A fake Zimbabwean prophet has been arrested and ordered to repay a family he scammed by falsely claiming a ‘spiritual debt’ owed by a man the victim never met.
Tinashe Aiumando, 25, operating from Nketa 6, manipulated a woman, Pride Gamure, 27, by convincing her that her deceased father owed him a large spiritual debt.
The scheme unfolded in June 2025 at Aiumando’s Dzivarasekwa shrine, where he persuaded Gamure to undertake costly cleansing rituals across several locations.
During a staged event in Mhondoro involving an accomplice named Leonard, the fraudsters pretended a vehicle had broken down and claimed Leonard received a “divine revelation” from the Holy Spirit.
They insisted Gamure’s late father owed a $6,000 debt, pressuring her to pay to avoid disastrous consequences for her family.
Under pressure, Gamure handed over $2,800 before realizing she had been deceived. Magistrate Archie Wochiwunga of the Western Communal Court sentenced Aiumando to 440 hours of community service at Nkulumane High School and ordered him to repay $1,155 to the victim through court-supervised payments. Authorities recovered $1,645 of the stolen money during the investigation.
In court, Aiumando admitted the entire spiritual prophecy was a fabricated scheme for financial gain.
