Four Kenyans were, on Wednesday, December 18, charged with several counts of forgery and conspiracy to defraud a foreign national of $100,000 (Ksh12.9 Million in current exchange rates) in a fake gold scheme.
The four, two men and two women, are said to have webbed an intricate plan where they posed as customs officials and legit Kenyan companies to convince the victim of their legitimacy.
According to a report by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), the scheme spanned borders, extending to the country of Mali, and in the broader scheme of things, the victim lost over $5 million (Ksh646 million in current exchange rates)
The victim, a Niger national who operates a business in Dubai, fell for this scheme in pursuit of securing a 100kg consignment of gold between February and December 2024.
Coins, and gold bars scattered on a table
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To set the ball rolling on the scheme, the fraudsters first lied to the foreign national that the consignment had been confiscated by customs officials in Nairobi.
To receive the gold in Dubai, they had the victim wire the Ksh12.9 million to a purported customs officer who was holding the shipment in Nairobi.
The complainant then received an invoice from a fake logistics company in Nairobi confirming having the gold.
He went ahead to send the money and received a confirmation of receipt from one of the fraudsters. Unbeknownst to him, they were all posing as different entities to extort money from him.
On a later trip to Kenya, he met the agents he believed were in possession of his gold. It was when they started asking for more money from him that he got suspicious and reported a suspected fraud scheme.
The Kenyan police then launched an investigation into the four and they were arrested from different locations in the city last Wednesday, December 11.
They were arraigned at the Milimani Law Courts on Wednesday, where they pleaded not guilty and were granted a bond of Ksh500,000 each or cash bail of Ksh200,000.
The case will be mentioned on January 21, 2025.
A photo of the Milimani Law Courts, Nairobi
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