I almost got defrauded by a deepfake.
The first mistake I made was believing that the person on the other end of the phone was who she said she was.
The second was more embarrassing.
I knew enough about technology to build applications that crawl public databases, retrieve information and place it in the hands of ordinary citizens.
I knew enough about law to be suspicious of almost everything.
But on that particular day, I was busy being grateful.
And gratitude, I would later discover, is a very poor cybersecurity system.
Let me rewind.
A few days ago, I came across a TikTok account carrying videos of the Hon. Justine Nameere, the Minister of State for Local Government. In one of the videos, she was speaking about a promise she had made during her campaign for election as Member of Parliament.
She had promised to support people with seed capital of UGX 5,000,000.
A copy of the video can be accessed on this link: https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSXuGnhVE/
I did not think much of it.
I had been working on my own things.
I had been developing digital solutions—Android applications, Progressive Web Applications and iOS systems—which I believed could contribute to the #Digital_Transformation agenda of the Isaac Ssemakadde SC-led Radical New Bar at the Uganda Law Society.
I will not say much more about the projects here.
I was simply trying to turn some of my ideas into something real.
And like many people with an idea and a little passion, I was looking for strategic sponsors willing to support the early development of what may one day become a public utility.
The proposed seed capital would have helped.
I asked for UGX 2,000,000.
“Only?”
The voice on the other end asked.
Then she said she would make it UGX 5,000,000.
There are other things I am not yet ready to discuss publicly.
My problem was not ideas.
My problem was money.
Technology, in the 21st century, has a cruel sense of humour. You can have the idea. You can have the passion. You can even have the ability to build the thing.
But at some point, Firebase wants to be paid.
Servers want to be paid.
Digital assets want to be paid.
Company registration wants to be paid.
And the tech person you finally discover after three months of fighting with software development platforms also wants to be paid.
So, yes, UGX 5,000,000 would have helped.
Then a number was provided to me through the TikTok account.
I saved it.
And sent a simple message.
“Hi.”
The person on the other end urged me to call.
I did not.
She urged me again.
I still did not.
Then the phone rang.
She called me.
The voice was hers.
Or, at least, it sounded exactly like hers.
I picked up.
I introduced myself.
I told her where I was.
Adjumani.
We spoke.
And this is where the story becomes uncomfortable.
Because the conversation was not some vague, robotic conversation between a stranger and a man desperate for money.
I told her that I had followed her visit to Dokolo with the Senior Minister.
I remembered the stern warning she had given contractors when she was handing over a road construction project.
I told her that, although I was in Adjumani, Dokolo had Lango people.
“Those are my people too,” I told her.
Then I suggested that she consider visiting Otuke as part of the countrywide crusade against corruption in Local Government.
The conversation was natural.
It flowed.
Then we turned to the issue of seed capital.
I explained what I was doing.
Legal technology.
Digital platforms.
Legal education.
Solutions intended to digitise aspects of legal governance.
I asked for UGX 2,000,000.
Two million shillings.
The response was almost comic.
“Only?”
Then she said she would make it UGX 5,000,000.
I expressed gratitude.
She told me what she required.
A bank account.
A phone number registered in my name.
A passport-size photograph.
And my National ID.
I set out to assemble the requirements.
There is a small detail here which still amuses me.
I tried to create a passport-size photograph using AI.
I had been cleaning up images, reconstructing angles and trying to make technology do what a professional photographer does in a few minutes.
I failed miserably.
Eventually, I went to a real photo studio and took real passport photographs.
Sometimes, the future must respectfully step aside for a man with a camera.
I sent the requirements.
Then the video call came.
And this is where the plot quietly changed.
The call began with the face on the screen appearing slightly blurred.
Not dramatically.
Just enough to make the image look like one of those poor internet connections we have all become accustomed to.
I did not immediately panic.
I had already spoken to the person.
The voice was hers.
The face looked like hers.
The story made sense.
Then the banking arrangements began.
I was asked about my bank account.
At some point, a bank video call was purportedly made.
The UGX 5,000,000 was even shown to me.
