A blind Zambian hacker is going to prison for two years after a court found him guilty of hacking Airtel Zambia’s database and siphoning off airtime worth thousands of dollars.
Jairos Tembo has been found guilty of using unknown software to access the telco’s database before committing a number of crimes, including siphoning airtime from lawmakers, ministers and business executives.
The victims of the theft include minister of defence Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba, minister of foreign affairs Given Lubinda and Steve Nyirenda, a business executive.
The airtime that Tembo siphoned off is valued at over $3,500.
Several victims of the theft, which took place between 2011 and 2012, launched complaints with Airtel. The mobile operator in turn investigated the matter.
Affected customers also told the court that their calls had been jammed at the time.
The prosecution brought several charges against Tembo, and the court has found him guilty on all the counts.
In sentencing Tembo, principal magistrate Aridah Chuulu said that although she had taken into consideration the challenges Tembo is to face in prison as a blind person, she was sending him to jail because the offence he committed was serious.
“The offence of hacking into people’s mobile phones and stealing airtime was serious and members of the public cannot be served with that kind of behavior,” Chuulu said.
After the sentencing, Tembo said he would appeal the decision in Zambia’s high court.
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