to, and I was shocked to discover that they had all had similar experiences.

It's horrifying to see two young Zimbabwean men with so much potential waste it this way. Shame on you!

[Samantha Dungan @SamDungan01]

@ChipChirara please get your boys to pay my son back.

[Luke Dungan @LukeDungan1]

Hey @elonmusk and the X team - just wanted to say hi. Thanks for building a platform where the truth can still reach people.
The twins @ Carel Chirara and @ Craig Chirara got my LinkedIn post removed after 10k+ views and a Reddit post taken down after 15k+ views.

[Samantha Dungan @SamDungan01]

@Vitality_SA How about working on your customer service with regards to flight bookings. Been trying to change flight dates for more than a month. You call and on hold for more than an hour and unanswered emails. So frustrating and really really not worth the discount!!

[Samantha Dungan @SamDungan01]

@kulula Any news on the suspension. Have a flight booked for Friday.