19 Nigerians arrested in Nairobi over electronic fraud
Nineteen Nigerian nationals were on Saturday morning arrested in Umoja, Kasarani and Roysambu estates in Nairobi over suspected internet scam targeting Kenyan Facebook users.
The police and detectives involved in the swoop are however yet to reveal the charges the suspects will face nor how much money Kenyans have lost in the scam.
According to the Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) the scam starts with a simple Facebook friend request.
After their target accepts the seemingly harmless request, the fraudsters then initiate a friendly chat promising the victim goodies to be sent through DHL at the airport.
The fraudsters then follow up a day or thereafter by engaging the victim who receives a call from someone pretending to be an attendant at the DHL office asking for payment of clearance fees for the promised parcel.
If a target sends the money through M-Pesa, another call is made requesting for another payment for other documentation and taxes.
Once the payments are done, the fraudsters never pick their victims’ calls again.