My fake news whodunnit: Caught up in a Senegal fake news scam
By Michelle Madsen Investigative journalistImage copyright George Wafula/BBC
I stepped out of a dance class in North London on a sunny day last January to find a string of missed calls from African phone numbers.
I had no idea what this was about - so I checked my inbox and Facebook and Twitter - there were hundreds of messages all asking me the same thing - was I "Michelle Damsen", the author of a mysterious news story at the centre of a media storm in Senegal?
"A corruption scandal is shaking my country and your name has been mentioned."
"We are very worried since we have seen an article supposed to be written by you."
"I am a Senegalese journalist and I definitely need to talk to you!"
Image copyright George Wafula/BBC
They all wanted to know if I had written an article titled "The challenges of exploiting natural resources in Africa", which appeared on an obscure Ghanaian news website, Modern Ghana, on 9 January 2019.
The story accused Senegalese opposition presidential candidate Ousmane Sonko of taking a massive bribe from a European oil company and was authored by "Michelle Damsen", a name just two letters off my own - Michelle Madsen.
This was just a few weeks ahead of the Senegalese presidential election and Mr Sonko was one of the main challengers to President Macky Sall.
As a freelance investigative journalist with a background in uncovering corruption in the resource industry in West Africa, I have written several stories about Senegal and oil companies.
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