A businessman based in India is counting losses after he was defrauded close to Ksh200 Million in a fake gold deal.
According to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), the investor was swindled by a fraudster from Guinea Bissau, identified as Cavalho Lopes.
The fraudster who styles himself as a gold dealer obtained $1,780,000 from one Malian Sanjay, based in Mumbai, India on the pretext that he would sell him 44.45 Kgs worth of gold.
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According to investigations by Serious Crimes detectives based at DCI headquarters, the gold was to be shipped from Guinea Bissau through Kigali before being loaded on a plane to India via Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
Once the complainant received confirmation from Lopes, that the shipment was on transit to Nairobi, he was contacted by a person purporting to be from Kenya Revenue Authority a few days after.
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.
He became suspicious and sought the assistance of our detectives, who immediately moved in and recovered the consignment at JKIA.
However upon inspection, what was supposed to be gold worth over Sh190 million was discovered to be river bed pebbles, neatly arranged in a box!
Hezbon Nyabola has since been placed in custody, pending arraignment in court, for obtaining money by false pretenses.
File image of Hezbon Nyabola. |Courtesy| Twitter|
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