For the past years, The Gambia has become a destination for internet scamming with scammers having allegedly wiped out millions of poor people's money who were in search of online jobs due to the limited employment opportunities in the country.
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 AL Group Multimedia Company Limited registered General Merchandise, Import & Export, Online Marketing, Communication and Media Relations Agency business in The Gambia.
The police announced they apprehended five people for being allegedly involved in the suspected online scamming on 23rd August 2023. Police further stated that 33 cases have been reported to the GPF Fraud Unit at the police headquarters in Banjul, while adding that investigations revealed that over D1 million had been invested in the alleged scam by the unsuspecting victims, through a Binance Wallet Address belonging to the main suspected scammers.
Salakor Davies, a victim and resident of Salagi, shared his frustration and disappointment, saying he was motivated by a friend to join the AL Group online marketing in April 2023.
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, Mr. Davies had the courage to pay D9000 for the captain. He added: "I started bringing people and expected to get all investment back. I was earning D400 per day and when I tried to withdraw D5600 a week before, I couldn't. That was the same day scammers closed their accounts."
Mr. Davies, whose hopes were scattered, said he thought it was a side hustle to help his family, noting that the Gambian salary is not enough to take care of one's needs. "I take care of a family and I have a son," he said, while calling for government's intervention. He said one of his friends invested over D27,000 without getting his money back.
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.
Isatou M. Secka, youth activist and Kanifing Municipal Youth chairperson, in an interview, explained that most of the people scammed are young entrepreneurs who work daily to invest in ensuring that they have more. She added that looking at the plans and ambitions young people have, most of them want to expand their businesses, while emphasising that if there were more jobs or opportunities for young people, things wouldn't have turned this way.
"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 AL Group's business registration is the main reason why a lot of young people fell into their traps. He further told this medium that registering a business in The Gambia is too easy and cheap, advising it could be handled better.
"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.
Mariama Faal, a trainer on digital marketing and communications, shared her thoughts with this medium, saying the use of modern technology has so many advantages, but many use it as a tool to scam people.
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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.
