Thirty-one notorious city fraudsters who defrauded two Dubai-based businessmen over Sh7million (USD 54,300) in a fake gold scam have been detained till tomorrow.
The suspects connected to the scamming web in Runda, Ridgeways and Industrial Area parts of Nairobi were arraigned in court and detained pending bail ruling.
They are said to have been masquerading as genuine dealers in the precious metal, the suspects had on diverse dates in September, 2024 paraded coated off base metals to hoodwink and lure the two foreigners into a business deal, thereafter holing up with the thousands of dollars.
After making several trips to the country and into the opulent offices in which the scammers operated, the victims grew suspicious of the excuses made on why the 35kg of gold they had bought was not being exported to Dubai as agreed, thereby reporting the suspected fraud at DCI.
While appearing before Senior Principal Magistrate Dolphina Alego yesterday, the suspects lead by Josephine Okong’o,Mercy Atieno, Brenda Nekesa, Mercy Awuor, Brian Ochieng among others denied all the charges.
Court was informed that they committed the offense on August 24,2024 and October 19,2024 at Nairobi pretending that they would sell 35kgs of Gold to Integrous Gold and Diamond Trading LLC.
They are said to have scammed businessmen Sonali Purbia Malvinas and Mohamed Adel.
In the second count, the two were charged with obtaining the said money by false pretenses against the law and in the last count they were charged with being in possession of papers intended to resemble and pass as currency notes.
They are accused that on November 5,2024 at House Number 581, Glory Valley within Runda Estate, they had in their possession papers resembling US 2,500 in twenty-five, one hundred denominations bearing the same serial number as the originals but knowing they were fake.
The defense pleaded with the court to be granted lenient terms but the prosecution opposed.
Magistrate Alego will rule today on whether to have them released on bail terms.
