France: Three Algerian women defrauded by a fake Moroccan marabout

Three Algerian nationals have been victims of an incredible fraud case in the town of Châtellerault, in western France. According to the regional daily La Nouvelle République, which gave the information on June 25, the three women, aged 57, 62 and 64, were victims of a particular scam in the middle of town and in broad daylight.

In fact, this case mixes scam, paralyzing substance and hypnosis. This practice is called the “samaoui” scam, which is very common in Morocco and generally targets women. According to the same source, the information was revealed the day before during a hearing before the criminal court of Poitiers, about 40 kilometers south-west of Châtellerault. Three people from Casablanca, Morocco, and living in Belgium, appeared two days after being apprehended.

Even if the trial was postponed to the beginning of July, following a request from the defence, the magistrates did not want to take risks and offer provisional release to the three alleged crooks. Saadia, 53, Adil, 49, and Mustapha, 55, will await trial at the Poitiers Vivonne penitentiary center. It is that for the judges, there is a “risk of renewal of the infringement”.

The three accused of “samaoui” scam detained

Indeed, the magistrates did not hesitate to follow the recommendations of the Poitiers public prosecutor’s office, which did not fail to warn against the particular mobility of the accused. “They were arrested thanks to a combination of circumstances. They are particularly mobile, they stole 5,000 euros in two days without counting the resale of the jewelry planned. They are known and implicated in various cases.

The modus operandi is always the same, according to the testimony of the victims and especially of a lawyer from Tourcoing, in the north of France, who specialized in cases of the “samaoui” scam. The three Algerian women were arrested in the street by Adil, according to their testimony before the judge.

The victims, in a trance, complied without flinching

“He asked where the new mosque was. And then the woman [Saadia, NDLR] arrived dressed in a jilbeb (Islamic attire) while limping with a cane. He told her his future in front of me. She pretended to be surprised and trembling. He then gave me an oval white stone asking me to hold it for two minutes. When I opened my hand, the stone was black. I was in a trance,” said one of the three victims.

The individual will take advantage of the weakness of his victims to ask them to bring back money and jewelry from their homes. Each time he does this with a woman, she complies without flinching, as if they were hypnotized. According to the New Republic, a victim will give his “executioner” the sum of 2,000 euros while the second will give him 2,400 euros. The third and last will only bring back 200 euros, but Adil will ask him to withdraw 500 euros from the bank. And this, not to mention the gold jewelry that the victims gave to the scammer.