Massive WhatsApp Scam Dupes Moroccan Expats in 9.5 Million Dirham Aid Fraud

It all started with a suspicion raised by an executive of a major banking group. He detected an anomaly after examining transfers from abroad credited to certain accounts with no clear link between the senders and the beneficiaries. They discussed it with their counterparts from three other banking groups. Suspicions grew. They discovered that "several similar operations, with significant amounts, were flowing from specific European countries to newly opened Moroccan accounts," reports Assabah.

These suspicious movements led the institutions concerned to seize the National Financial Intelligence Processing Unit (CN-TIF). It immediately launched a thorough investigation, in coordination with the financial control cells of several European countries, including France, Italy, Spain, Austria, the Netherlands and Belgium. The investigation reveals that these transfers were made by Moroccans residing in Europe who thought they were responding to humanitarian aid appeals relayed on messaging apps like WhatsApp, Telegram or Messenger.

In reality, it is a vast humanitarian aid scam orchestrated by a network of fraudsters. Their modus operandi is to recruit people in precarious situations, have them open bank accounts by promising them donations. Then the network takes possession of the bank cards to divert the money. The real beneficiaries only get a tiny fraction of the funds sent. The fraudsters even went as far as to record and distribute videos in which the alleged beneficiaries thanked the donors.

The transfers identified in this case amount to 9.5 million dirhams. A criminal investigation has been opened to identify and arrest the members of this criminal network.