Gold bars.
Nairobi businessman Abdi Mohammed treasures gold, but the precious metal is now tormenting him.
In December 2023, he met three ‘gold merchants’ who promised to fulfil his heart’s desires by selling him a few grams of gold to add to his wealth.
He made a deal with the three merchants and they assured him of the precious metal from the Democratic Republic of Congo. He withdrew Sh2 million from his bank account and handed it over to the merchants after a meeting in Eastleigh, Nairobi.
Later in April of the following year, he received a phone call from a foreign number, and the caller informed him that the consignment was ready for delivery from the DRC.
They sent him a sealed envelope, supposedly containing the gold nuggets, but upon opening, he found the alleged imported consignment was salt.
Last week, he narrated his encounter with the suspect gold merchants to a magistrate court in Milimani. Mr Kevin Mwachi, Mr Morgan Asengi, and Mr Mohamed Hassan are facing criminal charges of conspiring to defraud and obtaining Sh2 million from the businessman through pretense.
He is among many victims who have lost money to fake gold merchants in Nairobi.
Increased scams
The city’s strategic position on the continent is not only increasingly attracting global investors but also scammers of precious metals, who are working with locals posing as gold merchants.
Their main targets are foreigners, who have continued to fall prey to the fake merchants operating in Nairobi’s high-end estates where they have well-furnished offices fitted with modern technology communication devices and golden-coated equipment.
They even have fake government documents with the logo of the Ministry of Mining, dust coats, helmets and job cards as well as samples of gold bars.
In the past six months, at least 20 people, both Kenyan and foreign nationals, have been arraigned at the Milimani magistrates' court over mega gold scams with a combined financial value of at least Sh5 billion.
The Milimani Law Courts in Nairobi.
One of the ongoing cases involves representatives of gold traders from Dubai who were supplied with stones instead of gold after closing a Sh70 million deal in Nairobi.
The accused are three Congolese, Nfundiko Kamira Jean Marie, Peter Lukabaya Mulamba and Ibrahim Nsangou and three Kenyans -Alan Zaphenia Onyango, Edward Leonard Ochieng, Shem Omollo Onyango.
They are facing allegations of obtaining $546,000 (Sh70 million) from Mr Ramadhan Suleiman Mohamed and Mr George William Betoka, who were representatives of an unnamed trader based in Dubai.
Also Read: Two in Sh15.9bn fake gold scam freed on bail
The deal involved the sale of 150 kilograms of gold and cash paid between March 6 and 10, 2025. The parties recorded the business deal in a video as evidence of the transaction. The purchasers were then issued with receipts.
It is alleged that the offence was committed between March 6 and 10, 2025, at Spring Valley and Muthaiga areas in Nairobi city.
Police investigator Leah Ambiche told court that the suspects had six metallic boxes with nuggets purported to be gold weighing 305 kilograms, two weighing machines and an electronic gold tester gun.
She said that the representatives of the buyers were even taken to the offices of the Ministry of Mining where the sample was tested.
Later the complainant was given seven kilograms of gold as collateral which they were advised to keep at Mysafe Place in Sarit Centre. Both parties were given the key to the safe.
The buyers agreed to purchase the commodity for $65,000 per kilogram and they were shown gold samples at a residence in Muthaiga, Nairobi, where Mr Marie was actively involved in the sampling process and Mr Onyango was the mining official from the Ministry of Mining.
The complainants were then introduced to Kristal Commodities Group, which was to prepare paperwork for shipping the gold consignment to Dubai.
The officer said Mr Marie was to fly the gold consignment to Dubai to be received by the buyer. However, the gold did not get to Dubai and the buyers also did not find their collateral deposited at Mysafe Sarit. Instead, they found stones.
Fake branding
The buyers lured the suspects with another deal. They reached out to Mr Marie with a new business proposal of purchasing 500 kilograms of gold. The matter was reported to regional DCI offices, leading to the arrest.
In the second deal, the complainant had been issued with an invoice from SKR Logistics Limited for Sh2.6 million on April 17, 2025.
They also had an electronic gold tester gun, six metallic boxes with nuggets purported to be gold weighing 305 kilograms, two weighing machines, and dust coat branded ministry of Mining and job cards from the ministry indicating employment numbers.
