At least 11 suspects were arrested after they had defrauded a foreign national of Sh68 million in a fake gold deal in Nairobi’s Spring Valley area.
The suspects were found in a house in the area on Tuesday April 29, 2025 evening in a police raid. Several kilos of fake gold bars were seized from the house the group has been operating from.
Nairobi police boss George Sedah said the victim had complained to them that he had been scammed out of US546,000 by a group that pretended to have more than 100 kilos of gold.
After several trips to the house for the gold, the foreigner realized he had been conned.
He then reported the matter, prompting a police raid.
Upon arrival, police said several suspects were found in different rooms and arrested.
They included Allan Zephaniah Onyango (Kenyan), Nicodemus Okoth (Kenyan), Nfundiko Kamira (Congolese), Phillip Onyango (Kenyan) and Elmad Ochola (Kenyan).
The others are Shem Omollo (Kenyan), Lukabaya Mulamba (Congolese), Ibrahim Nzamgou (Cameroonian), Mike Fouapon (Cameroonian), Innocent Yinga (Ugandan) and James Jeremiah Akumu (Kenyan).
Police said they found a weighing machine, an electronic gold tester (Tester Gun), assorted ministry of mining documents, dust coat with the ministry of mining logo, an unidentified liquid in a small plastic container, assorted seals and assorted empty metallic boxes
The group was detained ahead of planned arraignment.
This is the latest recovery of the fake gold being made in a series of police operations in the country.
Police say most of the suspects behind the incidents have been arrested and arraigned and their cases remain active in courts.
The operations have been mounted in the past years after many foreigners complained they had been scammed in the city.
Nairobi was increasingly turning to be the hub for the fake gold deals, which prompted the operations.
Police say they have dozens of cases of complaints from foreigners who say they had been conned by Kenyans pretending to be selling gold.
In efforts to address such incidents, the DCI had asked embassies in the country to join the fight against the vice by urging them to advise their nationals engaged in trade to follow procedures.
“We urge the Embassies (High Commissions) to advise their nationals coming in for business to be apprised of con business of gold going on in the country and first contact the Department of Mines and Geology for the procedure that pertains to buying and selling of gold and other precious metals,” the DCI said.
It has extended similar caution to Kenyans trading in the commodity to conduct proper due diligence and ascertain that the people they are dealing with are not fraudsters.
“The gold scam has now reached alarming levels as unsuspecting foreign nationals are being swindled large amounts of money by fraudsters.”
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