Harare man charged over US$45,000 residential stand fraud
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A 28-year-old Harare man has appeared in court accused of selling a 3,200 square metre residential stand using a forged City of Harare offer letter and a fake survey diagram, leaving the buyer US$45,000 out of pocket.
A Harare man was left counting his losses after being swindled out of US$45,000 in a botched residential stand deal. Ashley Tinaye Charlie, 28, appeared before Harare magistrate Ruth Moyo charged with fraud.
The court heard that sometime in 2021, Charlie, acting in connivance with Pearson Chinanga, who is already appearing before the court on the same case, hatched a plan to defraud the complainant. Chinanga approached the buyer and introduced him to Charlie, falsely claiming Charlie was the owner of Stand 783, The Grange, measuring 3,200 square metres.
Charlie offered the property for sale at a purchase price of US$48,000. After the buyer viewed the stand and expressed interest, Charlie allegedly produced a forged City of Harare offer letter bearing official council letterhead and a fake signature of the Director of Housing and Community Services, together with a fake survey diagram, to make the transaction appear legitimate.
Between March and July 2021, the buyer made instalment payments to Charlie totalling US$45,000. A memorandum of agreement of sale was signed, and Charlie issued signed acknowledgements of receipt for each payment.
The fraud came to light in 2025 when the buyer discovered that Charlie was neither the legal owner of the stand nor authorised to sell it, and that the documents provided were fraudulent. He filed a police report. The total value prejudiced is US$45,000 and nothing has been recovered.