Two young men from Mali and Benin were brought before the Rufisque prosecutor's office this Tuesday for criminal conspiracy, fraud, and complicity in extortion. The accused, Yaya Coulibaly and Santos Hounnou, had orchestrated a scam involving the controversial company QNET, using the pretext of recruiting at the Teugueth FC football center.

According to Seneweb, the case arose following a complaint filed by Viviane Sossouhounto, a Beninese national passing through Rufisque, on behalf of Pedro Tossa, a young Beninese student in the second year of high school, the son of her late husband. According to the complainant, Pedro, 20, had been approached via social media by Santos Hounnou, who claimed to be a QNET agent based in Jaxaay. The latter allegedly promised him an opportunity at a Teugueth FC center allegedly linked to Manchester City and CAF, in exchange for a payment of 900,000 CFA francs, of which 500,000 CFA francs was paid as a deposit upon the young man's arrival in Dakar.

However, instead of a sports training center, Pedro ended up in an apartment in Jaxaay, where the scammers tried to convert him into a business selling products online, supposedly imported from Malaysia. However, when the young man expressed his wish to withdraw, his captors allegedly confiscated his phone and tried to force him to pay the remaining sum, 400,000 CFA francs.

Found thanks to geolocation...

In distress, Pedro managed to send his location to his aunt via WhatsApp. The latter immediately alerted the Rufisque Research Brigade, who arrested the two alleged scammers that evening. When questioned, Santos Hounnou, 20, admitted to having taken the money from Pedro, while claiming that the goal was to introduce him to an e-commerce business linked to QNET. He admits to deliberately using the promise of a future in football to pique his victim's interest. As for Yaya Coulibaly, 31, he denies any intention of fraud, stating that the 900,000 CFA francs mentioned were not an application fee, but an investment to access a "virtual store." Asked about the confusion between football promises and online commerce, he said: "Everyone has their own way of inviting their friends," he alleged.

In their investigation report, the men of Commissioner Demba Ngagne Tine consider that it is indeed a structured criminal association, operating under the cover of QNET, a company often cited in fraud cases.