The person on the other side looked exactly like the Minister.
I had my National ID.
I had my phone.
I had already furnished my banking and mobile money details.
Then came the curious issue of the bank.
Bank of Africa.
I was asked whether I had a Bank of Africa account.
I did not.
Then the story took a turn.
I was told to deposit UGX 155,000 on my mobile money account.
The explanation was that the Minister’s Secretary would initiate a transaction and withdraw the money directly from my phone.
After that, the UGX 5,000,000 would be sent to my mobile money account.
I paused.
And somewhere in that pause, the entire story finally stopped being a story about seed capital.
It became a story about a transaction charge.
I have spent enough time around Ugandan systems to know that when a person tells you that you must first send money in order to receive money, the bells should not merely ring.
They should summon the entire brass band.
I blocked the number.
Immediately.
The number being used to contact me on WhatsApp was 0790773651.
The number is registered in the name of Sumaya Tumwesigye.
Another number, 0755116502, later attempted to contact me while purporting to be Hajjat Namyalo.
I subsequently established that the real Hajjat Namyalo is a known public figure who serves as Secretary in the Office of the National Chairperson of the NRM.
I am deliberately stating these facts carefully.
I am not saying that the persons in whose names these numbers are registered are the people who contacted me.
In fact, that is precisely the problem.
If a SIM card is registered in your name and is being used to impersonate public officials and solicit money, you may have a problem you do not even know exists.
And this is where I depart from my normal programming.
Enen Legal World is primarily a legal literacy and Rule of Law platform.
I write about law.
I write about institutions.
I write about governance.
I occasionally write things which make people very uncomfortable.
But today, I am breaking the normal editorial policy.
Because cyber fraud has become too clever to be treated as a distant problem belonging to “those people who are easily deceived.”
I was not sitting in a dark room waiting for free money from a stranger.
I had a genuine project.
I had seen a genuine campaign promise.
I had a reason to believe that a Minister might support a young Ugandan working on technology.
I had a conversation that contained details which made the interaction feel real.
I saw a face.
I heard a voice.
And I almost became a statistic.
The fraudsters did not merely impersonate a Minister.
They walked into a story that was already true.
That is what makes this dangerous.
The next person may not pause at UGX 155,000.
The next person may have just lost a job.
The next person may have school fees due.
The next person may believe that UGX 5,000,000 has finally arrived to rescue them.
And when that person sends the money, the fraudsters will not need to explain how the video call worked.
They will simply disappear.
I have already spoken to the Minister’s office and provided the numbers used to contact me.
I intend to report the matter to the police and seek guidance on the proper preservation and investigation of the available evidence.
Because this is not merely about my almost-loss of UGX 155,000.
It is about a technology that can now make a person look like somebody else, sound like somebody else and say things that the real person may actually have said before.
We have entered a very dangerous era.
The face is no longer proof.
The voice is no longer proof.
And if you think a WhatsApp video call is sufficient authentication, you may be living in the past.
Today, I was lucky.
Not because I am smarter than the fraudsters.
Not because I possess some supernatural ability to detect a deepfake.
I was lucky because, somewhere between the Minister’s Secretary and UGX 155,000, the story finally became too strange even for my imagination.
This time, I have chosen not to remain neutral on cyber fraud. Because this is no longer somebody else’s problem.
I am therefore calling upon the authorities to take up this case — and the many other cyber fraud cases that continue to torment members of the public. And I ask you, my dear reader, to join me in demanding the same.
Because the next call may not be made to somebody else.
EDITORIAL NOTE: This is a first-person account of an attempted fraud as experienced by the author. The events described are supported by the author’s contemporaneous records and subsequent verification efforts. The author has shared the matter with the relevant authorities and invites investigation.
For the avoidance of doubt, this account does not suggest that the individuals whose names or identities were impersonated participated in the fraud. The concern is that their identities may have been misused by persons who are presently unknown to me.
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Enen Ambrose. Advocate
Member, Judiciary Affairs Committee,
Uganda Law Society
& Founder–Enen Legal World
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