Detectives Arrest Kenyan Woman Who Conned Foreigner of Sh300 Million in Fake Gold Scam

Detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) have arrested a woman accused of defrauding a foreigner of Sh300 million in a fake gold scam.

Pauline Adhiambo Odok, alias Rose Omamo, who has been on the run since May last year, was apprehended on Thursday at Ololua, Dam Estate.

Adhiambo is said to have been masquerading as a relative of a senior government official to earn the trust of her potential victims.

She allegedly deceived Southorn Chanthavong, a director of Simong Group Company based in Lao to believe that she was in a position to sell him gold.

Together with her accomplices, Adhiambo lured the foreigner to an office in Kileleshwa’s affluent Kaputei gardens, where they showed him genuine gold bars in heavy metal boxes and immediately struck a deal.

A flurry of meetings then took place between 8th and 25th May 2019, after which the victim paid Sh300 million for an undisclosed quantity of gold. The consignment was to be delivered to his home country in Lao.

"It is after he had parted with the money being payment for the consignment, that things started going south. Chanthavong, who had been told to wait for his shipment in Lao realized that he had been conned after being taken on a wild goose chase for weeks when the shipment failed to arrive,” the DCI says.

“Immediately the victim reported the matter to detectives, Pauline went into hiding prompting a warrant for her arrest to be issued in January 2020.” 

DCI sleuths nabbed Adhiambo in Ololua following a tip-off from a member of the public. She was placed in custody pending arraignment to answer charges of fraud.