Land sold via WhatsApp: how a blind broker acted as bait

The Pikine-Guédiawaye court of summary jurisdiction sentenced G. Niang, a broker, to two years in prison, six months of which are to be served, for complicity in fraud. In its report of the hearing, which it attended, L'Observateur notes that the defendant was acquitted of the charge of criminal conspiracy, but that his criminal responsibility in this real estate fraud case was fully upheld. His alleged accomplice, a certain Imam M. Cissé, remains at large.

Niang operated as a real estate broker from his home in Guédiawaye. In court, the victims' testimonies revealed his modus operandi: he regularly posted advertisements on his WhatsApp statuses offering land in Lac Rose, Keur Massar, and Tivaouane Peul. According to the plaintiffs, despite his visual impairment, the broker played a central and particularly active role. Once clients were hooked by his posts, he skillfully managed contacts, orchestrated site visits with guides, reassured buyers about the validity of the administrative documents, and directed them to his alleged accomplice to finalize the transactions. The victims were all unequivocal before the judges: his visual impairment in no way prevented him from perfectly managing the business and the network.

Before the magistrates, the parade of victims revealed the extent of the financial loss. The plaintiff, I. Ndao, explained that he had given 2.75 million CFA francs to Imam M. Cissé, in Niang's presence, after visiting a plot of land in Keur Massar. The promised transfer of ownership never materialized, and he later discovered that the land already belonged to another buyer.

Similarly, according to the newspaper of the Future Media Group, the Nd. B. Ndiaye couple, seduced by the broker's WhatsApp messages, paid a total of 3.5 million for documents that turned out to be forgeries. Finally, Nd. B. Sylla, who had attended the same religious association as G. Niang for nearly twenty years, recounted being swindled out of 3 million for a plot of land in Tivaouane Peul, the papers for which were supposedly "in the process of being regularized."

In his defense, Niang maintained in court that he himself was a victim of Imam M. Cissé. He claimed to have bought two plots of land from him for 3.5 million CFA francs but never received ownership, specifying that he had filed a complaint against him several months before the other victims. His lawyers attempted to use his physical vulnerability to plead good faith, asserting that he was merely an intermediary deceived by a notorious swindler. However, the court only accepted this argument regarding the charge of criminal conspiracy. Found guilty of complicity in fraud, Niang will have to pay, in addition to his prison sentence, 4 million CFA francs in damages to I. Ndao and 5 million CFA francs to Nd. B. Sylla. The civil damages claimed by Nd. B. Ndiaye's husband were reserved.