Detectives in Kenya, have arrested 19 Nigerians living in Umoja, Kasarani and Roysambu Estates within Nairobi for engaging in electronic fraud targeting Kenyans.

The suspects who were arrested in the early hours of today, reportedly initiate their scam with a simple Facebook request. According to detectives, after a target accepts the seemingly harmless request, the fraudsters then initiate a friendly chat promising the victim goodies to be sent through DHL at the airport.

The victim who receives a call from someone pretending to be an attendant at the DHL office the next day or thereafter, will then be asked for payment of clearance fees for the promised parcel.

After the money is sent through M-Pesa, another call is made requesting for another payment for other documentation and taxes. Once the payments are done, the fraudsters never pick their victims calls again.

Few months, two Nigerian nationals were also arrested in Kenya for using fake Facebook accounts of prominent Kenyans, among them First Lady Margaret Kenyatta, to swindle unsuspecting victims of millions of shillings.