They had documents bearing the ministry’s logo, yellow numerical seals, a white helmet and unidentified liquid in a jerrican.
More scams
Another case involves a suspect gold merchant who presented himself as a government officer attached to the ministry of Mining, Blue Economy and Maritime Services to close a $200,000 (Sh25.8 million) deal with a foreign company, Voltex Commercial Trading Limited.
The company intended to buy 150 kilograms of gold.
Mr Ibrahim Mohamed is alleged to have passed himself as a government official working at the Directorate of Geological Surveys and Geo Information Management, as he closed a deal on sale of the precious metals. The offence was committed in April and May 2025 in the Runda estate, Nairobi.
It is alleged that together with three others, Felix Odhiambo, Derrick Omoke, and Moses Odhiambo, they obtained the cash but failed to deliver the promised gold.
The $200,000 was a deposit to cover export-related costs, including retaining and storage of the commodity.
The police said the parties mutually agreed that the buying price of gold was $63,000 per kilogram.
Fake gold bars seized by detectives from the DCI at The Plan 254 Club in Kilimani, Nairobi. PHOTO | COURTESY
The buyer was given 3.5 kilograms of gold as collateral and was stored in a safe at an apartment in Runda and each party was given a key. When the buyers went back a few days later to check the collateral, they found a different package.
He reported to the police and planned for another business deal, leading to the arrest of the suspects.
The four accused persons were also charged with possession of 25 yellowish metallic bars purported to be gold, a weighing machine, an electronic gold tester gun and assorted business documents related to customs and geology bearing the logo from the Ministry of Mining.
The charge sheet further shows they had an unidentified liquid in two small plastic bottles, believed to be used in convincing clueless gold buyers. The suspects are out on a cash bail of Sh500,000 pending the trial.
A scrutiny of the court cases shows that most of the gold scammers have establishments situated in the high-end city estates, including Karen, Kilimani, Westlands, Muthaiga and Runda.
The scammers have seals, professional-looking documents, fake gold bars and stamps that appear official to hoodwink potential buyers.
Awed by the profile of the fake sellers, the location of offices and confidence, the clueless buyers end up parting with deposits to commence the deal only for the scammers to disappear or supply fake metals. The illicit gold trade has been thriving over the years and at some point roping prominent persons.
Though Kenya is the largest economy in East Africa, its gold mining industry is largely characterized by Artisanal and Small-scale Gold Mining (ASGM). The sector contributes a paltry one percent to the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The rising criminal cases have left observers asking why foreigners travel to Kenya to buy gold instead of going to other African countries with higher gold reserves.
We also came across the case of another Congolese national, who was charged in April this year alongside three Kenyans for defrauding a Briton national $1.2 million (Sh164 million) in a fake gold deal involving the sale of 2,820 kilograms.
The Congolese, Mr Erick Kalala Mutendi, is alleged to have conspired with Emmanuel Wafula, Willy Kiplimo and Ronald Osonga to steal from Mr Tanner Caldwell by pretending that he would supply him with the gold.
Mr Caldwell, through his company Aurumsic One LLc entered into a sales and purchase agreement with the seller company, Aero Logistics, for the sale of 2,820 kilograms of gold in which he ended up paying an amount of $1,271,200.
The transaction was executed between March 31, 2024 and May 30, 2024 in Nairobi city. The victim had travelled from Nevada, Las Vegas, USA.
They had been charged alongside a US citizen Mr Sergio Patrick Antonucci, who was dropped from the case. The case is pending trial.
Another recent case involves a Congolese national arrested last month at the Namanga border attempting to flee the country amid a probe on an alleged fraud involving 500 kilograms of gold. The offence was reported to the authorities in December 2024 at Capitol Hill Police station.
Police believe the foreigner, Mr Muderwa Abedi alias Banambaya Kapapa Emery, could be part of a syndicate dealing with counterfeit minerals and targeting foreign nationals.
He was accused of attempting to defraud a person named Mr Florian Vasile Romania, claiming that Mr Abedi attempted to defraud him by purporting to be in a position to sell him 500 kilos of gold.
