Despite police warning foreigners to be wary of dubious gold syndicates, more aliens continue to fall into the trap of fraudsters.

The latest incident involved two Canadian nationals who were conned USD 37,500 (Sh4.8 million) by four men who posed as genuine gold dealers.

On realising they were being conned, the foreigners complained to the Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI), which deployed Operation Support Unit (OSU) detectives to track the four men.

Investigations led to the arrest of Patroba Odhiambo Tobias, Isaac Forkay Sleyon, Omong Ekoume Louis and Wadja Bangsi Tang who were found at their operation base in Gigiri suburbs along Whispers Avenue.

A search in the house led to the discovery of a gold smelting machine, an array of rubber stamps bearing the names of Alaska Express Freight Group Ltd, Longcrane Logistics Limited, and Kakan Traders and Company.

Also found were plastic seals, a weighing machine, and a cache of documents bearing stamp impressions from the East African Community, among other items believed to be used in facilitating gold scamming deals targeting foreigners.

Preliminary investigations revealed that Alaska Express Freight Group Ltd was the company that was used to swindle the two Canadian nationals.

Gigiri Sub County Police Commander Robert Ndambiri, declined to shed light on the incident saying the raid was conducted by a covert team from DCI headquarters.

Despite efforts by DCI to dismantle the fake gold syndicates, scammers continue to make Kenya a playground. In June 2024 while meeting FBI director Christopher Wray in Nairobi, DCI boss Mohammed Amin said his agency had dealt a big blow to the gold scammers commonly known as ‘wash wash’ gangs.

“We have had successful prosecutions, out of a total of 71 reported cases we were able to identify, arrest and prosecute 64 people, some Kenyans and others are foreigners,” said Amin.

The DCI boss said most victims come from medium-producing countries and the gangs have been using Kenya as a transit hub to carry out their operations, and that Kenyan scammers often collaborate with foreigners to scout for victims who are mostly foreigners.

He accused lawyers of being part of the scheme to legitimise the process and help launder the illicit money.

“These fraudsters do collaborate with some rogue lawyers and they open escrow accounts whereby the money is then withdrawn immediately from those accounts,” he said.

The precious metal is in high demand since it helps individuals in countries with economic sanctions trade without the US dollar.

According to DCI, the gold industry has weaker regulatory frameworks than those governing the use of reserve currencies like the dollar in the global banking system. Further, as the demand rises, so do the number of gold fraudsters deploying all manner of scams.

Fraudsters prefer Kenya because it lies along the transit hub for the illicit gold trade that entails smuggling gold from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to East African countries and finally to tax havens.

Foreigners take advantage of the instability and poor regulatory framework in DRC to purchase gold at a substantially lower price and re-sell it for massive profit in their home countries. Also, Kenya’s geopolitical position makes it a safer travel destination than the DRC.

As a result, says DCI, two parallel gold-related crimes are happening in the country – the illicit gold trade, which includes actual gold from the DRC, and the fake gold scams characterised by bogus gold exports that lure greedy foreigners seeking to make a quick fortune from the illicit gold trade.

“Alternatively, the gold grifters may employ the bait-and-switch scam, whereby they present real gold to their targets and switch it for fake gold without the buyer’s knowledge,” added DCI in April last year.