A Kenyan man has been arrested after scamming a foreign national off $256,000 (Ksh33 million in current exchange rates) in a fake gold sale scheme.
According to a report by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), the scam was carried out in two successive fake sales where the suspect failed to deliver on his promises.
In the first sale, which supposedly took place on February 6, the foreign national was to purchase 500kg of the gold with each kilogram going for $40,000.
However, the deal fell through and the suspect failed to deliver citing that the buyer had not delivered on certain conditions.
Gold bars on display.
Photo
NBC News
A subsequent deal of 580kg of gold sale was signed and was supposed to be carried out on March 14. This was on condition that the buyer covered certain costs including jet chartering, payment of taxes, and insurance.
This time around, the scammer provided 20kg of gold to the victim as collateral locked up in a safe box.
Once again, however, he failed to deliver, leaving the buyer high and dry for the second time.
Having yet to catch on to the scam, the foreign national made two payments of $126,000 and $139,000 through two local law firms. Undeterred, the seller asked for an additional $188,080 at which point the buyer had already reported the scam to the authorities.
The authorities launched investigations immediately, beginning with examining the 20kg the victim had received from the scammer.
Unsurprisingly, the content of the gold bars was found to contain no gold whatsoever and instead consisted of copper, zinc, and tin.
The company the scammer had used to defraud his victim was also found to not be registered or licensed by the Ministry of Mining to deal with gold or any precious metals.
Armed with enough evidence to charge the scammer, the officers tracked down the perpetrator and he was arrested on Saturday, December 7.
He is currently awaiting arraignment.
A collage of cuffed hands and a Kenyan Police Station.
Photo File