Sleuths from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) have busted a con syndicate that has swindled over Ksh200 Million from unsuspecting jobseekers.
According to DCI a Senior Sergeant at Langata Women Prison by the name Grace Nyamohanga, alias ‘Nasra’ runs the con scheme that was busted on Friday, May 21 and which has been in operation for 10 months.
“The rogue prison warder operates a mafia organization that recruits helpless jobseekers, with the promise of job opportunities in top government parastatals and government security agencies including, Kenya Defense Forces, National Intelligence Service & the National Police Service,” a Saturday, May 22 statement from the DCI said.
DCI further revealed that the syndicate operated by Nyamahonga had recruited jobseekers from different education fields with the promise of securing them employment opportunities.
“Among the dozens of fake offer letters in our possession that were seized from her house, the suspects have recruited jobseekers from across all levels of education and academic disciplines including graduates in Mathematics, Computer Science and Microbiology among others,” DCI said.
In a deliberate operation, the organization of con artists composed of prison warders recruited by Nyamahonga managed to con a woman off her Ksh800,000 in the promise of securing three of her children jobs.
The victim was lied to that her children would get jobs at the National Hospital Insurance Fund, Nairobi Metropolitan Services and the Kenya Ports Authority upon parting with the agreed sum of money.
“She was also offered appointment letters inviting her respective children to the said institutions, to take up positions that had allegedly fallen vacant.
“However, she became jittery on the authenticity of the appointments when the suspect called twice to postpone the reporting dates, citing COVID 19 restrictions. This prompted her to report the matter to detectives,” DCI revealed.
In January the syndicate had in a well coordinated and orchestrated plot, recruited over 60 jobseekers who were offered forged letters of appointment, inviting them to join the Kenya Airports Authority.
The victims, who each parted with colossal sums of money ranging from Sh300,000 to Sh400,000 depending on one’s level of education, were even driven to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, ostensibly to familiarize themselves with what would be their new work environment.
DCI also claimed that the unsuspecting victims were also addressed by a suspect who posed as the Human Resource Manager. Later, they were driven to a high-end facility overlooking the Nairobi National Park, along Mombasa road, where they were treated to a sumptuous meal.
Afterwards, they were asked to go home and report on March 18th. That was last time the victims heard from the phoney thugs.
“Further investigations reveal that the suspect has been working in cahoots with fellow Prison Warders who lure desperate jobseekers into the trap, obtain money from them and remit the same to Nasra.
One such warder collected a total of Sh19 Million while another warder who is a driver collected over Sh5.7 Million. Dejected victims have since been trooping to our headquarters, to file reports detailing how they unbelievably fell for the tricksters machinations,” DCI said.
