This archive report was first published on 15 September 2021.
On September 15, 2021, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) in Kenya made a significant arrest in a case of gold scamming that had left an Indian investor with a loss of Sh200 million.
The Indian investor, identified as Malian Sanjay, had wired money to a serial fraudster from Guinea Bissau, identified as Cavalho Lopes, on the pretext that he would sell him 44.45 Kgs worth of gold.
According to the DCI, the gold was supposed to be shipped from Guinea Bissau through Kigali before being loaded onto a plane to India via Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
However, the investor received confirmation from Lopes that the shipment was on transit to Nairobi, and then he was contacted by a person purporting to be from the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) to squeeze some more dollars from him.
The caller, identified as Hezbon Nyabola, informed him that his consignment, Airway Bill No706-27720626, had been detained at JKIA for non-payment of customs duty.
As a result, Sanjay sent him a further $26,700 to clear the consignment and facilitate its shipment. All along, the investor had not realized that he had been scammed until the gold failed to arrive in India within the agreed-upon time.
It was then that the Indian investor became suspicious and reported the matter to the DCI, who immediately moved in and recovered the consignment at JKIA.
Upon inspection, what was supposed to be gold worth over Sh190 million was discovered to be river bed pebbles, neatly arranged in a box!
The DCI has now arrested Hezbon Nyabola, the man who placed the call to the Indian investor purporting to be a Customs official.
He will be arraigned in court for obtaining money by false pretences.
