As Kenyans become more enlightened, conmen have been left with no alternative other than come up with more complex schemes to fleece money.
This one is probably the best one yet. The details have been circulating on social media and I believe its worth a mention.
Read below.
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It is January, and every other Unemployed Kenyan is looking for a job. Out of the blues, and like God has been listening to your prayers, your referee calls you, and breaks the best news of the year. Someone has called him, most of the times some Dr. X. He’s working for some company, and has requested for your recommendation letter. What a great way to start the year!
As though that were not good news enough, you receive the magic call. Indeed your referee has confirmed you are the right candidate, and you are supposed to report to work next week. Never mind it is either Thursday, Friday or Even Saturday! You are excited. You silently thank God for the opportunity. The caller goes into details of your CV, explaining that they believe you are the best candidate. He urges you to talk to you referee to confirm how soon you can get the recommendation letter. He drops the call.
Now you are all happy and optimistic, you call your referee just to confirm that your recommendation letter will be out in good time. Even before you are done with the call, your would-be employer calls again. He needs some crucial documents from you to upload to their online system. These documents are urgently needed, and failure to produce them would disqualify you getting the job. He needs your Certificate of Good Conduct and KRA COMPLIANCE certificate. You either don’t have one or both. He then asks you to check if you can get them in minutes and hangs up.
At this moment, you are thinking of all the connections you know. But within two minutes, he’s calling again. This time around, he offers to help. He has a colleague who works at either KRA or the CID head quarters. This colleague will help you get the documents. You thank him for the effort. Now get ready to lose your cash!
He tells you to write down the number of the contact, and asks you see how he can help you. Assuming every Kenyan is corrupt, you too are. You give him a call. Initially he’s busy and won’t pick your call. Shortly after, he calls you back. After explaining you case, he offers to help; asks for your ID number. (Never mind, he has your CV, so he has all your details.) Within seconds, he narrates your bio-data. You are now convinced he’s working at the right office. He tells you to wait a minute, and hangs up.
At this moment, the job is yours for taking. You call your would-be employer and tell them all is well. He tells you to speed up. In the meantime he explains your terms of service; some good salary package among other benefits. You have always wished for this.
The KRA/CID officer calls you again. He tells you that you need to send some cash to have your documents processed. Say something like Kshs. 5,000. Compared to the job offer, this is a paltry amount. Without much thought, you send the cash and now wait. He acknowledges receipt and assures you that you shall get your documents in an hour’s time. You report this to your would-be employer.
20 minutes later, the KRA/CID officer calls you once again. This time around, one of the bosses has refused to sign your documents, and he wants to refund your cash; optionally, you send some additional cash to be forwarded to him. If you don’t discover you are being conned, you send more cash. If your third sense detects fraud, good for you, at least you are not going to lose more than the initial amount.
Whatever cause of action you take after this, the end result is always the same. You don’t get your documents, and the would-be employer later tells you that you lost the chance since you didn’t submit the documents in good time. The KRA/CID officer blocks your calls or goes “mteja”.
You have lost your cash. No blessings of a new job were coming by. Next victim please!
The would-be employer many a times uses the name Dr. Njuguna Thiga. The following numbers have been used variably in that scheme. 079047****, 072653****, 070816****, 071098****.
Share widely to help a brother.
