Disguised as legitimate network marketing businesses, the suspects lured vulnerable job-seekers with promises of high-paying positions overseas. Their scheme unraveled when gendarmerie forces intercepted their operations.

Thirteen individuals linked to a human trafficking and fraudulent recruitment syndicate operating under the guise of multi-level marketing companies were presented to the press on June 22, 2026, at the national gendarmerie headquarters in Yaoundé. The briefing was conducted by Atangana Fiacre Kisito, deputy director of the gendarmerie’s central coordination unit.

The network, which used names such as QNET, IGNITE, and UNIMEC, specifically targeted students, unemployed youth, and job applicants. Two ringleaders are believed to have fled to the Congo and the Central African Republic, while investigations continue across multiple Cameroonian cities.