Police officers fall prey to fraudsters
What you need to know:
- The fraudsters open accounts on Facebook and Twitter or form WhatsApp groups.
- They post official photographs of the senior officers on their profiles.
Detectives are investigating fraudsters masquerading on social media as senior police officers.
Several people have fallen victim to the conmen, among them a police corporal who lost Sh90,000 believing she was sending the money to Deputy Inspector-General Joel Kitili to influence a lucrative posting.
In a similar scenario, welders turned up at the office of police spokesman Charles Owino ready to begin work, only to learn they had lost Sh300,000 they had paid believing it would help them win a tender.
There are other victims, mostly junior officers desperate for transfers and businessmen seeking tenders with the government.
Directorate of Criminal Investigations officers are using technology to track the fraudsters because the money was sent through M-Pesa.
The fraudsters open accounts on Facebook and Twitter or form WhatsApp groups.
They post official photographs of the senior officers on their profiles.
Mr Owino said neither he nor Mr Kitili operates a Facebook account and therefore the existing ones are being run by the fraudsters.
