Fraud and Identity Theft in North Africa

Three recent news reports (translated from French) provide examples of fraud and identity theft affecting North African countries:
- Le Temps d'Algérie, April 11: According to information received from the Wilaya de Annaba detachment of the Algerian National Gendarmerie, police uncovered a recent scheme involving misuse of current postal accounts.  An individual reportedly withdrew 174 million centimes from the postal account of D.N., a 67-year-old doctor, using a fraudulent check and a form of false identification.  Police questioned the reported author of the scheme, M.R., a 57-year-old man, who had obtained a checkbook of postal checks from the El Kala post and telecommunications bureau, and falsified a driver's license in the victim's name.  Police also found that the postmaster of that post office, Dj. D., a 49-year-old man, had participated in the falsification.  They arrested M.R. just when he was preparing to take money again, as well as a third participant, A.W., a 42-year-old man, who was an accomplice in and a financial beneficiary from the scheme.  A fourth person, Y.L., a 46-year-old man, who was a former postal inspector in the Amirouche post office in Annaba, was reportedly a fugitive.  Police presented the local tribunal's Public Prosecutor with the interrogation of the El Kala postmaster for charges of forgery and use of forgery, impersonation, and theft in the amount of 174 million centimes.  One defendant was placed under a committal order and the others, including the postmaster, were placed on bail.
- Oeil d'Afrique, April 21: According to this report, four Subsaharan Africans, one a woman, were recently arrested in Machrâa Belaksiri in Sidi Kacem province for having attempted to defraud a young man.  The young man had been chatting with a young Ivorian woman who pretended to be the daughter of a leading businessman who was killed during the Ivory Coast civil war, and who had urged her to flee the country with a substantial sum equivalent to 10 million Moroccan dirhams (US $1.178 million).  As is typical of "back money" schemes, the woman told the young man that the notes were stained black and had to be cleaned with a chemical that "unfortunately" could not be found in Morocco.  The Ivorian "girl" proposed that she could help the young man to buy the chemical for just 25 percent of the 10 million dirhams.  They then set up a meeting and two days later, the Ivorian met the young man with three other "Subsaharans", all from Conakry in Guinea.  In that meeting, the four Africans insisted that the young man pay 300,000 dirhams to buy the chemical.  The young man, however, became suspicious and filed a complaint with the police, who apprehended the four Africans.
- Le Temps d'Algérie, April 28: According to a police communiqué, the Sidi Bel Abbes security service questioned a young man employed by a private firm about the theft of a check for 500,000 dinars (equivalent at the time to about US $6,720) that belonged to his director general.  The communiqué also  noted that the employee had used the identity card of his friend, a young university student, to falsify his identity to withdraw money.  The employee was arrested for theft, forgery and use of forgery, and impersonation and imprisoned at the Sidi Bel Abbes public prosecutor's office.