In Cameroon: A new victim of con artist who preys on gays

Colin Stewart is a 45-year journalism veteran living in Southern…

Despite warnings issued for the past four years by gay activist groups, a con artist who passes himself off as a gay man on the Internet continues to trap gay men with the help of accomplices posing as police. Here is an account from one of the latest victims of Albert Edward Ekobo Samba:

I was also a victim of this man who is passes himself off as a police officer in Yaoundé

We met on a gay website (Planet). We exchanged contact information and, after several days of exchanging text messages, we fixed on an appointment. <span title=”Puis vers 13h, j’ai reçu un appel venant de lui qu’il était déjà au lieu de rendez-vous.

“>Then around 1 p.m. on that day, I got a call from him that he was already there.<span title=”Puis vers 13h, j’ai reçu un appel venant de lui qu’il était déjà au lieu de rendez-vous.

“>

Fifteen minutes after I arrived at a place, he greeted me and took me for a walk because I was new in the area. <span title=”Après trente minutes de dialogue, il me dit qu’il est un agent de police et que son rôle est d’arrêter les homos.

I sang in the choir, frequented a gay bar and it landed me in prison

“>After thirty minutes of dialogue, he said he was a police officer and that it was his job to arrest homosexuals.

He began to ask me questions: Why I’m gay? Who are my parents? Where do they live? etc. Then he said he would take me to the police station to answer for my homosexual acts. I was distraught.

He offered to strike a deal that would let me avoid prison. He got my two phones, 55,000 CFA francs [84 euros, US $ 93], and my jewelry. Then his friends joined him. They gave me a serious beating. Afterwards, they got into their gray cars and left. That’s how it happened.