Visa Fraud Ring Busted: Woman Arrested for Scamming Moroccan Immigrants

According to the statements of a plaintiff who had advanced 50,000 dirhams, a WhatsApp message bearing the visual identity of the Italian Ministry of the Interior reached her with the list of people admitted to the immigration interview in Rome.

Taken to the Italian consulate in Casablanca by the main accused, an Italian national, the young woman was given a summons with the date of the reception of the candidates. On site, she was surprised to learn that her name was not on the list and that she was holding a false document.

The preliminary investigation in her neighborhood allowed to find the Italian’s intermediary, a young woman who ensured the contact with the victims in Morocco. Three passports were seized at her home as well as a large sum of money.

Among the victims who presented themselves at the police station, three said they had given her amounts of 20,000, 16,000 and 13,000 dirhams for obtaining visas for Spain and the United Arab Emirates.

A national arrest warrant has been issued against the mastermind of this criminal network’s operations, while the accused has been placed in pre-trial detention in the local prison of Kenitra.