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Rabat – Judiciary police in Rabat, in collaboration with El Jadida authorities, have arrested a repeat offender for his alleged involvement in a case of fraud and impersonation of a police officer.
Morocco’s General Directorate for Territorial Surveillance (DGST) provided the police with precise information that led to the arrest on Thursday, January 23, says a press release from the General Directorate of National Security (DGSN).
The suspect, aged 41, was the subject of several national arrest warrants. He allegedly impersonated police officers and telephoned his victims, falsely claiming that he could release their detained family members in return for a sum of money.
After DGST’s alert, authorities identified the suspect in the city of El Jadida, about 100 kilometers south of Casablanca, and made the arrest.
Search operations following the arrest led to the seizure of two mobile phones and a batch of SIM cards used to communicate with the victims.
Authorities put the suspect in custody, pending investigation.
According to Morocco’s penal code, the suspect could face up to ten years in prison.
In October 2019, a report from DGSN revealed that the directorate recorded 2,285 cases of scam or fraud in 2018, which led to the arrest of 3,136 suspects.
Around 47% of the recorded cases concerned fake migration opportunities, while 18% were fake job offers. Additionally, online scams represented 9% of the cases.
The directorate also reported that the number of scam and fraud cases increased by 25% between 2015 and 2018.
The report stated that there are numerous types of fraud in Morocco. Fake advertisements, invalid cheques, and lotteries are among the most common scams.
People who commit these crimes usually contact their victims either directly, by phone, email, or on websites designed specifically to retrieve sensitive information from the victims.
Despite the rising number of scam cases, DGSN assured that they have teams trained to investigate and deal with such cases, along with technological tools that help to arrest the suspects.
