The Grand-Yoff district police station has put an end to the activities of a pair of con artists who were impersonating police officers and gendarmes to scam online merchants. The two individuals were arrested last Friday.

The individuals arrested are A. Guèye, a 21-year-old student residing in Scat Urbam, and S. Sidibé, a 22-year-old delivery driver residing in HLM Grand-Yoff. They were arrested for conspiracy, fraud, and impersonating police officers and gendarmes, according to Seneweb sources.

This arrest follows multiple complaints from A. Ndour, H. Diop, M. Thiam, M. Ndiaye, A. Sakho and M. Cissé, all traders specializing in the sale of shoes, mainly online.

During their hearings, the plaintiffs stated that they had all been scammed by two individuals who regularly had shoe orders delivered to HLM Grand-Yoff or Scat Urbam.

A well-established modus operandi

The scammers' modus operandi was perfectly elaborate. They placed orders by telephone from various online commercial publications, presenting themselves as police officers or gendarmes on duty at the Foire brigade or the Parcelles-Assainies police station.

Upon receiving the package, one of them would hand over an envelope containing blank sheets of paper. He would then ask the delivery driver to continue the route and drop off the envelope at the Foire police station or the Parcelles-Assainies police station, where he was supposed to collect payment for the goods and the delivery from a certain gendarme named Sow or a police officer named Diop. After the driver left, the scammers would disappear and could not be contacted.

Police investigations led to the arrest of the suspects in an alley in the Scat Urbam district. During questioning, they admitted to the charges against them, stating that they had resold the shoes they received on the black market in Colobane and Patte d'Oie. The estimated losses incurred by the various merchants exceed 750,000 CFA francs.

The suspects have been taken into custody. The public prosecutor's office has been notified and the investigation is ongoing to determine if there are other victims of this pair of fraudsters.