Facebook crook arrested over theft after dating women in Lilongwe

Police at Mitundu in Lilongwe have arrested a 39-year-old Ramsey Samuel, on suspicion that he has been stealing property including cellphones from various Facebook friends (women) from different parts of the country after inviting them to Mitundu for a romantic date.

Confirming the development Lilongwe Police station Spokesperson Inspector Hestings Chigalu said, Samuel (suspect), was flooding the Facebook platform with friend requests targeting unsuspecting women, promising them financial support, and marriage proposals.

“In a single instance, one of the seven victims, a 32-year-old woman from Nkhamenya in Kasungu, told police that in September, 2023 three days after accepting Samuel’s friend request on Facebook, the suspect proposed a love affair to her which she also happily accepted”. Said Chigalu.

But, when the victim asked Samuel for money to travel to Mitundu upon being invited for a romantic encounter, the suspect refused to send.

Using her own finances, upon being assured of a transport refund, the victim travelled to Mitundu where she spent a night together with the suspect at a certain resthouse.

Chigalu says in the morning, as was the case with the other six victims who narrated their ordeal to police, while the Nkhamenya victim was in a bathroom taking a shower, the suspect took two cellphones worth K180 thousand, and disappeared.

Samuel, who has so far been charged with three separate counts of theft, has admitted to have stolen five cellphones worth K385 thousand from three different women in a similar fashion.

Meanwhile, police in Lilongwe is have advised women, girls to be alert and take extra caution when dealing with people whom they only know through social media to avoid falling prey to crooks like the suspect.

Ramsey Samuel hails from Chidzulumbi Village, Traditional Authority Masula in Lilongwe District.