Three arrested in Senegal for Bank of Africa fraud using fake Gendarmerie documents

Three individuals, Aichatou Fall, her sister Marie Antoinette Fall, and an IT specialist Mamadou Ndiaye, have been arrested by the Dakar Research Section for a multi-million FCFA fraud scheme targeting Bank of Africa. The group allegedly created a falsified application to secure bank loans, producing a fake irrevocable transfer certificate for over 56 million FCFA, purportedly from the National Gendarmerie. To make these documents appear credible, they used scanned stamps and signatures of high-ranking military officials. The bank, believing the documents to be authentic, granted two loans totaling 48.4 million FCFA. The fraud was uncovered when the promised transfer was never made, and subsequent checks with the Gendarmerie confirmed no financial commitment existed with the "Aicha Plus" entity. Aichatou Fall is identified as the operation's leader, Mamadou Ndiaye as the creator of the false documents, and Marie Antoinette Fall as the provider of sensitive elements like stamps and signatures. All three have been charged with criminal conspiracy, forgery and use of forged public and private commercial documents, as well as fraud and complicity. They have been placed under a committal order, and Bank of Africa has initiated civil proceedings to recover its financial losses. The investigation is ongoing.