A joint operation consisting of police drawn from Langata Sub-county has led to the arrest of a suspect in connection with a fraudulent gold scam involving a Pakistani national.
The fake gold dealer identified as Stephen Magero was arrested at Sultan Suites, Ngong View Estate, following investigations into a complaint filed by the foreign national who reported being defrauded of USD 34,800 (Sh4.4 million).
Investigations have revealed that the suspect presented the complainant with 500 grams of counterfeit gold and received the payment in cash, police said.
Subsequent testing of the gold revealed it to be fake, prompting the complainant to report the matter at Karen Police Station.
A search conducted at the suspect’s office resulted to the recovery of ten bars of suspected fake gold, business cards bearing the name John Mbalaka, a MacBook Pro laptop, smelting machines and related apparatus, a mining certificate under the name Chawanda Minerals, a weighing machine, two plastic boxes containing sand and several assorted files and documents.
He was detained pending arraignment on September 8, 2025 in Nairobi.
This is the latest such an arrest to take place amid operations on gold scammers 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 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.
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