Fraud -An Indian is counting loses after he was duped into a fake gold supply deal that saw him part with sh 200 million before dispatch.
In the deal was a Kenyan Hezbon Nyabola with a Guinea Bissau national Cavalho Lopes who is still at large.
The Kenyan suspect Mr. Nyabola reportedly masqueraded as a Kenya Revenue Authority KRA official, according to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations DCI, so as to receive more cash from the Indian investor.
The DCI established that the agreement among the two parties required the suppliers to dispatch 44.45 kg of gold valued at $1,780,000 an equivalent of sh 195.8 million.
And after the Indian had paid the required cash, the Kenyan Nyabola made a call again to the investor claiming that the shipment had been confiscated and detained at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport JKIA for custom related issues.
“The caller identified as Hezbon Nyabola, informed him that his consignment, Airway Bill No706-27720626 had been detained at JKIA for nonpayment of customs duty. As a result, Sanjay sent him, a further $26,700 (Ksh.2.9 million) to clear the consignment and facilitate its shipment,” said the DCI.
DCI further unearthed that all along, the investor had not realized that he had been scammed until the gold failed to arrive in his country within the set period of time. He then became suspicious and sought an urgent help from their officers who moved with speed to recover the consignment.
It was during the inspection exercises that they noticed the said consignment was of mere river bed pebbles neatly arranged in a box and not the gold.
Hezbon has since been detained by police and could be charged for obtaining money by false presence.
There has been increased cases of scam in the country including the fake money deals commonly referred to as ‘wash wash’ which the DCI has promised to bring bring to a stop.
