For the past years, The
In 2021, Foroyaa investigation revealed that a large number of Gambians were scammed by Qnet, a registered online marketing institution operating in the country. However, many Gambians, especially the young ones, had also allegedly been scammed by online marabous called 'Mallams' while some became victims of online sex scams.
Last week, another alleged incident of scamming activity was reported. This involved Indian nationals who were running
The police announced they apprehended five people for being allegedly involved in the suspected online scamming on
Salakor Davies, a victim and resident of Salagi, shared his frustration and disappointment, saying he was motivated by a friend to join the
He said: "At first, it was a free internship where we used to receive D40. Later on, we were asked to pay for the tutor and captain level. The issue of payment made me think twice because I didn't trust it. It later became popular and many people were joining, so I decided to join. I then paid for tutor level, costing D2900. That was my first investment and I withdrew D3000 at the end of the month."
Because of his first withdrawal,
An anonymous victim told this medium that the incident became a nightmare for her. She borrowed money to invest in the deal without knowing it was a scam deal. She spent over D20, 000 without getting her money back.
"We have been fooled unexpectedly because some of us were motivated by our own trustees. I think they played an unnoticed game with us because the early investors received some amount of money. The rest is for the government to help us regain our money," she said.
"This is not the first time such is happening and there could be another group that can surface, but the possible way of solving the problem is through an internet awareness campaign," she suggested.
Chairperson Secka faults the government's business registration mechanism, saying the
"The police should use the law against the perpetrators in order to hold them accountable. The scam group was not alone because we had lots of Gambians who supported them. They should be punished so that any person supporting a business that wants to establish in the country will do a thorough background check to ensure there is no scam," she added, while urging young people who want to explore the internet market to seek advice from experts.
She stated that one of the reasons she built a keen interest in digital marketing and communications is to broaden her knowledge on internet businesses and their mode of operations and to share with local businesses the knowledge she gained.
"The trick scammers use is that they do troll the internet to create a relationship with their victims and once they gain their victim's trust, the scammer can be very clear and deceptive. These fraudulent activities have been ongoing and people still fall victim to these cheap ideas of investing and withdrawing cash weekly. Such occurrences depict how desperate many are to gain wealth within a short period without much effort," she said.
She went on to say that in the world of Digital Marketing, people are advised to verify websites (padlock icon) and companies before doing any business or transactions. She advised that if someone offers something that looks too good to be true, it is important to verify and fact-check before venturing.
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