Thika residents attack and flush out conmen guised as roadside mobile phone and SIM card agents.
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| A curious crowd gather near Thika Telcom Shop at the spot where a group of conmen were flushed out by angry wananchi who could not stand them swindling innocent wananchi off their hard earned money. |
As usual, it was booming business for the unsuspecting
conmen who numbered about 20 as the strategically stood at various positions
along Commercial Street near the Thika Telcom Shop.
One by one, they waylaid innocent wananchi as they walked to
their different destination and lured them to a particular vehicle that was
parked at the parking lot.
Upon arriving at the scene, the victims would be convinced
that these were genuine company agents who were selling mobile phones and
tablets on promotion and those who were interested would be entered into a
raffle draw that they are to win very great prices.
Once the victims were convinced, they are presented with fake
raffle tickets and asked to open for them to see their prize item.
“They tell that you will not pay anything if you do not win
any prize but all these tickets have a prize inscribed inside and therefore no
matter what, they will demand money from you in exchange to your prize item,”
explained one woman in her 40s who complained to have lost sh. 7,000 in
exchange for a tablet worth sh. 15,000.
It was in this state of business that a group of youth blowing
whistles raided the place and flashed the conmen out.
Pandemonium broke as everyone scampered for safety fearing
the worst.
Upon checking on the merchandise being sold to the people,
none of them had any phone inside and those that had, contained faulty phones.
Was it not for the intervention of some neighbouring
traders, the vehicle in question would have be set on fire by irate public who
complained of suffering for a very long time in the hands of these fraudsters.
According to the people conversant to the affairs of these
conmen, these fraudsters have set camp in the area for the last one month. They
claim that they operate under police protection who occasionally went there to
collect “protection fee”.
“In fact today there has been three sets of police officers
who have come here and collected money from these people. They are also
protected by the county government (of Kiambu) officials who have given them
licences to con people,” explained on trader who operates in that vicinity.
He added that a woman yesterday lost sh. 15,000 to this
group as she received an empty box as a token prize of a tablet.
The residents have vowed that the next time these conmen set
camp in Thika, they would lynch them and set their vehicle on fire.
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| The fraudsters along with some of their victims scamper for safety as the youth raided their vehicle along Commercial street Thika. |
“Since the police and the county government have failed to
protect us from daylight thugs like these once, we will not spare them next
time. Thika will never be a safe haven for criminals who swindle our elderly
parents their hard earned money,” vowed another young man who claim that his
own mother has been a victim.
For a long time, these fraudsters have infiltrated Thika
town, mostly targeting visitors from upcountry who come to town either for
shopping, to pay school fees or withdraw money from the bank.
They set camp on busy streets frequented by upcountry
people, especially near banks and financial institutions as well as supermarkets.
They are usually very smartly dressed and at times in
uniform and have branded receipt books and books “to register their clients who
buy SIM Cards’.
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