A 83 year old man from Fortunes Gate ,Bulawayo was brought before Harare magistrate Dennis Mangosi facing allegations of defrauding a businessman US$39 933.
David Antony Edwards was remanded out of custody to April 23 for routine remand.
The accused person was released on US$100.
The complainant in this case is William Link Chui (40) from , St Martins Hatfield, Harare.
State prosecutor Thomas Chanakira alleged that sometime in February 2024, Edward introduced Dana Smith as his wife to Jacob Mateke who is known to the complainant.
On February 24 2024 , Chui received information from Mateke based in Bulawayo that Edwards was looking for Bitcoin for his wife, worth USD$5 500.00.
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Court heard that Chui received the Bitcoin e wallet which purportedly belonged to Smith .
from Mateke to deposit the Bitcoin in exchange for cash.
The complainant made the transaction Bitcoin (0.8906BTC) which had an equivalent value of USD$45 433.66 instead of Bitcoin (0.08906BTC) equivalent to USD$5 500.
It is alleged that Edwards only released US$5 500.00 and promised to reverse the remainder to the complainant within 48 hours.
Upon expiry of the promised period, Chui made a follow up of his balance but the accused became evasive.
On February 26 , complainant reported the matter to police leading to the arrest of the accused on 28 February 2024.
Following interviews Edwards implicated Dana Smith a Facebook friend whose existence is questionable.
The total value stolen is US$39 933.66 and nothing was recovered.